A late entry that nonetheless has earned its spot in the list of this years biggest gaming scandals was the recent news that the high-definition Xbox One and PS4 re-releases of Grand Theft Auto V would not be sold in Kmart or Target stores in Australia. The decision was the direct result of a petition for the major supermarkets not to stock the titles on the basis of their depictions of violence against women, something which is put paid by the fact the petitions were organised by rape and abuse survivors. Rockstar has a history of this in Australia. The countrys rating systems when it comes to video games appears to be especially strict, with the hyper-violent output of the Scottish studio often coming a cropper of the particularly stringent set of guidelines the Aussie authorities list, with the particularly psychopathic Manhunt 2 just getting flat-out banned in the country, and countless other non-Rockstar titles being censored or cut for various reasons. The removal of GTA V from shops is a little harder to argue with, however, since its the right of Kmart and Target to not stock certain products if they dont want to and, well, you cant really argue that Grand Theft Auto doesnt allow you to solicit prostitutes and murder women in graphic ways. Whether you think this is a scandalous repression of free speech is another thing...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
