Ninja Gaiden Censored For European Release 70
Thanks to GamesIndustry.Biz for its article confirming that Tecmo's Xbox title Ninja Gaiden has been censored for European release, seemingly "to remove certain violent aspects such as decapitations." According to the piece, these changes "have been removed apparently at the request of European censors, and the final PAL code for the game has been granted a 16 rating by pan-European ratings body PEGI, which rates games for a wide range of European countries (including the notoriously censorious German market)." However, it seems "the actual impact of the change to the game is minor... and does little to detract from the well-received game - which was the best selling single-platform title in the USA last month." Update: 04/22 14:42 GMT by S : Simon Vivien explains what commenters also mention: "Germany still uses USK, which is another rating board dedicated to their market.
The rest of Europe indeeds use PEGI. A 16+ PEGI rating doesn't especially mean a 16+ USK rating - as was witnessed in our latest shooter, Painkiller, who received a 16+ PEGI rating but was banned in Germany."
Great Game (Score:4, Interesting)
Not the first time, won't be the last (Score:4, Interesting)
2) Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. They're definitely not ninjas.
Idea (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:America vs. Europe (Score:3, Interesting)
Germany truely is simply the exception to the rule really, a large majority of violent games can be released in the rest of Europe, and few people will bat an eyelid.
I believe they even banned Quake 2 in Germany for the longest time, whereas I don't think such a thing was even suggested elsewhere.
The general view here is that violent games usually have an 18 age rating, and it is enforced, anyone who even looks under 18 will nopt be abler to buy the game without some form of identification (I myself get refused sale of a game sometimes, dispite being over 18)...so kids shouldn't be playing the game anyway. If they are, someone's messed up along the lines... but certainly not the company. All but a few obsessive mothers recognise that, generally.
One exception to this however would be the game Hooligans, which caused a fair bit of controversy here in the UK, but that was largely because England has a pretty bad reputation for football hooliganism.
Re:America vs. Europe (Score:3, Interesting)
Too many parents rely on the TV as a babysitter. Maybe if we had better parenting in our society censorship wouldn't be as much as a problem!
I'll step down from my soapbox and put my two cents back into my pocket.
Re:Slashdot censors too. Watch this. (Score:3, Interesting)
I can import Japanese tentacle porn, but by no means does that mean that censorship isn't going on- it just means that the censorship has a "outlet" wherein domestic producers aren't allowed to produce a certain work, but if it comes from overseas, it's just fine and dandy. (Yes, tentacle porn can be produced in the U.S. In fact, pretty much anything can be produced in the U.S. We don't have censorship on the order of the European countries. It is being used to illustrate a point.)
By the way, your obviously trolling and irrelevant crap about the Patriot Act isn't appreciated. Yeah, the USAPATRIOT Act was a POS. But Patriot Act II has not been passed- elements were just incorporated into an intelligence bill, and whatever anti-American biases exist in your mind, it isn't as bad as the Fascists, who raped, pillaged, shut people away in labor camps, and led them to their death simply because they looked different. If you're going to flame away about absolutely irrelevant American politics, know what you're talking about, mmkay?