http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/12/aliens-vs-predator-appeal-successful-now-rated-ma15
“It is with great pleasure that we announce the success of our appeal,” says Darren Macbeth, managing drector of Sega Australia. “We are particularly proud that the game will be released in its original entirety, with no content altered or removed whatsoever.
“This is a big win for Australian gamers. We applaud the Classification Review Board on making a decision that clearly considers the context of the game, and is in line with the modern expectations of reasonable Australians.”
Good news, even if I'm not interested in the game

Koolio.
Nice to know that there is some sanity left in Australia.

The cause IS just but apart from "we simply want people to be able to enjoy the game", the decision sounds almost insane.
I can swallow the fact that a 15-year-old plays a game with “decapitation, dismemberment, locational damage, impalement, eye-gouging and the use of human heads as trophies”, as controversial as it sounds. What I can't wrap my head around is the explanation:
"the violence depicted in the game can be accommodated within the MA 15+ category as the violent scenes are not prolonged (...)"
Yeah, that seems right. You DIE... It's not prolonged - it's a damn single moment of agony.
"(...) and are interspersed with longer non violent sequences."
Namely - the sequences where you shit your pants because of either invisible, imminent or present and overwhelming threat.
Sure - that'll lessen the impact...
"The violence is fantastical in nature (...)"
Sure - it's not natural to get your head bitten off or be thrust by a hand-mounted blade...
"(...) and justified by the context of the game, set in a futuristic science-fiction world, inhabited by aliens and predators."
The aliens... they work in mysterious ways, but have their own reasons, amirite ?
"This context serves to lessen its impact."
I'm almost speechless at this point. Seriously - do you think any of the guys writing this actually believed for a split second that the world of AvP makes the game LESS traumatizing ?
"The more contentious violence is randomly generated and is not dependent on player selection of specific moves.”
As in "you'll never see it coming". Yeah - that's reassuring...
As I've said - I'm really happy for all you Aussies, because I've seen what people have done to your L4D2... I'm simply amazed at how much hypocrisy people are capable of.
Edit: Goddamn... I've read the previous news article: "Rebellion is disappointed that its upcoming title Aliens vs. Predator has been banned in Australia. However, as we understand the law in that country the authorities had no choice as we agree strongly that our game is not suitable for game players who are not adults."
This is as far as it gets. Australia needs to sort this mess out ASAP or your rating system will get bent like this on regular basis, making it pretty much meaningless...

After Rogue Warrior, I am really suspicious about this game...

CHRIST! That image made me almost lose my lunch. It is the second game to do that, after I experienced the gross-out spectacle that is Kratos ripping that guy's head off. There's a point where the gore loses its hilarity and becomes sickening, and I think we're fast reaching that point.

Didn't Rebellion say that they thought it should be 18 rated?
Rebellion haven't made (as in developed themselves) a good game since... well, their last AVP about a decade ago. Rogue Warrior was so completely appalling that I really don't know what we can expect with this one. But I'm not going to get my hopes up, no matter how good it looks.

So... How much did Sega pay them?

As much as the Australian rating system is a joke, this decision is also crazy. No way in hell this game should be a 15.
And giving it a 15 rating just gives more ammunition to people like atkinson saying "the rating board rates things too softly anyway.".
If this is a 15 then every game is a 15... so you guys don't need an 18 anyway.

While I agree with pretty much everything else you said, I think it might help to clarify that:
They are basically saying that it isn't Manhunt 2.
You don't see the violence as a result of pointless torture-porn video games. So while your Predator might disembowel someone, it won't be a minigame where you find someone tied up and slowly slice off bits of them.
Disclaimer: Even though that Punisher video game had interactive torture and context kill scenes, I don't consider it torture porn. Why? The game penalized you for actually killing people with the interrogation/torture things. The context-kills were a bit questionable, but it at least went greyscale and zoomed in on Frank's face to make it more like an Ennis comic (horrifyingly violent, but not glorified, and actually quite damning).

Let me quote a comment from Kotaku:
"I think if anything, its an even better shining example, now it can be thrown in the teeth of Michael Atkinson and turn his stance into a pro R18+ stance. I mean, his stance is all about keeping the violent games out of the hands of children, and here we have a game which is clearly R18+ material, put straight into the hands of 15 year olds. How can he be all 'think about the kids!' and not support the introduction of an R18+ rating now?"

It might go that way. I think it'll probably go the other. He's already been saying that the ratings board doesn't follow the guidelines, and so if he allowed an 18 then they'd let in stuff even more obscene. Of course he's wrong, but i doubt this will do anything other than give him more ammunition to go after the ratings board.
Either way, two wrongs don't really make a right.

At first i thought it was pretty cool, but after seeing it and really "seeing it" its quite horrific... watching a few polygons pop out of a stomach in Soldier of Fortune and watching the tendons and skin rip from a skull and listening to the vertebra snap and break is quite another. And do i need to mention the screaming bloody mess that follows?
That sort of imagery no child needs to see, and some adult couldn't handle it. gamers grew up with it so most would just say COOL, and move on...
as for AVP how ever it comes i want it, ive been a fan for a decade and i just love the series. I hope they do it justice...

If Rogue Warrior is any indication, my hopes are set drastically low for this game...

I don't follow.
Once you hit 18, you're allowed to see ANYTHING there is and freedom of speech assures that art can depict EVERYTHING, no matter how twisted it may be.
The only ways to argue would be to suggest setting the FINAL bar even higher... or to say that not everything can be depicted in art (in this case - in video games)...

Agree with that.
I even think it's going too far this time. Between exagerated blood violence and this, well... there's a big step.
I'm not saying that the game should be censored, just that I don't play games to study anatomy...