Varying censorship rules are "frustrating" - Hines

Pete Hines, Bethesda's product manager for Fallout 3, has expressed frustration at the varying censorship rules in different parts of the world, and that while the company makes its games in its own way, it's always mindful of the issues it will face with subjects such as violence, drug references and nudity.

"The frustrating thing for us is that the standards and rules can be so varied across territories, that we work with five or six ratings agencies and each one has different 'hot buttons'," he told CVG.

"In one place nudity is a big deal but violence is fine, and in another place drugs are a problem but nudity is fine. I guess that's the way of the world - not every country is the same. You're not aiming at one target, you're aiming at six different ones, worrying about how each one will feel about different things.

"We just go through and make the game that we want to make - We have our eyes wide open, mindful of the things that could be flagged up and how we're going to resolve them if that becomes a problem," he added.

Fallout 3 was initially banned in Australia because the country's highest age rating is set at '15' - although tweaks to the game's content later led to the title being accepted for sale at that level.