OFLC have pulled the page listing it as RC.

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/silent-hill-f-ban-in-australia-retracted-age-rating-up-for-review-again/

The pulled page indicates it was an IARC classification i.e. it was automatically classified based an Konami’s answers to a generic survey distributed to classification boards globally. If Konami contest the automatic classification then it will be looked at by actual humans who may determine that offensive content is contextualized to a degree that it can be released (or failing that give a list of content that needs to be modified).

That list is crazy, so many niche platforms and limited availability:

• Glitch was a failed Flash based MMO, that launched as a production release, was pulled back into beta 2 months later and then closed in late 2012. During this second beta they seemed to host a virtual death cult. Its messaging framework was later rebranded as Slack
• Tenya Wanya Teens was designed to tour as an art piece last exhibited in 2014
• Alphabet was bundled with Experimental Game Pack 01, a promo for LA Game Space a failed incubator/exhibition space the broke up in 2018
• Woorld was a mixed reality game developed for Google Tango, a tech that hasn’t seen support on a new device since 2017
• Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure was developed for the Playdate and was featured in Season 1. This is still available, in fact it is a pack-in title with the Playdate.

I’ve just wish listed Wattam, its his only still available non-Katamari title that runs on a mainstream platform.

That doesn’t really work in Australia.

AFAIK Dallas Buyers Club was the last major case and the conditions the courts placed on any contact caused the rights holders to decide it wasn’t worth the bother. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-35547045

The court told them they could buy the infringer’s contact details as a bulk lot that averaged $127 per person. But only if they invoiced for $127 + whatever they were charging for the film. In addition the court would need to review and approve any draft correspondence and call scripts.

All up it feels like the court was taking the most hostile interpretation of the law to protect individuals from being harassed by the business. Good stuff.

Hotline Miami 2, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Saints Row 4 are among dozens of games to have been denied an Australian release […]

This is only partially true, Saints Row 4 and The Stick of Truth released modified versions in Australia. Hotline Miami 2 remains without and official release in Australia.

As for Silent Hill f? OFLC have pulled the page listing it as RC.

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/silent-hill-f-ban-in-australia-retracted-age-rating-up-for-review-again/

The screenshot of the pulled page indicates it was an IARC classification i.e. it was automatically classified based an Konami’s answers to a generic survey distributed to classification boards globally. If Konami contest the automatic classification then it will be looked at by actual humans who may determine that offensive content is contextualized to a degree that it can be released (or failing that give a list of content that needs to be modified).

GTA5 is more than a decade ago,.

The older gemers may remember but there is a whole generation that has spung up since.

Edit: a quick look shows there were 1.7 billion people born between 1995 and 2007 i.e. born in the period that would have trurned 18 between 2013 and 2025… This corresponds to 20% of the global population.

the console install base isn’t what it was when GTA V came out at the end of a generation.

I had a look to check the figures.

From the PlayStation perspective February 2025 estimates put the PS5 at 74.9m, while January 2013 estimates put the PS3 at 77m.

However Xbox is really letting their numbers lag with 28.3m Series consoles sold by September 2024 vs 77.2m 360 consoles by April 2013.

If we were just talking PlayStation I would say 97% is near enough to make no difference but if we compare both platforms together its only 67% and that is enough to influence strategy. A console only release in 2025 is unlikely to eclipse GTA5’s position as “fastest-selling entertainment product in history”.

The extensions, named “ahban.shiba” and “ahban.cychelloworld,” were downloaded seven and eight times, respectively, before they were eventually removed from the store.

And presumably the researchers count as two of these 15 downloads.

Its not great that they were up for so long but luckily these were no designed to attract users.

Adding boolean variables for each item only scales so far, your inventory class has to know about all the items in the game.

The next simplist implementation would be to change the inventory to a list of strings, then your level can check if the list contains a given string without the inventory code needing modification.

If you need to track item counts (e.g. the player has 5 apples), then you can use a dictionary instead of a list. Then you can use the string as a key and store an integer as the value.

Switch is conspicuously absent from the release platforms.

If I had to guess I would say they are skipping Switch 1 and it will be on Switch 2 when that drops.

That’s a bit like saying you can buy flour and bake bread.

Some people are interested in a product that is immediately ready to use as a simple convenience. Others might be on console that doesn’t offer the origial title or allow mods.

Q: What if I don’t want to pay the Maintenance Fee?

That’s fine. You can download the project’s source code and follow the Open Source license for the software.

Do not open issues. Do not ask questions. Do not download releases. Do not reference packages via a package manager. Do not use anything other than the source code released under the Open Source license.

Also, if you choose to not pay the Maintenance Fee, but find yourself returning to check on the status of issues or review answers to questions others ask, you are still using the project and need to pay the Maintenance Fee.

I disagree vehemently! The community adds value and is a form of contribution.

If it’s got platformer elements, then it’s a platformer, right?

Yes!

But I also argue that the second half of '89 counts as 90’s and that Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap was the best platformer I played in first half of the decade.

The 1.7 million customers who originated from a top 2023 release

This wording is a bit strange, are they tracking the new steam accounts that signed up to buy a specific 2023 title (like Baldur’s Gate 3, Hogwarts Legacy, or Starfield)?

If so it says more about the specific demographic attracted to that unknown title than it does about Steam in general.

Edit:

The methodology is explained here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/4145017/view/751641001553035271

To gather data illustrating the effectiveness of that approach, we went all the way back to 2023 and identified the biggest 20 releases of that year. We looked at every new first-time purchaser generated by those products (that is, an account making a purchase, or redeeming a Steam key, for the first time) for a total of 1.7 million new users.

I suppose you are right.

As an anicdote, my son has always curated his home screen, creating groups for related games (e.g. one group for the cut the rope series, another for hey duggee games) and removing icons he wasn’t using so much anymore.

Then when my son was 4yo and his tablet ran out of space I taught him how to uninstall applications and that he could go to the play store and reinstall any titles I had previously appoved by himself. After that he could cycle though his library without any issues only needing my help if we were considering a new title.

A couple of months later my mum was having trouble with her phone because it was full, so she came around for a visit and my son showed her how to uninstall unwanted apps and manage her home screen.

So I guess this story reinforces that curating your device’s software library is a learned skill.

Thanks

They have taken the survivors.wiki domain.

I wonder if they are planning spinoffs with other themes?

Edit: typo

just look at the home screen of a factory resetted phone. facebook, instagram, tiktok, and other literal garbage too is not just installed, but pinned to the home screen by default

That’s an inconvenience to be sure, but cleaning all that crap from every device is just part of the ritual just like pealing the protective film off the screen.

Its an interesting read.

I agree with the conclusion, the stable iconography lend the program a air of prestige that might be lost if they changed.

Xbox one era d-pad shows a real attention to detail

In 2023, there were 19.5 million families in the UK, an increase of just over 1.1 million families (6%) since 2013.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families/bulletins/familiesandhouseholds/2023

Even if we assume that each signatory represents a unique family (i.e. no couples contributed two signatures) then 100k represents only half of a percent.