Matt Martin
10:35 (BST)
22/01/2007
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Midway's Blitz banned over drug use
Steroids and fake urine tests lead to classification refusal in Australia
Midway's American football title Blitz: The League has been refused classification down under for its depiction of in-game drug use.
Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), which rates videogames, took exception to the game which allows players to buy performance enhancing drugs and fake urine tests to avoid detection.
"While the game player can choose not to use the drugs, in the Board's majority view there is an incentive to use them," said a statement from the OFLC.
"By using them judiciously, the player can improve the performance of the football team (while managing the negative effects) and have a better chance of winning games, thereby winning bets and climbing the league table," said the Board.
Blitz: The League is the latest game to suffer the critical eye of the OFLC, an organisation that has most recently refused classification for Eidos' Reservoir Dogs and Atari's Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, amongst others.
The highest rating attached to games in Australia is MA15+, unlike other regions which have various classifications to allow games to be sold to adults aged over eighteen years.
Midway was unavailable to comment at the time of publication.
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