"Call of Duty: Black Ops 3," the latest of Treyarch's "COD" installments, received a Restricted (R18+) rating from the Australian Classifications Board, Monday. According to Gaming Bolt, this is the first among its franchise to receive such a high rating.
This has become significantly important because the other "Call of Duty" games only received a Mature Accompanied (MA15+) in Australia.
The consumer advice on the site noted a high impact violence, online interactivity description for "Call of Duty: Black Ops 3." Themes were classified as strong impact, drug use has mild impact, while language and sex have moderate impacts.
R18+ means that the materials are restricted to adults. An individual purchasing a game from a retail store with this rating may be asked to provide a proof of their age.
It is now expected that "Call of Duty: Black Ops 3" will get the same rating in New Zealand. Nonetheless, some say that it's better that Australia now has the R18+ rating.
Preceding 2013, any game rated above MA15+ — materials rated with this classification is prohibited for individuals 15 and below, unless they are in the company of an adult guardian or parent — ends up getting banned or heavily censored, Attack of the Fan Boy reported.
The report further stated that games like "Mortal Kombat" were banned from being sold in Australia in the past because of the rating.
This occurrence brought a lot of speculations about the contents that will be released. There hasn't been any official statements about it yet, but some say Activsion might censor or cut some contents.
We'll know more when "Call of Duty: Black Ops 3" gets its Australian release on Nov. 6.
Meanwhile, Treyarch recently confirmed that transferring any saved stat data from the last gen consoles to the new gens is no longer supported.
A fan reportedly asked David Vonderhaar, the game design director, via Twitter if the data transfer among consoles will be available in "Call of Duty: Black Ops 3," just like with the other installments, such as "Ghost" and "Advance Warfare," Venture Capital Post learned.
He responded with a simple "no."
