Uncensored Left 4 Dead 2 goes on sale in Australia

Five years later, Left 4 Dead 2 is finally for sale, uncensored, in Australia.

In 2009, the game's gory treatment of the undead highlighted the country's lack of an "adults-only" classification; at the time, the most restrictive rating The Classification Board could give was MA15+, meaning a game was OK for teenagers 15, 16 and 17 years old. Anything that wasn't suitable for them, ostensibly, simply would be refused classification and wouldn't go on sale.

Left 4 Dead 2 received an M-rating from the ESRB in North America and appeared to have been designed with that rating in mind. Valve, Left 4 Dead 2's publisher, appealed the decisions and ultimately released a censored version of the game for sale Down Under. After considerable debate, in 2013, an R18+ rating (which had existed for film) took effect for video games. Left 4 Dead 2's uncensored version received that classification a couple of weeks ago.

Left 4 Dead 2 is now available to Australian consumers via Steam; the uncensored version simply replaces the old one. For those who bought the censored Left 4 Dead 2, a free update is available to de-bowdlerize it, though it would seem to be a collector's item now. For those who want both (or haven't bought the original), Valve is celebrating by offering the game at $4.99 — 75 percent off its original price — and that deal's good in North America, too.