Australian Video Games

You want to know something funny? It's how we see plenty of Video Games in North America, Europe, and Japan...but not Australia.

Really, Australia barely makes a blip on the radar when it comes to VG. There are only two games that I know of hailing from Australia, and those are Baron Baldric and Mystic Towers.

If any of you hail from Australia, this is a good place to step forward and help spread the love for Australia!

Doesn't Australia have the strictest censors in the world (excluding Germany)?

Here's an interesting article I found on Australia's video game industry.[1]

I am from Australia!

...And don't really know any games off-hand which come from here.

Checking Wikipedia now, and do people here know the de Blob series? Both of those games are Australian. There's also the game Flight Control; I first saw that few years ago on an iPhone, but it's on other platforms too. Fruit Ninja is apparently also Australian. Hmm... A couple of the newer Spyro games too, although not Skylanders or whatever it's called. LA Noire is apparently another game developed in Australia.

That's all of any interest I could find though. :/

Yes, our censors are currently quite bad, but that's set to change, as - I believe - from next year onward, video games here will be able to be rated R when suitable. Before this, the highest rating was MA 15+, with all games beyond that being refused classification.

edited 28th Jul '12 7:07:51 AM by Sabbo

While I've never played 'em. Ty The Tasmanian Tiger and LA Noire are both Australian games I can name off my the top of my head.

Half-Brick studios, famous for making Fruit Ninja is also based in Australia.

Plus, anything Yahtzee has ever made gamewise can be considered an Australian game.

edited 28th Jul '12 7:15:27 AM by PippingFool

Australia does not have very strict censorship laws, we just don't have an R 18+ rating for games due to political shenanigans. The worst kind of censorship we get is the gore being disabled in games like Left 4 Dead 2, which is easily subverted. A far cry from the political censorship in Germany like banning swastikas.

Krush Kill & Destroy (KKND) was developed by Melbourne House, an Australian developer. It's a great C&C-style RTS with a quirky sense of humour.

Team Bondi from Sydney did indeed develop LA Noire, but with help from Rockstar.

In fact, many games that should get an R rating in Australia get squeezed in with an MA 15+ rating just so they won't be refused distribution.

My sig links to an indie adventure game developed primarily in Australia, although the team has people from all over the world working on it.

edited 28th Jul '12 7:16:53 AM by Talby

Ty went overseas? Then yeah, those too.

I may have a look into Ty: 3. As a girl, I used to always love the tales of the Quinkans and it amuses me to see that there is a game where they're the Mooks .

Though, it does bother me they chose the Timera build for the main Mooks over the Imjin build. /mythos nerd.

Pandemic studios was Australian. The guys behind Star Wars: Battlefront, Dark Reign 2, Destroy all Humans!, Mercenaries: Playground of destruction, and The Saboteur.

They don't exist anymore but y'know, they did.

Don't you guys have an R18+ rating, now?

Nope, we dont have one yet. Bloody pansys allow r18 movies but not for videogames yet.

Oh, yeah, there's The Dame Was Loaded, which was created by Australian developer Beam Software (now Krome Studios Melbourne), first published in 1995 by Philips Interactive Media domestically then in 1996 world wide.

It's funny how there's a lot of games out there, but if you browse through lists, you'll see a title that just catches your eye and you take a look. Sometimes you'll see something that looks geniunely good, and you'll sit there and wonder why doesn't this game seem to get as much love and attention as it should be.

That's the impression I get with Video Games made in Australia.

edited 29th Jul '12 7:28:34 AM by TiggersAreGreat

We are all secretly working on a videogame adaptation of our country, called Australia: The Video Game.

edited 29th Jul '12 7:34:45 AM by Talby

With Hugh Jackman look-alike naked in it at some point.

edited 29th Jul '12 6:45:45 PM by IraTheSquire

There's a bonus level where you can play as Paul Hogan, and the collectible health points are little jars of Vegemite.

And a drop bear is the Big Bad.

Wasn't there a Transformers game that was done by an Australian dev team?

I seem to remember there being one about 5-8 years ago.

there's Heroes of the Pacific and its flawed sequel, Heroes over Europe.

Wait, you Australians don't have an R18+ rating yet? That's kinda silly. Is there any reason they've given for why not, or have they just not gotten around to making one, or what?

edited 29th Jul '12 7:20:55 PM by TechPowah

The reason is basically just one jerk who is retiring from his position, and thus it's actually on the works rather than just being vetoed by him at the start.

What's the game rating committee there?

edited 29th Jul '12 7:21:15 PM by TechPowah

This.

Are there any game developers left in Australia?

That game would certainly be tough

edited 29th Jul '12 9:18:28 PM by NEO

You are a One-Hit-Point Wonder.

Watch out for dem sploding trees.