THE story of the most controversial video game in Australia has finally come full circle.

For at least 18 years, family groups have been calling for a ban on one of the world's most popular, and bloodiest, gaming titles, Mortal Kombat. Now they have got their way.

Australian censors last week gave a rating of "refused classification" to the latest title in the Mortal Kombat series, banning it from sale and import.

The game's publisher says it's disappointing and nonsensical. The irony is that, in the end, the game fell victim to a ratings system it helped to create.

It was Mortal Kombat — first released as an arcade game in 1992 and for home consoles the following year — which, along with Time Killers and Night Trap, prompted Australia to create a classification system for video games.

"Mortal Kombat was a game that really was closely associated with the first generation of home consoles that had fairly sophisticated graphics," said Dr Jason Wilson, a lecturer in digital communications at the University of Canberra.

"There was a bit of concern about it in the media, you'd have to say, and that contributed to the Senate at the time setting up an inquiry which fed into the regularly framework we've got now."

That inquiry led to the Commonwealth Classification Act, which came into force on March 1, 1995 — exactly 16 years ago this week.

Under the Act, film and literature suitable only for adults can receive a rating of up to R18+ or X18+. Ratings for video games, however, end at MA15+.

In recent years, the lack of an R18+ rating for video games has seen popular titles including Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead 2 refused classification as they are unsuitable to be played by 15-year-olds.

In 2009, a survey of 4000 individuals found that the average age of gamers in Australia was 30. The average age of all Australians is 38, according to the ABS.

In some cases, publishers of games that are refused classification choose to produce a censored version specifically for the Australian market. Others simply cut their losses.

Altered versions of both Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead 2 are currently available in Australia.

In its report on the latest Mortal Kombat game, the Classification Board cited the franchise's famously controversial "fatality" moves as one reason it was unsuitable for minors.

"The game includes over 60 fatalities... which contain explicit depictions of dismemberment, decapitation, disembowelment and other brutal forms of slaughter," the Board said.

"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.

"In the opinion of the Board, the game contains violence that exceeds strong in impact and is unsuitable for a minor to see or play."

Dr Chris Moore from Deakin University's Centre of Memory, Imagination and Invention said that it had always been the "hyper violent" fatality moves which made Mortal Kombat controversial.

"The issue with Mortal Kombat was the finishing moves, that's what makes it stand out," he said.

As far back as 1993, Australian newspapers were reporting on these violent moves and calls from family groups to ban children from playing them.

"In Mortal Kombat, a popular new game in video arcades, one character rips the heart out of his opponent while another rips off his opponent's head and spine," reported the Courier-Mail at the time, in an article titled "Child Ban On Violent Video Games Urged".

However Dr Moore said media coverage of the game had historically made it even more popular among young players, and the Classification Board's new ban was unlikely to be different, with people turning to the internet to obtain it.

"The media coverage of Mortal Kombat as a horrific, violent video game certainly made it much more appealing to teenagers at the time. It was very much an illicit thrill to have the game," he said of the original title.

"(The new) Mortal Kombat will be Australia's most downloaded game, in my opinion."

The lack of an R18+ rating for video games has become a high-profile issue in recent years as Australian gamers, now well beyond their teenage years, grow frustrated at being denied access to adult titles.

In December last year the Federal Government announced its support for the introduction of an R18+ rating, but any change requires the agreement of all state and territory attorneys-general — which has been notoriously difficult to achieve.

"It's kind of interesting, in a historical sense, that we've come back full circle," Mr Moore said of the Mortal Kombat decision.

"It would be very fitting if the latest banning of Mortal Kombat was the final straw in the case against the missing R18+."

Warner Bros, the publisher of the new Mortal Kombat game, is understood to be appealing the Classification Board's decision.

News.com.au would like to thank Dr Jeffrey Brand of Bond University for his contribution to this report.