8 Videogames that Got Hit by the Government Banhammer

[ffronw]

8 Videogames that Got Hit by the Government Banhammer

Sometimes certain videogames just aren't acceptable to some governments. That's the case with all eight of these titles.

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[Barbas]

8 Videogames that Got Hit by the Government Banhammer

Sometimes certain videogames just aren't acceptable to some governments. That's the case with all eight of these titles.

Read Full Article

Pokemon was partly banned in Saudi Arabia for "promoting Zionism":

Spoiler: Uh-oh.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1243307.stm

The kingdom's senior cleric, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, protested that most of the cards figure symbols such as "crosses, sacred for Christians and triangles, significant for Freemasons"...

...The game has been criticised in several countries, with a Christian church in Mexico calling it "demonic", and organisations in Slovakia saying television shows based on the game were detrimental to children...

...In Britain, police have urged parents not to allow children out with the cards.

Wait, what the heck was that last bit again?

And as for the Beijing government's stance on these games: cry some more, you sad old twats.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

8 Videogames that Got Hit by the Government Banhammer

Sometimes certain videogames just aren't acceptable to some governments. That's the case with all eight of these titles.

Read Full Article

Pokemon was partly banned in Saudi Arabia for "promoting Zionism":

Spoiler: Uh-oh.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1243307.stm

The kingdom's senior cleric, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, protested that most of the cards figure symbols such as "crosses, sacred for Christians and triangles, significant for Freemasons"...

...The game has been criticised in several countries, with a Christian church in Mexico calling it "demonic", and organisations in Slovakia saying television shows based on the game were detrimental to children...

...In Britain, police have urged parents not to allow children out with the cards.

Wait, what the heck was that last bit again?

And as for the Beijing government's stance on these games: cry some more, you sad old twats.

Some pokemon cards have high resale value and there where kids being mugged for them.

 

[Zontar]

I'm surprised Heart of Iron III's ban from China for showing showing the CCP in a weak light didn't make the cut, since it's neigh impossible to SURVIVE the game while playing as the CCP, while playing as the nationalists with an understanding of decent strategies can make it so you unite all of China (and Japan) under the Nationalist government.

 

[Metalrocks]

.. Yeah, Pokemon being banned in any place in the world is like a country banning birthday songs. There's no harm in it whatsoever and known throughout the world- the government just jumped the shark and concluded that the show preached a hidden concept.
But oh well.

OT: Australia is one of those places I can never move too, because of two things.
1) Everything wants to kill you
2) To many bans on games that I like / enjoy

At least Bethesda were smart to like, change the drug so it could be passed. Kind of dumb really, because it's the same kind of drug under a different name and everyone knows it's still morphine but the government needs it to be changed for a pass to be assured.

lol. aussie my be stupid with this but germany is far worse than australia. i lost count how many games in germany are banned or generally heavily censored.

you want half life?
well, you get it, but only the censored version because the uncut original version is banned.

you want doom?
good luck finding that one. ( but i think i read that it was lifted recently).

max payne series?
if you like oil for blood.

soldier of fortune?
not available.

and many more games that you actually get in australia without any hassle. i have seen far more games in aussie than in germany that are banned/censored. and since aussie has a 18 rating, you even get more now than before.

@topic
there are more games that are missing on this list.
postal 2, BF4 that was banned in china as well, manhunt, the thing... and more.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

It's amusing that banning doesn't stop piracy. Hotline Miami (2, I think) also got banned here in Australia. The devs said to just go ahead and pirate it.

 

[Metalrocks]

It's amusing that banning doesn't stop piracy. Hotline Miami (2, I think) also got banned here in Australia. The devs said to just go ahead and pirate it.

true. very rare to hear that from a developer. just the thing is, that even if you pirate the game, the chances that it might not work or worse, even get a virus, is still there. so getting it legally has its benefits.
when i lived back in SA, i ordered L4D2 from ebay and had no problems activating it. was uncut too. so it must be the code that tells in what region you are in.

 

[WindKnight]

lol. aussie my be stupid with this but germany is far worse than australia. i lost count how many games in germany are banned or generally heavily censored.

On the other hand, it got the boring muscle dudes in the Contra games replaced with sleek anime robo's for the Probotector releases. that was a win for me at least.

 

[CaitSeith]

It's amusing that banning doesn't stop piracy. Hotline Miami (2, I think) also got banned here in Australia. The devs said to just go ahead and pirate it.

I think it even encourages it (that and the absurdly increased price tags)

 

[Metalrocks]

lol. aussie my be stupid with this but germany is far worse than australia. i lost count how many games in germany are banned or generally heavily censored.

On the other hand, it got the boring muscle dudes in the Contra games replaced with sleek anime robo's for the Probotector releases. that was a win for me at least.

lol. how so?
in the earlier C&C games when you drove with a tank over a soldier in the german version, you hear metal being pressed together. wile in the original you hear bones crack.
soldier of fortune 2 had robots as enemies. same as in half life 1. only no blood at all.

 

[Veylon]

I think it even encourages it (that and the absurdly increased price tags)

Absolutely. Banning something makes it mysterious and powerful-seeming. What's so dang important that it's worth the time of The Powers That Be to outlaw it? Moreover, when it is read/watched/played, doing so is imbued with an aura of deliberateness that would otherwise be lacking. You don't casually do something that might get you fined/imprisoned/shot, you go through a ritual of preparation to ensure secrecy and then you carefully savor every minute of it.

In short, dropping the Ban Hammer is the last thing you want to do if you want to make something disappear from people's minds.

 

[WindKnight]

lol. how so?
in the earlier C&C games when you drove with a tank over a soldier in the german version, you hear metal being pressed together. wile in the original you hear bones crack.
soldier of fortune 2 had robots as enemies. same as in half life 1. only no blood at all.

To reiterate - muscley action dudes are boring to me. Anime robo's are awesome to me. That's why the 'censored' version of Contra - Probotector - is way better to me than the uncensored. This is very much a personal thing though.

 

[Metalrocks]

lol. how so?
in the earlier C&C games when you drove with a tank over a soldier in the german version, you hear metal being pressed together. wile in the original you hear bones crack.
soldier of fortune 2 had robots as enemies. same as in half life 1. only no blood at all.

To reiterate - muscley action dudes are boring to me. Anime robo's are awesome to me. That's why the 'censored' version of Contra - Probotector - is way better to me than the uncensored. This is very much a personal thing though.

guess it is.
watched a video of half life 1 in different languages. was pretty hilarious but some were horrific. german is one of them. so the whole world has soldiers but the german version has robots. and they also speak like robots. but it sounds terrible. not only i could hardly understand a word they are saying ( i know german) but it was so slow and distorted that you want to bash your head in.