Gamers have waited long and hard to see Grand Theft Auto V in action, and the gameplay trailer released overnight should satisfy those Los Santos cravings before September 17
The gameplay unveiling lifts the lid on a stunning open game world, where players are free to roam unchained, parachute from mountain tops, race through city streets and even visit a medical marijuana dispensary
The immediate response to the trailer was that it may face the same fate as Saints Row IV and State of Decay because it clearly implies the use of illicit d**, despite the decriminalisation of marijuana for medical use in southern California, the real location that tha game's bustling city is modelled on
The Cla**ification Board guidelines make it clear that any game that implies the use of illicit d** for reward will be refused cla**ification. The gameplay trailer suggests that medical marijuana may be used similarly to how Grand Theft Auto IV players could feed the main character alcohol and even drive a car while intoxicated
Gamers took to Twitter to vent their concerns about the drug's appearance in the upcoming game
One Twitter user said: "So Grand Theft Auto V has marijuana. Good luck Australia." A name change may be the best chance Rockstar Games has to get the game cla**ified in Australia
Fallout 3, an open-world role-playing game that allowed players to use d** beneficial to the game character's health, was refused cla**ification in June 2008
The game's "realistic visual representations of d**" were enough to get the game banned, although a resubmitted version of the game with altered drug names saw it eventually released in the country
Another Twitter poster said: "Grand Theft Auto V looks awesome. Too bad I spotted a medicinal marijuana shop so the game will get banned in Australia". "If it is banned in Australia then I'm pretty sure there will be a ma** riot," said another user
Australian gamers shouldn't worry too much, though; Rockstar Games has been to this rodeo before, and its capacity to work with the Cla**ification Board in ensuring its games are appropriately cla**ified has worked in the past