After almost falling prey to the Australian Classification Board earlier this year, Bethesda Softworks anticipated role-playing game, Fallout 3 has now been banned in India.

Back in July, it was confirmed that the Office of Film and Literature Classification in Australia made the crazy decision to ban the game because the player takes a variety of drugs in the game, known as "chems" in order to counteract the effects of radiation. The fact that the drugs have a positive effect on the player was seen as encouraging the player to take drugs in real life. Seriously.

Bethesda speedily sought to remove drug references for the game and now Fallout 3 has been cleared for release down under.

Today we hear that Microsoft India has now pulled the plug on Fallout 3, one week before its release ,due to "cultural sensitivities”. All those mutants in India must be pissed.

The official statement from Microsoft India reads:

Microsoft constantly endeavors to bring the best games to Indian consumers in sync with their international release. However, in light of cultural sensitivities in India, we have made the business decision to not bring Fallout 3 into the country.

On a lighter note, we're about 10 hours into Fallout 3, but we're not allowed to write about it just yet. We'll have a full review on HEXUS.gaming soon.

In the meantime, check out the Fallout 3 First Look.