Fallout 3 passes classification

it'd be fine and dandy to say "the changes are minor/cosmetic" if we actually knew that all that was changed was "Morphine" into "Pain-B-Gone" (which would actually fit in well with the Fallout World's "Radaway" medication, in some ways) but the list of reasons why the original version was denied classification is far longer than a simple name.

for all we know, Morphine is still Morphine, it just no longer comes with the injecting animations, or managing addictions.

and remember, another reason it was refused was the use of "Chems" which are essentially buff potions/scrolls that we see in most Computer RPGs, from Fallout to Diablo to WoW, we have potions and elixirs, but since they're "chems" and look like drugs, it was refused -
so what changed?
have they been removed?
have they been changed to scrolls?
is it merely a removal of an animation?
the change that has happened bothers me in various degrees along this list, from a "meh - the effects are still there" to "hmm, scrolls don't fit the setting, but the effects are still there" to "OMG isn't that going to make the game tougher?"

so although GTA4 suffered minor changes that didn't affect the gameplay as intended in any real way (i mean, who here has an uncensored version and visits hookers regularly anyway? mine is uncensored, and i haven't seen one once, since i saw what the Aussie version missed on Youtube.) we can't yet say the same for Fallout 3.
it might be cosmetic, it might be game-breaking.

the other issue i see is that Rockstar were pro-active about their censorship. the foresaw an issue and chose to deal with it pre-release, whereas Bethesda's changes seem to be reactive. who knows how much QCing has gone into making sure our small market's version actually works as intended?

and so - i preordered from overseas because the local release was in doubt - i'm keeping that pre-order because i don't believe the changes can be as cosmetic as the GTA4 changes were.

it's not a high Aussie Dollar, but rather a weak US dollar - compare the AUD against the GBP and it's still roughly the same as it has been for years.

we are getting ripped off relative to the US market because despite their tumbling economy, they are still paying the same as they always were in pure dollar terms - meaning those of us in AUD, GBP and EURO land are subsidising their market.