Marc Ecko's getting banned

By Ellie Gibson Published 15 February, 2006

From Australian games shops.

Australia's entertainment ratings board, the Office of Film & Literature Classification, has refused to grant a rating for forthcoming Atari title Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - thereby effectively banning the game from sale.

The move comes despite the fact that the OFLC granted Getting Up an "MA 15+" rating back in November, stating that although the game contains "strong violence and strong themes" it was suitable for gamers aged 15 and over.

However, according to OFLC executive Maureen Shelley, they've had a bit of a think about it and: "It is the Classification Review Board’s determination that this game promotes the crime of graffiti." The OFLC says games won't be rated if they "include or contain detailed instruction or promotion of matters of crime."

The OFLC has particular problems with "the realistic scenarios" where main character Trane learns about graffiti techniques and styles from five real life graffiti artists, and the fact that you get rewarded for putting graffiti on public buildings.

The board also objects to the inclusion of "interactive biographies" of 56 real graffiti artists, which include details of their tags, styles and careers. Apparently, "The game detail states that all these artists began their careers performing illegal graffiti on public buildings and infrastructure and that some continue with this practice today," and the OFLC says that's not on.

Atari Australia issued a statement saying that the publisher "strongly disagrees" with the board's decision, and "defends the original classification by the OFLC."

Atari representatives will be contacting Australia's Interactive Entertainment Association in a bid to get their support, claiming that the OFLC's decision "Will impact the industry and not specific or isolated to one company."

Australia is notoriously tough on games with violent or sexual content, with titles such as Leisure Suit Larry, Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto III also being refused classification. GTA: San Andreas was awarded an MA 15+ rating, but this was revoked after the Hot Coffee scandal broke.

Here in the UK, the Anti-Graffiti Association has already issued a statement slamming Atari for "encouraging an activity such as graffiti vandalism." However, the game is still set to go on sale this Friday.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (49) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Scientist #1 6 years ago

    Unbelievable censorship. What is the world coming to?

  • ManicDrunkMonk #2 6 years ago

    I'm wondering if grafitti in films has ever caused a ban to be placed on it?

  • reality_cheque #3 6 years ago

    I do have to wonder who it was that thought a graffiti game was a good idea.

    Sounds abolutely thrilling.

  • Aretak #4 6 years ago

    I do have to wonder who it was that thought a graffiti game was a good idea.

    Sounds abolutely thrilling.

    Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future are two of the best games to be released in recent times.

  • rogermellie #5 6 years ago

    I wonder if they banned Jet Set Radio.

    Next they'll be censoring smoking in games and films...

  • Gastrian #6 6 years ago

    A game about grafitti. So we actually have a game where we can watch paint dry?

  • IAmBatman #7 6 years ago

    From what their own QA department have been saying, it should be banned for being shite. BAN ALL SHITTY GAMES, THEY OFFEND ME.

  • myiagros #8 6 years ago

    @IAmBatman - this had been getting a lot of good reviews from games press though!

    not really my cup of tea, but i see no reason to ban it, THUG2 involved spraying and that wasn't banned.

  • mazzl #9 6 years ago

    this is soooo stupid, it's a GAME .. it's not REAL ..
    it's the job of parents to teach children these things.
    besides what is the difference between lets say an auto bioggrafic book explaining grafitti and a game.. (again) this is just stupid.
    it's even in the name. "computer game"




  • Yazoo #10 6 years ago

    Ha!

    I say that because I think the guy is a cock. However, good on him if he's got a decent game under his belt.

  • smelly #11 6 years ago

    "From what their own QA department have been saying"

    If i were atari, and this was true, i'd sack the lot of them.


    "BAN ALL SHITTY GAMES"

    But then you're just moving the milestone. If you ban all games which get a score lower than an 8 out of 10, then you only have games worth between 8 and 10, so you therefore would have to make 8, 1 out of ten, and 10, 10 out of then. Which would therefor mean that all 8's and low 9's were crap.

    Subsequently you'd only end up with 1 or 2 games a year.


    Its a damn sight better idea just to only buy games you like. See, that's not hard is it?

  • Freek #12 6 years ago

    So violonce is okay, you get a 15+ rating but OH WAIT, HOLD THE PRESSES! There's refrences to illigal graffity and the artists who do it. Holly shit, ban it!!!

    "Leisure Suit Larry"

    On the basis that it encourages people to be slap stick style stupid badling middle aged men, and there's already way too many of those around.
    Edited by 2 at 15/02/06 @ 14:17

  • reality_cheque #13 6 years ago

    Mazzl: Sorry mate, that'd involve getting parents to take responsibility for the actions of their children! About as much chance of that as there is me funding a Uwe Boll film, and shagging the new Victoria's Secret model over the front of my spanky new Maclaren F1...

  • El_MUERkO #14 6 years ago

    haha

  • Browntracky #15 6 years ago

    Marc Who?

  • smelly #16 6 years ago

    True story: A couple of months ago I was at a bus stop where a parent was stood with her kid (ten years old maximum). He was hassling her saying "can i look at it, can i? can i?", and the mom was saying "no its too expensive to get out on the street, you might drop it, you can play you birthday present when we get home".

    Eventually she gave in and got it out for him... It was "the warriors" with a huge great big 18 certificate on it.

    If he's not to be trusted holding the game in the street, what on earth was she doing buying him something like that?

    Sometimes i dispair... And she'd probably be the first in the queue to try to get it banned when she's told by the daily mail whats in that game. (she wont find out for herself).

  • Feanor #17 6 years ago

    "I do have to wonder who it was that thought a graffiti game was a good idea.

    Sounds abolutely thrilling.


    Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future are two of the best games to be released in recent times."

    reality_cheque just got pwned.

  • gaijin #18 6 years ago

    does this guidance also cover games that encourage driving over the legal speedlimit in a built-up area? And possible parking offences? And, on occasion, continuing to drive a motor vehicle without two functioning tail lights? PGR must get pretty short shrift. And heaven help Burnout.

  • ram #19 6 years ago

    good idea to ban a game encouraging people to graffiti if you ask me. 99% of graffiti is shit and ruins the environment.

    I'm old enough to remember what a clean wall looks like.

  • el_pollo_diablo #20 6 years ago

    I think ALL games that promote violence should be banned. That means any game where the player punches or shoots a weapon.

    And Mario and Miss Peach? Well, they're not married, so ban that too.

    Puzzle games give you siezures. Ban them too.

    Anything left? No, I think that covers it.

  • smelly #21 6 years ago

    driving games which encourage you to drive fast should be banned too!


    @ram Wouldnt u rather they did it in game than in real life? Just like shooting/driving fast/etc etc? Or do you think shooting games encourage you to shoot people in real life?

  • neon #22 6 years ago

    The argument for graffiti always comes down to the media showing images of good graffiti created by talented individuals that have had permission to spray their designs on designated wall space. I do not have a problem with this. The down side to all this is, these individuals represent less than 1% of all graffiti artists. The other 99+% are simply talentless vandals. Quite what people get out of writing their tags over and over again on anything they happen to pass remains a mystery, and the ones that scratch there graffiti into windows I despise most of all.
    Edited by 1 at 15/02/06 @ 14:54

  • ram #23 6 years ago

    @smelly - of course but I think films, games, the media influence habits and actions in real life.

    If you don't then you are blinkered.


  • el_pollo_diablo #24 6 years ago

    Illegal grafitti is about reclaiming public space. Who says that it's ok for FCUK or Vodaphone to put up their billboards in my street, but not for me to do the same?

    I can honestly say that I have nothing but admiration for writers.

    There's plenty of bad grafitti out there, but a) everyone has to start somewhere, and b) it's worth far more than just what it looks like.

    A little off topic perhaps, but there you go.

  • neon #25 6 years ago

    Jetset Radio on the Dreamcast was great from a graphic point of view. It really showed what the Dreamcast could to, i was impressed. The game play was average and the spray can element frustrating.

  • kangarootoo #26 6 years ago

    "Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future are two of the best games to be released in recent times."

    But they aren't graffitti games are they? They are roller blading games that have a tiny bit of graffitti in them (which may as well be Pacman dots for all the difference it makes). Just like GTA:SA has a tiny bit of graffitti in that too.

    I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that this game had some deeper graffitti related gameplay than just running up to a tag spot and pressing X. I don't actually know anything at all about the gameplay of this title. Can anyone fill the void?


    "99% of graffiti is shit and ruins the environment."

    I love graffitti when it is done well. But unfortunately the statement above is right on the money. Most of it is just bloody awful scrawl by kids who could barely hold a crayon.

  • ram #27 6 years ago

    @ el_pollo_diablo - that is a piss poor argument for graffiti.

    Who says the posters can go up? The Landlords and local council who receive an income from the advertisers/media owners. Thats who.

  • el_pollo_diablo #28 6 years ago

    Thanks. I did actually know that.

    I'm talking about the rights of the individual put against the rights of the state.

  • gaijin #29 6 years ago

    @pollo
    sounds like a happy compromise would be to graffiti on advertising billboards, thereby preserving your freedom of expression, while not permanently defacing the local environment to the distress of other residents?

  • neon #30 6 years ago

    For me Graffiti is something that came out of America during the 70's and appeared on their trains. These days it's fucking old hat. No one really gives a shit about it as a statement and train stations are looking alot cleaner these days. Although they still have a long way to go before they are pleasant enough to wait for trains on.
    Edited by 1 at 15/02/06 @ 15:22

  • el_pollo_diablo #31 6 years ago

    "sounds like a happy compromise would be to graffiti on advertising billboards, thereby preserving your freedom of expression, while not permanently defacing the local environment to the distress of other residents?"

    I'm all for that. I'm not a grafitti writer myself, so I'm not speaking for the community at all. They may disagree. I'm just of the opinion that it does have worth. It is, as a political statement, important.

    Edit: And banning a game that makes people re-evaluate the environment in which they live, is fairly disgusting behaviour. I don't mean to sound preachy, but it annoys me when people don't see the double standards that governments try to slip past us.
    Edited by 1 at 15/02/06 @ 15:35

  • Scientist #32 6 years ago

    "@ el_pollo_diablo - that is a piss poor argument for graffiti.

    Who says the posters can go up? The Landlords and local council who receive an income from the advertisers/media owners. Thats who. "

    And should our councils be allowing our public spaces to be defaced with huge advertising hoardings "Drink Coke and Eat MacDonalds kids!"?

  • Aretak #33 6 years ago

    But they aren't graffitti games are they? They are roller blading games that have a tiny bit of graffitti in them (which may as well be Pacman dots for all the difference it makes). Just like GTA:SA has a tiny bit of graffitti in that too.

    Er... no, I'm going to have to say you're quite wrong there.

    The whole basis of the gameplay for both JSR games is tagging the various areas of the game, and the whole style and feel of the game is built around the culture of graffiti. Performing tricks in the game doesn't help you progress, and the gameplay is far more geared towards the tagging side of things than the rollerblading aspect (especially in the first one where you had to enter commands with the analogue stick to spray larger tags).

    JSR and JSRF are definetly far more about graffiti than they are about rollerblading -- that just happens to be the mode of transport used by the characters in the game.

    /edit/ And I'm not sure how you worked out that JSR and JSRF have a "tiny bit of graffiti in them". Have you actually played either game...?
    Edited by 2 at 15/02/06 @ 15:40

  • smoison #34 6 years ago

    CENSURSHIP being done by Stupid board membres!

    Luckily there's a thing called the Internet and people can buy what they want on it.

  • reality_cheque #35 6 years ago

    "Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future are two of the best games to be released in recent times."

    TBH I wasn't particularly enthralled by either of them. Well, the first one anyway, I didn't bother to play the other due to not finding the first one particularly thrilling.

    As far as a graffiti game goes I'd rather go and spray walls myself, at least then I might get an adrenaline buzz legging it from the old bill. Plus it'll give me the chance to make some amusing political statements around the local schools again.

    'pwned' indeed. Anyone who uses that word in a non-ironic manner should be smacked with a dictionary :p

  • gaijin #36 6 years ago

    *can* it be used in a non-ironic manner?

  • el_pollo_diablo #37 6 years ago

    "Plus it'll give me the chance to make some amusing political statements around the local schools again."

    I'll have you know, "Keith's Mum stinks of fish" is a powerful statement against the system. And Keith.

    ;)

  • reality_cheque #38 6 years ago

    @gaijin: We'd best ask Feanor... *prepares the dictionary*

    @el_pollo_diablo: Well it's wittier than my friends attempt on the caferia windows that said "Arsef*ck" ;) (that he incidentally wrote the wrong way round so it actually said "KCUFESRA";)
    Edited by 1 at 15/02/06 @ 16:25

  • kangarootoo #39 6 years ago

    @Aretak

    Well OK, they are about street art culture. But my point was that they don't actually involve any graffitti painting gameplay. I take your points.

    For some reason I assumed there would be some form of graffitti based gameplay in this current title. Just like you get skateboarding gameplay in THUG even though you also do other stuff.

    If its a celebration of the culture but doesn't have you doing anything more as a player than hitting X to tag a spot (as I did mention earlier) then whether it is a "graffitti game" or not is really an issue of semantics.

  • gaijin #40 6 years ago

    hmmm. In the same way that if you just have to select a target and hit the x button to fire a round it's not really a shooting game? I think I understand what you're saying, but I don't think the complexity of button-presses required is the way to approach it.

  • kangarootoo #41 6 years ago

    But aiming at something and then pressing a button to fire is a nod in the direction of shooting. Walking up to something and hitting a button is not even close to what I would call painting or creating art.

    I'm splitting hairs with a fine tooth comb here though. All points made are valid.

  • ram #42 6 years ago

    "And should our councils be allowing our public spaces to be defaced with huge advertising hoardings "Drink Coke and Eat MacDonalds kids!"?

    Well bus stops which shelter nice old ladies from the rain and snow are provided free to local councils by media companies whose revenue comes from Coke and McDonalds. Which I think is a bit much useful to society than some little oik scratching his "art" into a window.
    Edited by 1 at 15/02/06 @ 18:44

  • Rambaldi #43 6 years ago

    I think, in light of the recent rise in STD's, that dating games should be banned. No, wait, seeing as people are still killing each other after thousands of years, let's ban any game that encourages you in any way shape or form to think or act in any way that remotely reflects human nature. Worse still: what about those games that encourage you to develop western capitalist global resource destroying ideology?

    QUICK: BURN THE SIMS!!!!!

  • Lummox #44 6 years ago

    Best. Headline. Ever. - Though adding "Profits Under Pressure" would have been the icing on the cake :-)

  • Aretak #45 6 years ago

    But aiming at something and then pressing a button to fire is a nod in the direction of shooting. Walking up to something and hitting a button is not even close to what I would call painting or creating art.

    You can create your own custom tags in both games though. The art aspect of it comes in there. Actually having to paint it on the wall during gameplay just wouldn't be any fun, although I didn't like the fact they took out the analogue-combo tags in the Xbox sequel.

  • fantabulo #46 6 years ago

    I don't see the point of protesting eyesores and advertisements by imposing further ugliness on the public. Anyway, I think graffiti has a better chance of being picked up by impressionable people than killing people, as it is presented as clever and trendy. I’m sure Tony Hawk’s video games made some skaters in the same way.

  • Genji #47 6 years ago

    "They have guns in australia you know."

    Uh, the vast majority of people don't. This isn't America.

    I am not surprised at the ban. Recently, there's been a big crackdown on graffiti. The popular media is fiercely against it, and there's not a lot of support for graffiti "art" in the government.

    That said, games like Jet Set Radio got a release here. Think of that what you will.

  • kangarootoo #48 6 years ago

    "You can create your own custom tags in both games though. The art aspect of it comes in there"

    Ahh, I didn't know that. That makes some difference then.

  • theHypothetically #49 6 years ago

    To be fair, murder and grafitti are hardly comparable. Kids are far more likely to go out and perform acts of vandalism after playing a simulation of such than going out and killing someone. I'm sure it's the same in America, but in some areas councils pay upwards of $100,000 a year in the removal of grafitti (some areas in the Gold Coast, for example). And that's taxpayer funded.

    Moreover, some young fool recently got himself killed trainsurfing.

    So yeah, it sucks that there are idiots out there doing this shite but it's because of them the game has been banned, just remember that.

  • kangarootoo #50 6 years ago

    "So yeah, it sucks that there are idiots out there doing this shite but it's because of them the game has been banned, just remember that."

    Seconded.

  • el_pollo_diablo #51 6 years ago

    It's because of them this game EXISTS, I think you mean.

  • kangarootoo #52 6 years ago

    Both I guess.