Apple Says "Nein" to Wolfenstein 3D Classic in Austria, Switzerland

[Marshall Honorof]

Apple Says "Nein" to Wolfenstein 3D Classic in Austria, Switzerland

Seventy years later, the Nazis are still messing things up.

If you live in Austria or Switzerland and feel like scoring some digital hits on World War II-era Germany, you may be out of luck. Apple pulled Wolfenstein 3D Classic, a port of the original PC shooter for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, out of the App Store earlier today. According to John Carmack, one of the game's original designers, the App Store objected to the "offensive" swastikas in the game.

In many European countries, displaying swastikas is a form of illegal hate speech. As a result, games from the German release of the Wolfenstein remake to Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich often use the Iron Cross instead. A version of Wolfenstein 3D without swastikas actually graced the Super Nintendo in 1994, so this is not the first time distributors have objected to Nazi imagery in a Wolfenstein game.

If id Software removes the swastikas, the game could go back up for sale, but neither Carmack nor Apple has released an official statement about the game's removal. For now, fans in other countries can still download and play the game, but Austrians and Swiss will have to seek out their Wolfenstein fix elsewhere.

Source: Gamespot [http://twitter.com/#!/ID_AA_Carmack/status/106078648511102976]


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[robert01]

I am kinda getting tired about hearing of this.
I could understand people might get upset if the game was pro Nazism or supporting their views but this game supports putting bullets in Nazis, soemthing I think a lot of the world supports.

 

[Catchy Slogan]

I know, let's ban all the books that schools use to teach kids about WWII. I mean, we don't want to show our children a swastika for heavens sake!

Oh won't somebody think of the children!

/sarcasm

Okay, I'm going to stop being a prick for a minute and say that I get that some people find them offensive, and righlty so, but this strikes me as a tad silly. The game a has been out for years now, and they haven't had much of a problem with other/ games media showing them. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

So the Swastikas are the offensive part?

Not Mecha-Hitler? Shooting dogs? Bloody corpses? Nazi Regalia?

Well, that's ok then. Better not let the Theosophical Society app on though.

Or the Ancient Greeks

Or the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School

 

[Sparrow]

So the Swastikas are the offensive part?

Not Mecha-Hitler? Shooting dogs? Bloody corpses? Nazi Regalia?

Well, that's ok then.

Yeah, this is the odd bit to me. I can see folks being angry about the swastikas, but only at the same time as being angry that you can shoot Hitler in the face.

 

[Speakercone]

I know, let's ban all the books that schools use to teach kids about WWII. I mean, we don't want to show our children a swastika for heavens sake!

Oh won't somebody think of the children!

/sarcasm

Okay, I'm going to stop being a prick for a minute and say that I get that some people find them offensive, and righlty so, but this strikes me as a tad silly. The game a has been out for years now, and they haven't had much of a problem with other/ games media showing them. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

It's not illegal to show nazi imagery, speeches, documents, etc. in Germany, Poland, etc. as long as it's in a proper historical context. But that's the thing, as long as it's in historical context it's fine. The problem with Wolfenstein is that it's a work of fiction which includes nazis outside of this context. It doesn't matter if you show them as even bigger assholes than they were (not sure if that's even possible tbh).

A notable exception to this is Mein Kampf which may not be sold, possessed, or distributed lawfully in many European countries.

Frankly, I see no problem in depicting nazis in fiction as long as they're not portrayed as the good guys, but I understand why laws like this exist.

 

[TheBlackKnight]

So the Swastikas are the offensive part?

Not Mecha-Hitler? Shooting dogs? Bloody corpses? Nazi Regalia?

Well, that's ok then.

Law is law is the law ^^; Don't ask me specifics about since I can't find an english translation of it..

 

[night_chrono]

My question is, is this specific to video games, or was there an edited version of "Inglorius Bastards" released in those country's.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

So the Swastikas are the offensive part?

Not Mecha-Hitler? Shooting dogs? Bloody corpses? Nazi Regalia?

Well, that's ok then.

Law is law is the law ^^; Don't ask me specifics about since I can't find an english translation of it..

It's a brutally ...racist... law though. (Possibly not racist but seriously jingoistic)

Swastikas have existed since Ancient Greece and they're now being heralded as "THE SYMBOL OF THE EVIL ONES"?

Look at Charlie Chaplin:

Is that a Hitler moustache? Or is it just a moustache similar to Hitler's that is now referred to as something that is offensive?

Honestly, I can see why Austria/Germany/Poland would not want to be reminded about the War; but that would be like England banning the White/Red Rose...or America banning the Confederate Flag.

Yes, I'm probably preaching to the converted, but doesn't Austria realise that by making these declarations, it's repeatedly reminding itself of it's own shame?

 

[JKain]

Weird.
I mean Germany is well-known for putting violent/"offensive" Games on their "index" (meaning basically they won't be sold in stores/advertised in any way etc.)
But here in Austria i've never heard of anything that was not allowed when it comes to games so far.
Game-Stores here prosper quite well from Germany in that regard because they can get everything here that was banned there (or uncut-versions etc.)

but this is...just odd...and very silly really

 

[hypovolemia]

I understand why laws like this exist.

Really? Because I don't.

Ban one symbol and there will be a new one. Or people will simply hide it better. The only thing this law accomplishes is getting stupid, drunk teenagers in serious trouble when they spray swastikas on walls (which doesn't seem to happen too often). Oh, and see the above article for other results.

Too bad that there is pretty much no way this law will ever be abolished or even changed in a way that prevents stupidity like this.

My question is, is this specific to video games, or was there an edited version of "Inglorius Bastards" released in those country's.

It's not specific to video games. I don't know about Inglorious Bastards, though.

 

[Albino Boo]

It's been 70 fucking years, get over it.

If you stop giving a shit and stop treating it like a huge taboo so will everyone else.

Yeah its not like that far right parties got 29% of vote in the last election in Austria and received congratulations from Nick Griffin from the BNP. Opps sorry they did. Just because its 70 years since Nazi Germany was defeated doesn't mean that there aren't Nazis politicly active today.

 

[Saulkar]

The more you fucking fight it the more vulgar it fucking becomes! The Swastika is, not was, is a good symbol perverted by the Nazis. In my honest opinion by demonising the Swastika you are giving the Nazis a tiny victory. Do not endow them with such, embrace the damn thing and give the middle finger to the Nazis. This is a good symbol and we will not let you destroy it!!!

 

[LZeroK]

Somebody should tell them the real significance of the symbol and why the Nazis used it.
The Swastika means luck.

 

[vxicepickxv]

So the Swastikas are the offensive part?

Not Mecha-Hitler? Shooting dogs? Bloody corpses? Nazi Regalia?

Well, that's ok then.

Law is law is the law ^^; Don't ask me specifics about since I can't find an english translation of it..

It's a zero tolerance law. The closest to English you can get is NO SWASTIKAS. EVER.

It's one of the reason zero tolerance laws are dumb.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

So the Swastikas are the offensive part?

Not Mecha-Hitler? Shooting dogs? Bloody corpses? Nazi Regalia?

Well, that's ok then.

Law is law is the law ^^; Don't ask me specifics about since I can't find an english translation of it..

It's a zero tolerance law. The closest to English you can get is NO SWASTIKAS. EVER.

It's one of the reason zero tolerance laws are dumb.

So the photos I showed above are banned? Mandalas and the like? Even if it's obvious they have no NASI/NAZI connection?

 

[CorvusFerreum]

So the Swastikas are the offensive part?

Not Mecha-Hitler? Shooting dogs? Bloody corpses? Nazi Regalia?

Well, that's ok then.

Law is law is the law ^^; Don't ask me specifics about since I can't find an english translation of it..

It's a zero tolerance law. The closest to English you can get is NO SWASTIKAS. EVER.

It's one of the reason zero tolerance laws are dumb.

So the photos I showed above are banned? Mandalas and the like? Even if it's obvious they have no NASI/NAZI connection?

In Germany they tried to sentence a left-wing parlamentary for "hate-speech" because she wore something like this:

She didn't get sentenced, but I think it shows how stupid things can get here.