Bethesda to censor use of in-game drugs in all versions of Fallout 3

by Nicholas Gasse - 2008/09/09 10:45pm

Earlier this summer, Fallout 3 was refused a rating by the OFLC(the Australian equivalent of the ESRB) due to the realistic portrayal and use of drugs in the game. This would have lead the game to be banned from shelves in Australia unless the game was altered and then resubmitted for classification. Bethesda altered the drugs and cut the animation showing their actual use, and the game was Australian version was reclassified as MA15+.

Earlier today, however, Bethesda PR announced that there would be only one version of the game - the censored Australian version. The motivation behind this decision was to keep all versions identical, despite the fact that the uncensored version passed the ESRB rating process with an M rating.

Vice President of Marketing and PR Peter Hines commented "To avoid confusion among people in different territories, we decided to make those substitutions in all versions of the game, in all territories... There are no references to real world drugs in any version of Fallout 3."

So you hear that, junkies? It's OK to blow peoples heads off, just as long as you aren't under the influence of any drugs while you're doing it!