Mortal Kombat Reboot's Appeal Fails In Australia

Mortal Kombat has never been a bloodless series, to say the least, but Warner Bros.' appeal on behalf of the gory fighting game won't get it a release in Australia. The game's publisher appealed Australia's Classification Review Board to ask it to reconsider its decision to deny classification for Mortal Kombat, but was rejected -- WBIE says it's "obviously extremely disappointed." As Australia lacks an R18+, or 18-and-over rating for games, those that would fall into that category are unable to be released in the region. Many adult-oriented video games have lost their shot at an Aussie release as a result, and appeals generally fail. "We want to thank the thousands of Mortal Kombat fans in Australia and around the world who have voiced their support during the appeal process," the publisher said in a statement, as reported by GameSpot. The game was denied classifications for its depictions of over 60"fatality" kills primarily, which include limb dismemberment, blood spray and what the Board describes as "explicit" violence. "Despite the exaggerated conceptual nature of the fatalities and their context within a fighting game set in a fantasy realm, impact is heightened by the use of graphics which are realistically rendered and very detailed," the Board said in its previous report. Mortal Kombat will launch in other regions in April this year.