Sucks to live in China.

@Joel, do you have any idea living in China? We probably get the kincent earlier than you do.

@Joel

It suck to live in Brazil, where it is not prohibited, but taxed 273% (so a PS3 slim for example is 700 USD
Sony store sells PS2 for 400 USD)

Long live the USA

@Locust
Yah you will get it before us, but enjoy the censorship in that country.

I think Joel is talking about the rather loose Rule of Law apparent in the grey market and the lack of legally operating channels of product distribution.

It's not just about the access to a product, it's about HOW you access that product.

@ Fiorento

Yeah, long live the USA, they're rating censorship protects the rest of the world from any attempt to bring mature or sexual content into the games industry.

It's a cultural thing not a government thing, and it's slowly getting better. It takes a while to loosen up a country founded by Puritans, bro! :-)

Might want to keep an eye out for other countries too, there have been "violent game" rumblings over in the UK lately. To me that is more malicious, since it's based on government control of produced material rather than societal values pushing out "objectionable" content through commercial retailers.

Either way I don't see why we should be censoring product development on any front. This industry self policies better than any other as far as keeping content away from minors and somehow still seems to get away with less risque content.

But whatev, we've beat that horse to death so many times it should be a statistic in Red Dead.

US tends to allow the violence but not sexual content- even if it complains about it though doesn't it?

Every country has their 'overall' view, aus and germany make the US look bloodthirsty in comparison as I understand it. (Several games have the human innocents replaced with zombies and etc).

Either way I'd prefer 'censorship' to be in the hands of the consumer. What I choose to bring in my home is my choice, and frankly games are still 'expensive enough' that its reasonable to assume the parent provides the money. (Although if my kid scraped together 60 bucks from doing chores- I'd be proud of her... also though, i don't live in constant fear of the 'nasty effects' games would have on kids...)

Also, don't take anyones country comments too seriously, most of them are light hearted methinks...

On these boards things tend to stay pretty professional.

But yeah, you're right, normally EU and AUS are more lenient with nudity/sexuality while the US is more lenient with violence, nothing is okay in China and pretty much anything goes in Japan.

Question for the Canadians and Central/South Americans, what's the general atmosphere in your respective regions?

"On these boards things tend to stay pretty professional."

Sorry, if I sounded a little bit harsh.

I agree, that violence in videogames seems to be not so accepted here in europa (I'm from germany), as in the states. The german version of MW2 features a censored "no russian" level, were you could not hurt any civilians.

Surprisingly games with fantasy violence are much more often censored here, than games with realistic violence. For several games with Zombies the USK (german rating agency) refused to give any rating, which usually means, these titles won't be published, at least for the consoles.

Some of these zombie-themed games are confiscated by the department of public prosecution. Trading this games in germany is illegal. On the other side military Shooters usually have a rating 16+ or 18+. Most Strip Poker games are rated 16+ here.

"pretty much anything goes in Japan"

The times are changing, this is at least my impression, when I think at the whole Rapelay debate last year in Japan.

well if anyone actually read the article, its about China and their ridiculous ban on video game equipment, not censorship of sex or violence.

@Dave
Where's your problem? Not enough china bashing in our comments?

huh?

@ Dave : I think we started out commenting on the article in the first few posts and then we got carried away and ended up off topic... so we're back! I'm with you, the ban on video game equipment is absurd, antiquated, and divorced from the reality of the actual appearance of hardware in Chinese households.

@ Christian : That's an interesting anecdote about the acceptance of fantasy violence. I didn't realize that those games received such harsh judgment. I never even thought about it, to tell the truth, so thanks for passing along that info. Food for thought!

Also, good point about the Rapelay situation. Japan is normally so insular, but the international outcry seemed to force their hand in banning that game. I have always respected the Japanese' ability to divorce actual societal impact from media and their incredibly open and accepting attitude about artistic freedom and expression.

Hi guys. I'm an Australian and I just wanted to update you all on ourcurrentpolicies.

Firstly wedontcurrently have an R18+ for our games industry. We have K-kids G8+ PG13+ M15+(parental supervision) MA15+

We recently had a public inquiry to which EB Games and Game hosted petitions and rwcieved overwhelming support for this.
However due to theoverwhelming response the Standing Committee of Attornies General and the government are backtracking and seeking opinions from non gamers and organisations.
Clearly it's in everybodys bestinterest for jato achieve this raring. As things stand alot of games that are borderline MA/R are classified as MA so some games that are better suited to adults are available to 15yo.
On the other hN

On the other hand those that are deemed unclassified are changed (L4D2 isthe most well known recent game with disappearing bodies immediately less blood and body hacking etc also if we play on other countries servers then the games we join are forced to use ourdummed down version)
A legal and usually cost effective way for us to acquire uncensored games is to import them from the UK as we also use the PAL system here, or alot of people knowdownload them illegally.
Hope this has helped. And please vote R18+ for games. Other entertainment industries have it - we should too.
PS: Sorry for spelling and grammar. iPhones are difficult.

@ Mark Harris: Up here in Canada, I think it's largely the same idea as down in the states. I think it has less to do with our demeanor (which I'd call fairly laid back, in a way), but that I think most companies treat those subjects the same between us. We're similar enough but a tenth of the size... probably doesn't warrant much of a different approach.

That said, two of the largest provinces in the country host significant game development studios (examples: Ubisoft in Quebec and Electronic Arts Canada in British Columbia). I think them and the Canadian equivalents to many of the video game-related organizations in the US do a good job of keeping on top of things and lobbying as appropriate to keep overly silly things from going down (like the sort of blocking of hardware/software that China seems to be doing, or what some of the US states are trying to do to ban certain video games).

Thanks for the responses, guys, it's nice to get an update on cultural sensitivities every now and then straight from the source!

@ Mark

"Also, good point about the Rapelay situation. Japan is normally so insular, but the international outcry seemed to force their hand in banning that game."

As far as I know, the game isn't banned in Japan, Illusion the manufacturer took it from the market and deleted everything from the game from their webpage.
The former government planned a new law to that prohibits games involving rape last year, but the elections lead to a new government. The current japanese governemnt didn't took any steps to follow the plans of their predecessor, at least I never heard of them.
But the whole discussion showed, that the topic seems to be present in the japanese public.

I know still a bit off topic (If only vaguely related)... I wonder what the 'limit' on censorship should ultimately be... theres a certain threshold that 'should' be maintained. (Admittedly my personal opinion but I feel like 90+% of the world supports this concept).
My question is- why aren't games subject to the same levels as movies?
IS it the same as movies anywhere? Are movie ratings a serious deviation anywhere else in the world?
IE is Saw or Hostel banned in Aus or Germany?

Yeah I never heard any follow ups, I just assumed that they fast tracked the law so the rest of the world would shut up and leave them alone. Regardless of an official ban or not, the outcry certainly had enough of a chilling effect to get the game pulled from distribution.

I'm glad that an official law never went into effect.

@ Ken

The Extended version of Hostel 2 is confiscated in germany by the department of public prosecution.
It is forbidden to sell the movie, to show it in public or to advertise it.
Here is a list of other movies, that are banned here in germany.

Slaughterhouse Rock a.k.a. Alcatraz Horror (1991)
American Scream (1990)
Anthropophagus a.k.a Man-Eater – Der Menschenfresser (1986)
Anthropophagus II a.k.a. Absurd (198
Ausflug in das Grauen (1986)
Bare Behind Bars – Mädchen schutzlos hinter Gittern (198
Best of Gesichter des Todes 1-3 (1993)
Blood Cult (1989)
Blood Feast (2004)
Bloosucking Freaks (2002)
Bloody Moon – Die Säge des Todes (1986)
Blutrausch des Satans (1987)
Boogey Man II (1986)
Das Böse a.k.a Phantasm (1991)
The Burning Moon (1993)
Braindead a.k.a Dead Alive (2000)
The Burning – Brennende Rache (1987)
Cannibal Holocaust (2000)
City of the living Dead a.k.a. Ein Zombie hing am Glockenseil (1986)
Crying Fields a.k.a. Mutiert (1987)
Demoni a.k.a. Dämonen II (198
Zombie - Dawn of the Dead (1991)
Zombie II - Day of the Dead (1990)
The Dead next Door (2000)
Drive-In Killer (1991)
Mangiati Vivi – Eaten Alive (1986)
Emanuelle und die letzten Kannibalen (2000)
Exzesse im Folterkeller (1986)
Faccia di Spia (198
Faces of Gore (2000)
Die Folterranch der gequälten Frauen (1987)
Forke des Todes – The Prowler (1989)
Frauen im Foltercamp (1986)
Freitag der 13. Teil 4 – Das letzte Kapitel (198
Fröhliche Weihnacht (1990)
Das Geisterschiff der schwimmenden Leichen (1987)
Geisterstadt der Zombies a.k.a The Beyond a.k.a. Über dem Jenseits (1986)
Gesichter des Todes IV (1992)
Gesichter des Todes V (1992)
Gesichter des Todes VI (1993)
Giallo a Venezia (1987)
Großangriff der Zombies (1996)
Guinea Pig (1996)
Halloween II (1990)
The Hand of Death Part 25 a.k.a. Jackson’s Back (1990)
Die Hölle des Lebenden Toten (2000)
Hostel II (200
I spit on your Grave (1987)
Ichi the Killer (2007)
Invasion der Zombies – Das Leichenhaus der lebenden Toten (2000)
Japanese Hell (2007)
Junge Mädchen zur Liebe gezwungen – La Settima Donna (1985)
Jungfrau unter Kannibalen (198
Das komabrutale Duell (2007)
Lady Dracula – The Living Dead Girl (1986)
The Last House on the Left a.k.a. Mondo Brutale (2000)
Madhouse – Party des Schreckens (1991)
Magnum Thunderbolt (1986)
Maniac (1983 / 1. bundesweite Beschlagnahme nach §131)
Mark of the Devil – Hexen geschändet und bis aufs Blut gequält (2000)
Mask of Murder a.k.a. Investigator (1989)
Mexican Werewolf (2007)
Mondo Cannibale III – Die blonde Göttin (198
Mountain of the Cannibal God – Die weiße Göttin der Kannibalen (1987)
Muttertag (1984)
Der New York Ripper (198
Night of the living Dead – Die Rückkehr der Untoten (1996)
Nightlife (1990)
Nightmare in a damaged Brain (1984)
Nightmare Concert (2000)
Olaf Ittenbach’s Familienradgeber (2007)
Oxen Split Torturing (2000)
Pestizide – Grapes of the Death (1986)
Pledge Class (1990)
Der Psycho-Killer (1991)
Rabid Grannies (1990)
Die Rache der Kannibalen a.k.a. Cannibal Ferox (1987)
Redneck Zombies (2002)
Riverplay (2004)
Die Rückkehr der Zombies (2003)
Sado – Stoß das Tor zur Hölle auf (1987)
Slaughterhouse – Pig Farm Massacre (1995)
Slumber Party Massacre (1989)
Splatter University (2002)
Storm Warning (200
Story of Ricky (1999)
Das Syndikat des Grauens (1986)
Tanz der Dämonen (1991)
Tanz der Teufel (1984)
Tenebrae a.k.a. Tenebre a.k.a The Unsane (1987)
Terror at Tenkiller (1989)
Tetsuo II – Body Hammer (1995)
Der Teufel tanzt weiter – Night of the Demon (1989)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a.k.a. Blutgericht in Texas (1985)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II (1990)
Todesmarsch der Bestien (1991)
Der unbezwingbare Super-Chan (1986)
The Unborn (1996)
Und wieder ist Freitag der 13. – Freitag der 13. Teil 3 (198
Viele Gesichter hat der Tod – Street Gang (1986)
Virgins of Hell (1989)
Voyeur.com (200
Woodoo – Schreckensinsel der Zombies (1996)
X-Ray – Der erste Mord geschah am Valentinstag (1986)
Zombie III (2002)
Zombie Holocaust a.k.a. Zombies unter Kannibalen (1986)
Inside – À l’intérieur (2009)

But then, we got softcore pornography movies in free TV every night after 11 pm. ;-)
Sorry guys for being so highly offtopic.

Two words...

Redneck....

Zombies....