Fallout 3 Edited For Japan

[Doug]

This is the first case in which I see censorship completely justified. I'm sorry, but for Japanese the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an equivalent of Holocaust.

Putting it into American/European perspective, would you like to see Holocaust featured in a video game in a such a drastic way Fallout 3 tackles Nuclear Bombs?

Ah, so, the raping, enslaving, murderering (and no, I don't mean in direct warfare, I mean in actual murders) Japanese of WW2 were as undeserving as the entire Jewish race? Excellent.

At least the Germans mostly admit what happened and have apologied as a nation.

 

[Simski]

This is the first case in which I see censorship completely justified. I'm sorry, but for Japanese the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an equivalent of Holocaust.

Putting it into American/European perspective, would you like to see Holocaust featured in a video game in a such a drastic way Fallout 3 tackles Nuclear Bombs?

Yes?

 

[Dommyboy]

[slight spoiler] I would expect that they would remove the part where the Chinese soldiers come into the town and shoot everyone in the fake vault thing, forget the name of it [end]

 

[waffletaco]

This is the first case in which I see censorship completely justified. I'm sorry, but for Japanese the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an equivalent of Holocaust.

Putting it into American/European perspective, would you like to see Holocaust featured in a video game in a such a drastic way Fallout 3 tackles Nuclear Bombs?

Yes?

I could see that happening. It would be a pretty wicked awesome quest to undertake, to be honest. It'd be a pretty big decision like the Power of the Atom quest. Would you side with the exterminators or work to free the ones in the camps for the (perhaps) betterment of the world?

I say the (perhaps) because you know the former is evil, but

Spoiler

Like the tenpenny tower quest you can take shortly after bombing Megaton, if you opt to solve the problem diplomatically and get the ghouls to live at Tenpenny Tower, you realize that the ghouls kill all the inhabitants. That ended up being an evil act despite good intentions. What if someone in one of those camps was going to do something equally evil and you had no way of knowing?

Sure there should probably be another quest or a way of finding out this evil guy and what he was planning to do, but what if you saved everyone and never found out about this dastardly guy? He blows up the whole world and robs it of its chance for salvation. That would be a really twisted ending in the little slideshow deal at the end of FO3.

My point is, I really like big choices similar to the Power of the Atom quest and would certainly like to see more of them. (though of course not EVERY quest should be some monumentally huge choice that would shape the world forever as it would grow dull.)

 

[Elurindel]

Meh, I think its apart of this whole Japanese denial thing. They don't want to remember the war at all, nor acknowledge there abuse of POW's, civilians (including so-called 'Comfort women' - i.e. sex slaves), and so forth.

I'm not saying the USA was right to nuke'm, but they still want to pretend it never happened. Or more accurately, the higher ups and older ones do:
http://edition.cnn.com/books/news/9905/25/nanking.salon/
http://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2007/02/japan-still-in-denial-about-comfort-women/
http://centurychina.com/wiihist/japdeny/index.html

This whole censorship thing is apart of this - if Japanese kids come face to face with an in-game nuke, they might begin to look into it, into world war 2, and into the conduct of the Japanese in that war.

Frankly, I'm annoyied.

I'm not sure the entirety of Japan ignores the fact that these things happened. If you've watched certain japanese media, you'll see a lot of imagery involing giant mushroom-headed explosions. It tends to figure largely in anime, but it's there.

 

[Doug]

[slight spoiler] I would expect that they would remove the part where the Chinese soldiers come into the town and shoot everyone in the fake vault thing, forget the name of it [end]

Ahh, yeah. But that works within the context of the story. In the story, the USA and China where at war with each other, which resulted in the nuke-war.

 

[Doug]

This is the first case in which I see censorship completely justified. I'm sorry, but for Japanese the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an equivalent of Holocaust.

Putting it into American/European perspective, would you like to see Holocaust featured in a video game in a such a drastic way Fallout 3 tackles Nuclear Bombs?

Ah, so, the raping, enslaving, murderering (and no, I don't mean in direct warfare, I mean in actual murders) Japanese of WW2 were as undeserving as the entire Jewish race? Excellent.

At least the Germans mostly admit what happened and have apologied as a nation.

Don't forget cannibalistic - they ate the Australian POW's who dropped dead on the Kokoda trail. And our recognition? Being omitted entirely from Call of Duty: World at War.

Bloody hell! I didn't even know about that, but it does fit with the whole picture of them in the war.

Meh, I think its apart of this whole Japanese denial thing. They don't want to remember the war at all, nor acknowledge there abuse of POW's, civilians (including so-called 'Comfort women' - i.e. sex slaves), and so forth.

I'm not saying the USA was right to nuke'm, but they still want to pretend it never happened. Or more accurately, the higher ups and older ones do:
http://edition.cnn.com/books/news/9905/25/nanking.salon/
http://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2007/02/japan-still-in-denial-about-comfort-women/
http://centurychina.com/wiihist/japdeny/index.html

This whole censorship thing is apart of this - if Japanese kids come face to face with an in-game nuke, they might begin to look into it, into world war 2, and into the conduct of the Japanese in that war.

Frankly, I'm annoyied.

I'm not sure the entirety of Japan ignores the fact that these things happened. If you've watched certain japanese media, you'll see a lot of imagery involing giant mushroom-headed explosions. It tends to figure largely in anime, but it's there.

Hence why I added the qualifier 'Or more accurately, the higher ups and older ones do'. Ok, it was tagged on towards the end when I realises my rant came across as saying all Japanese deny it.

 

[Panayjon]

According to Kotaku, however, the reaction to the changes among Japanese gamers seems to be "largely disappointment." Perhaps those old scars aren't as sensitive as we might think? Fallout 3 goes on sale in Japan in December.

Judge them not by the censors but by the people who would actually end up playing the game. If the FCC had its way then half the shows on television would just be an endless series of beeps and black bars. I'm sure its a similar situation over there.

 

[Amnestic]

I kinda get why they removed the Fat Man. Makes sense to me. Less so for the Mr. Burke but I can still sorta see where they're coming from. Weird sensation, me agreeing with censorship/cuts in this case, but there you go.

 

[Airhead]

It seems like the decision has come from Bethesda and I think they are just playing it safe, unneccesarily. The people who are most likely to be offended by the game are probably old folks, who are also the least likely to play it.

As some of you have pointed out, there have been references to nuclear bombs in past games released in Japan and apparently no trouble has been stirred, so I doubt the whole nation would be up in a riot this time.

 

[032125]

I hate to nitpick, but censorship has a specific definition and it implies govenment suppression of information. If the US or Japanese government had declared the content illegal, that would be censorship. Example: Australian government censorship of the game.

When a private entity chooses not to say something because they do not wish to offend, that is called tact. You may think that Bethesda is being a big pack of pussies; but as much as I adore fallout, there is a large degree of cavalier humor towards immeasurable human suffering in this game, and not everyone finds as amusing as I do.

So please don't confuse this with *gasp* the dreaded censorship, because it's not. It's just a business decision, and a wise one at that.

 

[RedDiablo]

I find it funny that COD: World at War was not banned in Japan, even though you kill Japanese for about 45% of the game. I don't think many people would be very angry over the Fatman, and I don't really find it necessary to remove "The Power of the Atom".

 

[vede]

I hate to nitpick, but censorship has a specific definition and it implies govenment suppression of information. If the US or Japanese government had declared the content illegal, that would be censorship. Example: Australian government censorship of the game.

When a private entity chooses not to say something because they do not wish to offend, that is called tact. You may think that Bethesda is being a big pack of pussies; but as much as I adore fallout, there is a large degree of cavalier humor towards immeasurable human suffering in this game, and not everyone finds as amusing as I do.

So please don't confuse this with *gasp* the dreaded censorship, because it's not. It's just a business decision, and a wise one at that.

A wise one? Even though the article says the reaction has been "largely disappointment"? You're saying potential customers being disappointed is a wise business decision?

Also, taking one thing out of Fallout could not possibly be called "tact." I'm certain the game goes far, far beyond being tactful, and removing one thing won't fix anything.

 

[RedDiablo]

I find it funny that COD: World at War was not banned in Japan, even though you kill Japanese for about 45% of the game. I don't think many people would be very angry over the Fatman, and I don't really find it necessary to remove "The Power of the Atom".

I don't get your post at all.
Anyone realizes that both sides are gonna have casualties in war. Realize this. But your post says "WaW isn't banned because most of the game your killing Japanese"?
So then WaW should be banned in Germany because you kill Germans?
Really, this is all tact. Bethesda doesn't want to offend anyone in Japan. And how is killing soldiers offending anyone? I can see the torture scene in the opening, but killing soldiers? The game is about "Killing the enemy! Fighting for the right to be able to eat Apple Pie while playing Baseball". And fighting for freedom?

First of all, you are bringing war to nothing more than "Two sides killing each other, and regardless of race, it doesn't matter who gets offended." Also, there are people who are veterans, or have family members who fight in wars, and they feel very strongly over war.

 

[RedDiablo]

I find it funny that COD: World at War was not banned in Japan, even though you kill Japanese for about 45% of the game. I don't think many people would be very angry over the Fatman, and I don't really find it necessary to remove "The Power of the Atom".

I don't get your post at all.
Anyone realizes that both sides are gonna have casualties in war. Realize this. But your post says "WaW isn't banned because most of the game your killing Japanese"?
So then WaW should be banned in Germany because you kill Germans?
Really, this is all tact. Bethesda doesn't want to offend anyone in Japan. And how is killing soldiers offending anyone? I can see the torture scene in the opening, but killing soldiers? The game is about "Killing the enemy! Fighting for the right to be able to eat Apple Pie while playing Baseball". And fighting for freedom?

First of all, you are bringing war to nothing more than "Two sides killing each other, and regardless of race, it doesn't matter who gets offended." Also, there are people who are veterans, or have family members who fight in wars, and they feel very strongly over war.

Is that how it came off?
It was more of a "Yes,there will be casualties, but that doesn't mean all games involving a war they were in should be banned".
That's how it was meant to come off as.

If I irked you about my post, I am sorry, and I am sorry for taking your quote the wrong way. This topic is not about War and who it offends, so I think we shouldn't talk about this anymore.