Dead Space To Launch Early, Banned in Three Countries 87
EA Redwood Shores' Dead Space seems to be one of the few games that has its release constantly moved forward. Shortly after news that the game's European debut was moved up to Oct. 24th, the company announced that the US launch date would be moved up to October 14th. Unfortunately, EA's Ben Swanson also said the game has been banned in China, Germany, and Japan. (Announcement here, sound toggle to the upper right of the page.) Previews of the game are available from Ars and Gamespy.
Uh? (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been seeing this rumor for a couple of days, and as far as I can tell any talk of it being banned in Japan is bollocks. Can anybody post a single source which provides proof of this?
The Japanese rating associations can't ban a game, as their role is advisory only, so it's not them. The government normally only takes an interest in uncensored porn, and even then it's usually the police in an after-the-fact kind of thing where the distributor gets arrested and charged.
This isn't China - there is no central authority that has final say on what may or may not be sold. Customs could possibly block it at import, but even then there would normally be a court case first.
A ban for a game which hasn't even been released yet? I don't think so.
Re:China and Germany could be expected (Score:5, Interesting)
I think you have the wrong impression of Germany. Quite often, there are special German versions of games because of their stricter regulation. Mostly it's the strong prohibition against displaying any nazi symbols, but there's also laws against showing gratuitous violence.
Which I think is pretty much OK (except for when it prevents historically correct depictions of e.g. planes and uniforms due to the swastika). I find our laws here in the land of the free, which make a nipple or penis a more horrible thing than brain splatter and bloody guts, far harder to understand.
Re:Uh? (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, I know, I did actually RTFA.
That's not a source which inspires me with confidence in its accuracy. No official announcement? Nothing in the Japanese media?
Who banned it? Why? Not a word so far.
Re:China and Germany could be expected (Score:3, Interesting)
Nope, violent games have always been subject to indexing and bans. I'm not sure Dead Space really got banned, could just have gotten indexed (no advertising allowed, includes putting the game on a shelf outside an 18-only area) but console manufacturers block indexed games completely.
Usually it's not just how the violence is depicted but what the context is, if the player is encouraged to be unnecessarily cruel that ups the chance of a block, if killing isn't even necessary to proceed (e.g. in a stealth game) the chance goes down. Having to maim an enemy to kill him certainly won't go down well.
publicity stunt (Score:4, Interesting)
Frankly, I think that's a publicity stunt with the "banned" - for the lack of details.
What exactly do they mean? Makes a world of difference, and they don't tell. Germany does have age ratings, and it does have something they call "indexing", which sounds like "banning", but really isn't. It's just one step up from "18+" in that you also can't display it openly in the store. You absolutely can buy it, legally, with age verification, and quite a few brutal computer games are in that area.
Americans: Think "sex" instead of "violence" and you'll understand. Germans don't mind nude models on magazines, but they do mind blood and gore, i.e. the exact opposite of what the US morals are.
Very few games are actually "banned", and almost all of them because they break a law against the use of Nazi symbols. A law, I should add, that the Allies forced on the newly founded Germany after WW2.