Australia has awarded its first R18+ rating, something which previously didn’t exist for the country, to a Tecmo Koei video game called Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge.
Australia until recently barred certain games from their shores thanks to a maximum rating classification of MA15+ which saw several top-flight game titles banned from sale Down Under unless they were modified to fall under the classification bracket. A bill passed in June 2012 in Australia, following a lot of lobbying, introduced an adult classification for games which will allow titles like previously edited or banned games like the Mortal Kombat reboot or Grand Theft Auto III to be published uncensored.
Ninja Gaiden 3 was released for Sony and Microsoft’s consoles in January 2012 but the Wii U Razor’s Edge edition contains extra content that requires it be rated R18+, the first game in Australia to receive the classification. The Australian Classification Board said of the title “Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge contains violence that is high in impact because of its frequency, high definition graphics, and emphasis on blood effects.”
Source: Ars Technica