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AusGAF 2.0 - Twice the price, a year late but still moving forward

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VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
Anyone buying this from a store has got shit all chance of it actually getting delivered.

Get a friend to buy it, send it with a shirt or something and label it as Shirt + DVD.

A package with an invoice on it will get looked at.
 

Agyar

Member
VOOK said:
Anyone buying this from a store has got shit all chance of it actually getting delivered.

Get a friend to buy it, send it with a shirt or something and label it as Shirt + DVD.

A package with an invoice on it will get looked at.

I've never received an imported game that actually specifies the title on the external invoice. Generally speaking, it's either labelled as a DVD or "Optical Media".

Further to our Twitter discussion, is this decision actually going to warrant special attention from Customs? You suggested a memo may be issued to Customs officers but even with the large amount of media attention on the Left 4 Dead 2 release, many (if not most) copies came through Customs unscathed and continue to do so.

I hardly think "shit all" is an realistic description of the probability of not having an MK delivery seized by Customs.

Choc said:
ozgameshop is no longer taking orders and complying with the RC

This is unfortunate but there's plenty of other UK retailers that won't volunteer compliance.
 

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
I'll just wait for the other AusGAF members who have imported and been warned about things before to come post then.
 

MrSerrels

Member
I don't have that much experience in importing - have done it a few times but never with something that was refused classification.

Surely your chances of this getting picked up are next to zero. I would have thought customs would have bigger fish to fry.

And about the decision itself - it honestly means nothing. Either way it's easy for the ACL et al to spin this - it it gets through... "look at these violent games - do you want more of them in the country!" If it doesn't get through: "look at these violent games - do you want your children playing these games! Blah blah blah FLOODGATES!"

This decision is totally meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
 

Mar

Member
Agyar said:
but even with the large amount of media attention on the Left 4 Dead 2 release, many (if not most) copies came through Customs unscathed and continue to do so.

Yeah, my friends and I got 4 through with no problem.

Choc, where did you hear about ozgameshop not fulfilling RC orders to Australia?
 
I would've thought L4D2 would be a different story though, since the game was actually released here but one particular version was RC. Mortal Kombat is not allowed to be sold here at all which is a different kettle of fish.

I bet people will still have no problems importing it.
 

Choc

Banned
Mar said:
Yeah, my friends and I got 4 through with no problem.

Choc, where did you hear about ozgameshop not fulfilling RC orders to Australia?

on the day the RC was announced they stopped taking orders.

people have put 1 and 1 together
 

Nemesis_

Member
Agyar said:
I've never received an imported game that actually specifies the title on the external invoice. Generally speaking, it's either labelled as a DVD or "Optical Media".

Further to our Twitter discussion, is this decision actually going to warrant special attention from Customs? You suggested a memo may be issued to Customs officers but even with the large amount of media attention on the Left 4 Dead 2 release, many (if not most) copies came through Customs unscathed and continue to do so.

I hardly think "shit all" is an realistic description of the probability of not having an MK delivery seized by Customs.



This is unfortunate but there's plenty of other UK retailers that won't volunteer compliance.


Well, if you get it sent courier, courier companies will give all their packages to brokerage to look through before they get sent. I speak from first hand experience.

VOOK is not wrong, but at the same time it's very easy to get something from Play Asia through shitty mail. I wouldn't expect anyone to get a copy courier delivered to Australia.

I speak from experience for both darkSector and Silent Hill Homecoming. I learnt my lesson with Left 4 Dead 2 and it came through fine through normal mail.

Play Asia are good in that they don't really mark their packages with anything with regular mail, however they won't stock a PAL version so you're taking a risk if you wanna buy it straight away on launch and hope it'll work (for 360, at least)

But generally speaking I wouldn't import through a store. They are a little more "formal" with their proceedings.
 

Clipper

Member
Quickest way to get MK would be using the $25 courier shipping from Amazon if you want the PS3 version (360 might be region locked). It took 2 business days (over a weekend though) for the last thing I sent that way. US release is prior to UK release, too.

I'm toying with whether to use the expedited shipping instead due to the concerns about courier stuff as mentioned above, though. Regardless, I'm going to try to throw some Blu-Rays into the same package to make it not such an obvious video game order.
 

Shaneus

Member
I know a few people in NZ who could post it over (even get it through my internal mail at work) so I'm not real fussed. That would probably be the absolute quickest, though probably the most expensive (I think).

Edit: Thanks Clip, I might give that a shot too (gotta investigate the ease of PS3 US DLC first).
 
Mar said:
To test your theory I just put in a pre-order for the game. Worked fine.
I had a quick look earlier. Then and now it says "Currently unavailable" for both PS3 and 360. There's no button to add it to an order.
 

Mar

Member
Agyar said:
It's still available through 365games. What site did you place the order through, Mar?

Oh, I ordered through 365. It didn't even occur to me to try their 'Australian shop front'.

It makes sense they'd have to disallow orders there.
 

Agyar

Member
Mar said:
Oh, I ordered through 365. It didn't even occur to me to try their 'Australian shop front'.

It makes sense they'd have to disallow orders there.

I doubt they'd even "have" to, considering it's not an Australian store by any means, just a version of their site that accepts payment in AUD rather than GBP. It's not even an Australian domain and the items still ship via the same channels.

If they are refusing to ship MK to Australia, it's entirely voluntary.
 

Choc

Banned
its fucking amazing how many people think its legal to import refused classification content into Australia

its defined as prohibited item, a prohibited item is illegal to import. The fines are quite large and there is the possibility of jail time if its excessive
 

Agyar

Member
Choc said:
its fucking amazing how many people think its legal to import refused classification content into Australia

its defined as prohibited item, a prohibited item is illegal to import. The fines are quite large and there is the possibility of jail time if its excessive

Nobody here, at least, is arguing otherwise. It's more a question around potential increased attention from Customs and the likelihood of seizure.
 

legend166

Member
Yay I got homebrew back on my Wii.

And immediately started a game of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes with my Metroid Prime Trilogy copy, despite not having finished a million other games in my back log D:
 

Clipper

Member
I think the misconception that makes people think it's legal to import games is that there at least used to be one legal way to do it. However, that way was to physically go to another country to buy it and bring it back to Australia yourself in your luggage.

It's stupid that we are allowed to do that, but not get somebody to ship the game to us.
It seems they closed that loophole too, so I guess that means we're stuck with the illegality.
 
I think the real problem is when more high-profile games are refused classification. The more frequently it occurs, the more customs will be asked to keep a closer eye on incoming deliveries.
 

Choc

Banned
Clipper said:
I think the misconception that makes people think it's legal to import games is that there is one legal way to do it. However, that way is to physically go to another country to buy it and bring it back to Australia yourself in your luggage.

It's stupid that we are allowed to do that, but not get somebody to ship the game to us.

Clipper that is still considered importing, else you'd be allowed to bring in coke, weed etc

You have to declare it if you bring it in in person. Chances are they wouldn't know its banned straight away and let it in and go wtf why you showing me this

Serious...
 

Agyar

Member
codswallop said:
I think the real problem is when more high-profile games are refused classification. The more frequently it occurs, the more customs will be asked to keep a closer eye on incoming deliveries.
For about a week before to put some copies on the table, do a press release and then they'll get back to finding stuff that actually matters for their departmental budget.
 

Clipper

Member
Choc said:
Clipper that is still considered importing, else you'd be allowed to bring in coke, weed etc

You have to declare it if you bring it in in person. Chances are they wouldn't know its banned straight away and let it in and go wtf why you showing me this

Serious...
It was in one of the Customs sites where I saw that this was officially allowed. I'll go try to find where that was.
 

Axiom

Member
How is JB HiFi Online for shipping?

The get Yazuka 3 with Yakuza 4 deal is tempting me and my hesitation due to some bad google search feedback is why I missed out on the Infamous 2 Hero Edition for $116. Though with that I pretty much just wanted a cool backpack that comes with a bonus game, I still check every day when I do my 'Is the og Xbox Gamertag I want available?' search.

It's between that and Darkspore, but paying $80 for PC games in the Steam era makes me just want to wait it out..except it's EA. That beta is a lot of fun though.
 

Fredescu

Member
codswallop said:
If it becomes enough of an issue, they'll start opening the packages and inspecting them.
Opening literally every DVD shaped box? Have fun with that. I don't know by what metric they're going to determine it's "enough of an issue". Political pressure I guess.
 

Clipper

Member
OK, I think I found the info I was originally looking for about importing in your luggage, but it has changed since I last checked. I'm sure the last time I checked (a few years ago now, I guess), they had a concession for items that you were bringing in with you for personal use, provided they weren't including illegal material to possess in Australia, such as child pornography.

I can't find that concession any more, so I guess things changed. Now we are still in the excessively stupid area that it is legal to possess the RC games, but illegal to try to cross the border with them.

In any case, I just put through my order for the Kollector's Edition, along with a few other games and movies. Wish me luck!
 
Mar said:
You're basing an entire populations opinion on one guy's post on an internet forum?

Dear god man. How do you survive on GAF?
Sorry I didn't reply, been at work all day. I didn't mean everyone was of that opinion, I meant that to hear of so many people making insensitive comments was surprising to me. I hadn't really heard anyone say anything negative about the Japanese aside for the whaling stuff, usually people would at least hold their tongue when a country is going through a massive traumatic event such as this. Also this link is pretty indicative of the Japanese response to a lot of natural disasters, at least from what I have read myself when they occurred. Lots of people have died and thousands of lives have been changed by one of the worst earthquakes in memory, I certainly feel for them and I don't feel like they didn't care when we have had our troubles in the past. Seemed very strange for him to straight out say that they wouldn't have cared about us.

My copy of the banned Risen came through no problems.
Same here, didn't even know it was banned. Regular post FTW.

a kitten.
Kittens make everything even better. Icecream? Better with a kitten. Jumping on a trampoline? Better with a kitten.
 

Salazar

Member
Playing Sands of Time again.

Running up a dude's chest and slicing him as you come down on the other side is still very enjoyable.
 
Does anyone want to buy a pair of Turtle Beach X41s? Bought them a couple of months ago but discovered I don't like wearing headphones while I'm playing games. They work amazingly though. Got the packaging and everything still.
 

Shaneus

Member
Neverender said:
Does anyone want to buy a pair of Turtle Beach X41s? Bought them a couple of months ago but discovered I don't like wearing headphones while I'm playing games. They work amazingly though. Got the packaging and everything still.
How much? I'm only just reading up on them now but they seem pretty nifty. Could be good for comfy couch gaming.
 
Planet_JASE said:
Blender. Better with a kitten?
Only if it is a youtube of Mr Kitten blending up a nice frosty milkshake for his buddy Mr Raichu.

4868335700_b23dbc5748.jpg
pyQcC.png
 

Kritz

Banned
Bleh. At doctors. Lost hearing in my left ear (leaving a total of 0 ears that support sound)… hopefully just a wax buildup.
 

Kritz

Banned
Yey science! I can hear again. All 50% of my body's original capacity.

I am now speaking REALLY LOUDLY after 2 days of deafness.
 
Kritz said:
Yey science! I can hear again. All 50% of my body's original capacity.

I am now speaking REALLY LOUDLY after 2 days of deafness.
Congrats dude! May I ask what happened to the other 50%? Being unable to hear is definitely one of my biggest fears, so much that I have always listened to music a bit softer than most people.
 
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