What will Niko do in Australia?

It's been revealed that the version of Grand Theft Auto IV that we get here in Australia will be just a little bit different to the versions that you may be able to acquire overseas.

While we had been lead to believe that the MA15+ rating granted by the OFLC was on the full, unedited copy of the game, news has come to light that this is in fact not the case. Instead, Rockstar Games are now admitting to editing the game even before submitting it, in order to obtain a rating - and a release in this country.

The submitted version of the game was given an MA15+ rating last December, the most 'adult' rating we have in Australia, meaning the game is suitable only for people aged 15 years or older. The packaging for the game advises the title contains "strong violence, strong coarse language, drug and sexual references".

At this stage, there is no official word from Rockstar about what content had been removed from the Australian version of the game, but the company has confirmed that it has been edited in order to comply with the current Australian classification system.

GTA IV has been rated R18+ by the New Zealand OFLC, the German Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle and the British Board of Film Classification. In North America, the Entertainment Software Rating Board has given it an M17+ rating.

We're currently waiting to hear back from our friends at Rockstar on the topic, but I'd assume they're fairly swamped so I'm not holding my breath.

EDIT - April 10th 2008:
We heard back from Rockstar this morning, with their official statement on the matter. Yes, there have been edits, but they're minor, and a spokesperson explains why they were needed for Australia.