God of War: Ascension not being sold in Queensland due to lack of R18+

Oh Queensland. I love the fact that you aren't packed to the brim with people, but I hate your humidity, heat, insistence people wear ten layers of clothing when going out despite the humidity and heat. And now you are beginning to test my patience. Today Kotaku AU reported that promotional materials for God of War: Ascension were being removed from all Queensland stores, referring to an email which explained:

As Queensland has not passed legislation for the R18 rating for games we must remove all reference to God of War Ascension immediately, this includes all game slicks, posters, pamphlets, hand written signage, 2-way units and pre order signage.

At this time God of War Ascension cannot be sold in Queensland, this includes pre orders.

After speaking to employees at JB Hifi and EB Games I can confirm this is the case - no materials should have gone up at EB Games stores in Queensland in the first place and JB Hifi representatives across the state spent the morning taking promotional materials down. Both explained that naturally, if you pre-ordered Ascension or any other R18+ rated game in Queensland before their rating was confirmed, you will receive a full refund.

The R18+ issue will be discussed by the Queensland Parliament on the 12th this month - next Tuesday - so with some luck the R18+ rating will be in effect before God of War: Ascension's release on March 14th - although there are concerns the floods might take up too much time for parliament to deal with it. It is certainly surreal to see the listings for the game on EB Games and JB Hifi's websites explaining 'Non-QLD only' - here's hoping we won't have to see that kind of thing for long.