Way back in September, it was announced that Konami's Silent Hill: Homecoming would not be arriving on Australian shores, thanks to some pretty violent scenes that were outlined in the official report from the Classification Board.

Well, today, we have a new Classification Board report for you, explaining a new decision - a revised edition of Silent Hill: Homecoming has been given an MA15+ rating, with the consumer advice of strong horror violence and themes.

The first version contained violence that was considered "high in impact", and - understandably - that's been toned down for this Australian submission, now considered merely "strong" in playing impact, but also justified by context. According to the Board:

Several depictions of violence have been edited or removed altogether from the game. This includes the removal of many finishing moves that contained high level violence, as well as explicit scenes of torture using a power drill.

As we know, Silent Hill: Homecoming is a third-person action/adventure game starring Alex Shepherd, who must embark on a quest to find his younger brother. As he travels through the game, he finds (and uses) many weapons to dispatch many of the "wide range of fantastic and grotesque creatures" which he discovers in his travels. While the electric drill has been removed, ingame weapons still include "a knife, torch, crowbar, drainpipe, hammer, and a gun" (the earlier report also mentions guns, metal bars, daggers and saws), and again are used against other "human and fantastical creatures", which causes a bit of a mess in terms of blood spray and detailed wounds. The environment is often soaked in blood, and several scenes include blood pooling.

If you're a bit upset about the removal of power tools, rest assured that they haven't been removed completely - just that you apparently can't get to them.

The more impactful scenes are 'cut scenes' consisting of non-interactive action sequences depicting pivotal plot sequences that expand on the storyline of the game.

Torture consists of implied cutting and drilling using power tools. Much of this violence is depicted during 'cut scenes'. The most extreme examples of this violence are obscured, which mitigates the impact of the violence.

The report also covers the topic of horror themes, which are also strong, but justified by context. Examples of themes include the "horror-driven plot", the use of torture, a specific storyline, and various characteristics of the gaming environment:

...monsters with human-like characteristics, including bosom and other particularly female anthropomorphic characteristics which gives them a heightened impact.

Now, it's worth noting that while the game did get through, there is still a minority of the Board who are of the opinion that "the elements of violence and themes are higher than strong", and who still believe that the game warrants an RC classification.

Still, for the moment, Silent Hill: Homecoming is on track for its next-gen debut Down Under, and is scheduled to arrive on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 26th, 2009.