List of Banned Games

BeanFlicker · 03-02-2011 4:37pm #1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games

some funny ones in there,

Republic of China - Banned FM 2005 because it reconised Tibet as an independent country

UAE - Mass Effect 2 due to lesbian relationships

What games have left you with a thirst & nice aftertaste?

VampiricPadraig · 03-02-2011 4:45pm

Pokemon TCG being banned in Saudi Arabia because it was promoting gambling.

AnCapaillMor · 03-02-2011 4:46pm

Oz is fairly strict on games.

Retr0gamer · 03-02-2011 4:54pm

It wasn't banned but Rule of Rose wasn't released by the publisher 505 Games in the UK and therefore Ireland because of a ridiculous Daily Mail campaign against. They complained that the game contained scenes of bullying by children that would be harmful. Watching my grilfriend play through the game at the moment and it's really very tame. There are scenes of bullying in it but the game is actually extremely well written and actually deals with the themes of child bullying in a very intelligent and thoughtful manner. Fuck you Daily Mail. Combat is a bit crap in the game but it's worth it for the story, some amazing CGI and the soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te_No0dapPY

Sephiroth_dude · 03-02-2011 5:19pm

BeanFlicker wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games

some funny ones in there,

Republic of China - Banned FM 2005 because it reconised Tibet as an independent country

Jesus :eek:

o1s1n · 03-02-2011 5:24pm

I thought the lack of a release for ROR was more to do with the sexualized undertones of the underaged female characters?

I haven't played it myself but have been trying to pick up a copy. France seems to be the place to get it in from.

Always found Thrill Kill to be an interesting one. Also not banned, but another case of a publisher deciding 'This game is just too inappropriate.'

seanybiker · 03-02-2011 5:25pm

Think ill get mass effect 2

drunkmonkey · 03-02-2011 5:25pm

I remember having trouble getting this. It was banned at one stage. Nothing makes you happier than mowing down pedestrians.

o1s1n · 03-02-2011 5:37pm

I remember when that came out on the PC with the censored zombie version. My mate managed to find a pedestrian patch online. This was back in ye olden days when nobody in school had teh internets. We thought we were super cool playing the uncensored version :pac:

Another one I didn't discover for ages was the children being removed from Fallout 2 in the UK version. Make sure to download the kid patch so you can get that awesome Child Killer perk.

They also censored out the proper image for that perk -

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion/30/check-out-the-rejected-child-killer-perk-image-from-fo2-wow/391586/

Retr0gamer · 03-02-2011 5:38pm

o1s1n wrote: »

I thought the lack of a release for ROR was more to do with the sexualized undertones of the underaged female characters?

Not at all and anyway there was very little of that, you'd have to be reading into it a lot to find anything like that. It said there where scenes of children being buried underground and sadomasochism which were totally false. Think there were complaints about a kid being tortored with a rat on the the end of a stick, one kid did get bullied by this but it was pretty tame.

I think thrill kill got canned because it was rubbish. It went beack into development and ended up as a surprisingly good Wu Tang clan beat'em up. There's pirate copies of the finished thrill kill game online which was completed review code.

landsleaving · 03-02-2011 5:43pm

Gotta love the reason the UAE banned Heavy Rain - "Banned likely due to a sultry seduction scene"

Ah wikipedia, an ever reliable source of occasional humour the wikipolizia deem unowrthy of their obsessive-conpulsive editing.

Edit: Further reading reveals that Greece is the stupidest country on the planet. I always assumed it was Ireland, but there ya go.

Further Further reading reveals Australians need something else to worry about. Especially this Phil Ruddock character. I recommend the numerous killer animals they have lying about the place.

Genghiz Cohen · 03-02-2011 5:47pm

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I remember having trouble getting this. It was banned at one stage. Nothing makes you happier than mowing down pedestrians to an Iron Maiden soundtrack

fixed.

vinchick · 03-02-2011 5:57pm

Wow Venezuela, paranoid much?

Chaotic_Forces · 03-02-2011 5:58pm

I think Thrill Kill was on its way to being banned and it's why it was cancelled.

Carmegeddon was banned here for a while I think or wasn't sold due to not being given a rating. I know they tried to get shops to refuse to stock Bully. I don't think I ever saw Manhunt in GameStop or Game/EB. But I saw it in Chartbusters to rent and for some reason... Smyths toystores.

Isn't the second one only here on pirate? I know it's out for the Wii but I don't think I saw it stocked.

Funny tidbit about Star Trek, up till... 2004? An episode was banned from being show here due to it saying the troubles in the north ended in 2002 or something, keep in mind this was in the 90s when they said it.

I'm pretty sure the original version of San Andreas was banned or removed from most places due to the Hot Coffee problem. Though I see old second versions so it was probably just recalled or something.

Oh and China either does or did ban any media that refered to Tibet as an independant country.

krudler · 03-02-2011 5:59pm

Is Manhunt 2 still banned here?

Chaotic_Forces · 03-02-2011 6:02pm

I don't think it was ever banned. It was never given a rating. So it was illegal to sell I think but not illegal to possess.

According to the wiki it was banned but lifted later.

Spear · 03-02-2011 6:04pm

Chaotic_Forces wrote: »

Funny tidbit about Star Trek, up till... 2004? An episode was banned from being show here due to it saying the troubles in the north ended in 2002 or something, keep in mind this was in the 90s when they said it.

That was the episode "The High Ground" and it was only banned on BBC as it had a comment that a unified Ireland was achieved in 2024. RTE and Sky showed it. BBC later relented.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_High_Ground_%28Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation%29

Chaotic_Forces · 03-02-2011 6:08pm

Huh? According to the Star Trek wiki (which I'd go by more than Wikipedia) it wasn't ever shown on RTÉ unedited. And I'm pretty sure TNG was on RTÉ years and years ago at like 11:30pm.

Spear · 03-02-2011 6:31pm

Chaotic_Forces wrote: »

Huh? According to the Star Trek wiki (which I'd go by more than Wikipedia) it wasn't ever shown on RTÉ unedited. And I'm pretty sure TNG was on RTÉ years and years ago at like 11:30pm.

Hmm, everywhere claims it was edited on RTE, though I'm sure I remember it being uncut. Maybe I'm thinking of when RTE cheerfully showed the early episode with the guys head exploding so every turning on the TV to watch the Arthur Murphys mailbag show got to see it and whine about it the next week.

Funkfield · 03-02-2011 6:39pm

o1s1n wrote: »

Another one I didn't discover for ages was the children being removed from Fallout 2 in the UK version. Make sure to download the kid patch so you can get that awesome Child Killer perk.

They also censored out the proper image for that perk -

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion/30/check-out-the-rejected-child-killer-perk-image-from-fo2-wow/391586/

LOL!

That'd make a sweet tattoo!

Chaotic_Forces · 03-02-2011 6:47pm

Spear wrote: »

Hmm, everywhere claims it was edited on RTE, though I'm sure I remember it being uncut. Maybe I'm thinking of when RTE cheerfully showed the early episode with the guys head exploding so every turning on the TV to watch the Arthur Murphys mailbag show got to see it and whine about it the next week.

Yeah, I know that episode too was edited on the BBC. And I remember it being fine on RTÉ. TBH, I think a lot of things are left uncut here; the simpsons being the biggest example. On Sky and Channel 4 they constantly remove things after the first time we see it.

How come Deus Ex wasn't banned? You could kill kids in that.

Retr0gamer · 03-02-2011 7:12pm

Chaotic_Forces wrote: »

How come Deus Ex wasn't banned? You could kill kids in that.

I find things really only get banned when the Daily Mail or some other ridiculous 'think of the children!' group starts to kick up a fuss about. These groups haven't a clue what they are talking about and usually have no idea of what they are campaigning against having never seen or having played the game. It seems to be random what they jump on. Rule of Rose was picked up on by one italian official since the publisher was italian and the outcry spiralled out of control from there for what is a very niche and pretty much harmless game. Then you've got something like Persona 3 completely going under the PC brigades noses, even Atlus was surprised with the lack of controversy over the game since it involves schoolkids shooting themselves in the heads with 'evokers' that look like guns to summon demons. I just goes to show that the people that start these campaigns are a small, very vocal and even stupider minority that don't even know the what they are campaigning and hence they are afraid of it.

Chaotic_Forces · 03-02-2011 7:30pm

You have a point but it's funny that if they actually played Deus Ex, I'm sure they'd be all over it. In the second mission at the start you meet a kid who's starving and one of the responses is "you don't look so bad tell me what you know about the NSF" (don't worry, no spoilers there). Then if you have some food (even a candy bar) you can give it to him, shoot him dead and take it back.

It actually makes no sense. Particulary of Canis Canem Edit since people were saying "oh it promotes bullying" and so on, except the judge said something along the lines of "it's nothing more than you'd see at any school". And that Jimmy was something of a hero standing up for kids. Such a far cry from "it'll make your children bully people".

Retr0gamer · 03-02-2011 7:40pm

Yeah Bully was the most hypocritical. It was less offensive than most games, it was even less offensive and violent than tom and jerry, and the character you played was actually standing up to bullies!

ride-the-spiral · 03-02-2011 7:45pm

Remember some guy said this ?

"Mass Effect can be customised to sodomise whatever, whomever, however, the game player wishes," and "with its ‘over the net’ capabilities virtual orgasmic rape is just the push of a button away."

http://gamepolitics.com/2008/01/14/conservative-blogger-claims-mass-effect-offers-customizable-sodomy

Retr0gamer · 03-02-2011 7:49pm

ride-the-spiral wrote: »

Remember some guy said this ?

"Mass Effect can be customised to sodomise whatever, whomever, however, the game player wishes," and "with its ‘over the net’ capabilities virtual orgasmic rape is just the push of a button away."

http://gamepolitics.com/2008/01/14/conservative-blogger-claims-mass-effect-offers-customizable-sodomy

Is there a cheat code for that?

Chaotic_Forces · 03-02-2011 7:50pm

One of the biggest things they had a problem with was the fact you could kiss boys. Which nobody really says "okay, so we accept gay people but if they show gay people to kids then it's okay". Instead it's "condem all media of gay people from anything to do with children".

Mass Effect was another one that was to include "graphic sex scenes" and I am 99% sure on a news show in the US, one of the people who was against it and claiming it had graphic sex scenes was caught out and said she never even played it and she just heard about it.

Speaking of bully, I'm not going to go on a rant or anything but here's a quote from Jack Thompson (whom I am sure we know who he is), if not, google, he's a lawyer.

Thompson later drew attention to the game's main character, a 15-year old male, being able to kiss other boys. Thompson wrote to ESRB president Patricia Vance, "We just found gay sexual content in Bully as Jimmy Hopkins makes out with another male student. Good luck with your Teen rating now." The ESRB indicated that they knew the content was in the game when they rated the game

That was a quote about Bully/Canis Canem Edit. I think it goes to show you that unless a game is outright banned, most of the slander towards the games are generally grasping at thin straws. Because when that was said, it was already past the first batch of complaints against violence.

pablomakaveli · 03-02-2011 8:04pm

I can never understand why a country like Australia can have such harsh game censorship. It's one of the main reasons why i wouldn't consider emigrating there.

If anyone remembers the car part of the Die Hard Trilogy game on the PS1 you could run over people and blood would splatter on the windscreen and the wipers would come on. Sort of similiar to Carmageddeon but it never seemed to get picked up by the media.

The whole thing with Canis Canem Edit also showed up the ignorance and stupidity of anti-games campaigners. It's amazing the way those peoples complaints are taken seriously despite the fact they've probably never actually try playing the games for themselves.

Chaotic_Forces · 03-02-2011 8:11pm

Rule of boring and long.

Take a film for example: you can skip straight to the parts that are violent and why it should be banned/edited. Games you have to play. And like Thompson did, claim "they weren't showing the most violent parts of the games". So essentially, Chinese whispers are being used but only because it's far easier to create mass hysteria with those than it would be to actually try to mount an effective case with the truth. So as Cordy from Buffy/Angel once said about Angelus: he lies with the truth.

Technically speaking, Canis Canem Edit is not for kids (young kids, teens might like it). But if it's not aimed at kids but at young teens (I think it was 15s here), then you can say "it's aimed at kids". And suddenly the media assumes "kids" means "young kids" that are around 4/5/6 and they just go off on that.

I think the thing with the Die Hard Trilogy game was that it was movie based. It's one of the reasons most games can be a bit more violent. If it's based on an adult movie then obviously it's for "adults only".

And don't even get me started on the flipping Aussies... A-cup breasts are now classed as child porn and are not to be shown in porn. Yeah, great going, destroy a lot of self-confidance.

As for Carmegeddon, I'm sure it was billed as being violent.

richymcdermott · 03-02-2011 9:52pm

Always wanted to try that rape lay game see whats the fuss about cant be that bad ,

Also Record of Agreast 2 :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUAS8aXpHhM

Retr0gamer · 03-02-2011 9:57pm

Nothing beats a bit of Battle Raper.

List of Banned Games

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