Posted Jul 16, 2006 at 11:38AM by Ruben W. Listed in: News, Dead Rising Tags: Germany, Capcom, Netherlands, Slasher
Ó

Dead Rising


The sensational zombie-slasher from Capcom for the Xbox 360, Dead Rising, will not appear in Germany. Apparently the USK, the people who test the appropriateness of games, didn't like the way you can hack, slash, kill and maim the zombies. This is especially odd because a number of years ago the same group did approve the infamous game Carmageddon, in which you had to drive over people for points (although human pedestrians were replaced by zombies in the German version).

Censorship like that has been applied many times before on violent games in Germany, so the USK have most likely raised the bar on their standards when it comes to violent content. In a way it's pointless to ban the game from the shelves, because the people who really want to play this will just order it online or make a trip to their neighboring countries (Netherlands for example). Somehow I doubt that Capcom wants to replace their zombies with robots, it would ruin the whole game short of a rename to Dead Rebooting.

Dead Rising is scheduled for release on September 15 this year, but since the game has been delayed many times before we can't be sure of this. This will be an Xbox 360 exclusive.


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28 Comments


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   by raytard - 2006-07-16
 » release date?

spt. 15, is that pal regions or something? im pretty sure the us one is aug. 8

   by E (Unregistered) - 2006-07-16
 » e

That's why importing/online ordering always wins.

   by GirlGamer (Unregistered) - 2006-07-16
 » Feking sick of this *****e

i am so fecking sick of games being portrayed as bad in the media and games like rainbow six and dead rising being baned etc, its so stupid, i love games and have grown up with it, now that its reached mass media people are trying to bash it left right and center, just becuase those stupid americans have run out of excuses to sue each other, they try to get their fix from sueing game devs and bring down the game industry rep along with it and dont even get me started on that mofo jack thompson, ***** THAT.

   by XxX (Unregistered) - 2006-07-16
 » not surprized really

Get say a chainsaw and start running. You can hardly see anything other than blood.

This game is why I bought an Xbox.

Can I import the game or not? thanks

   by An American (Unregistered) - 2006-07-16
 » dont be a biggot

Its not right to clump all us Americans together. SOME of us are very intelligent and every country has its morons. I would be willing to wager a bet that the only reason their seems to be more here is because we are ALOUD to do the things that seem make asses out of are selves. If your laws were as lax as ours you would probably have this political bull ***** too.

   by Annony - 2006-07-16
 » Bad Clown

Holy *****!!! It's 'IT'!!!!!!!!

   by An American (Unregistered) - 2006-07-16
 » I agree

I totaly agree with you Bett. I also hate Bush, with a passion I might add. But I was directing my comment towards GirlGamer who obviously wasnt just talking about polatitions, she was talking about us in general wich I think is rude. She can think what ever she wants but it would be nice if people didnt post that kind of crap where we HAVE to see it. To be honest I dont even like my country and I believe that most Americans ARE dumb. All I was doing is letting her know that some of us are not and that what she said was offensive.

   by pspsmallz (Unregistered) - 2006-07-16
 » losers

its a game lol.......everybody shut up

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   by Emil (Unregistered) - 2006-07-17
 » Banned

In the era of the SNES there were a lot of games that were banned in Germany. Actually there are two ways of a game getting banned in Germany. There is a so called index with a list of games and other media, that must not be advertised or sold to anyone under 18. You cannot even show the game in a store, if you want to buy that game you have to ask for it. This practically means the game will not be sold anywhere.

The second form is a real nationwide ban meaning that selling such media (and in some cases even owning it if I remember correctly) is punishable by the law. Only a few titles are really banned, mostly racist material (but also games like Wolfenstein 3D).

On another note, the German version of Carmageddon had robots in it that did not even look remotely like humans at all. As far as I know even all the animals were replaced.

Nevertheless this banning thing is horrible. I remember that Germany proposed to the European Union of introducing their banning system for the whole EU.

   by foobar (Unregistered) - 2006-07-17
 » propaganda

bull*****, perhaps check local laws first before posting somethign like "banned".

you might want to check the status of this game on www.usk.de (id: 16074/06). It boils down to: not available for youngsters but to people of age over 18.

law-papers (also in english) available here: http://www.bag-jugendschutz.de/gesetze.html


   by zerojrg (Unregistered) - 2006-07-17
 » im pretty confused

ok so....this game was banned in germany...but its somehow the "stupid American's" fault? someone help me out here...

/sarcasm

anyways, this game being banned in another country just makes me want it all the more

   by kid6488 - 2006-07-17
 » Ew...

I can't wait to kill that clown in the picture... damned clowns... *shivers*

   by qgi (Unregistered) - 2006-07-17
 » It's NOT censorship

Just to make this clear: It's not forbidden to sell the game!
The USK labeled "Dead Rising" as not suitable for minors. This just means, that you cannot sell it to people under 18 years and you are not allowed to sell it over the internet (or other ways where there is no direct contact between seller and buyer) and a limited number of other placed (like kioskes) (see http://helliwood.mind.de/~usk/pdf/FAQ%20Jugendschutzgesetz.pdf, pages 22f for details). You even are allowed to display the product, as long as you don't make the content accessable in public.
The point is that the publisher decides that under those circumstances they won't sell enough units and therefor not officially releases the game in Germany.

In the end it's a cultural issue: The display of (and virtual participation in) extreme violence is considered a bad thing in Germany so the public tries to keept kids away from this. On the other hand I bet hot coffee wouldn't have the German president's wife made go berserk. Now I'm off for the lake to have my daily dose of topless women ;-)

   by qgi (Unregistered) - 2006-07-17
 » the ex-president's wife..

Sorry, got this wrong. I meant "the German ex-president's wife". (here's a picture of her btw: http://www.christianeherzogstiftung.de/images/christiane_herzog.jpg).
;-)
...erm...You know we also got Heidi Klum, don't you?

   by Phil (Unregistered) - 2006-07-17
 » Germans historical capabilities

Holocost happened without any games influence, So either the cencors think this kind of material will bring out the worst in one of the historically most savage peoples. Or they have had bratvurst too many

Not that i care that much, I'm not german. Or have an xbox

   by mike (Unregistered) - 2006-07-17
 » DR

Dead Rising isn't banned here! This is a lie.

Jesus, please stop this mistranslations from german sites. The game is coming out here!

   by James Francis (Unregistered) - 2006-07-17
 » Robots, not zombies

Also, the German version of Carmageddon features robots. The UK version features zombies.

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   by Chavagnatze - 2006-07-17
 » Some people in Germany belive the Holocaust never happened!

That in itself just explains the type of superficial reasoning some politicians can have.

   by jacen (Unregistered) - 2006-07-17
 » no description

germans usually order censored games from austrian shops.
as they might be able to get german versions here ... that is, if the developer/publisher has made a german version of the game.

   by Tosus (Unregistered) - 2006-07-18
 » German censorship

Personally, living in Germany, I'd never had any proble with the German system of "banning" games. Almost all places will still sell games and movies that are "ab 18", the only obtrusiveness is a little red sticker on the front and the occasional reminder at the register. It's much more elegantly handled than in the states (*cough* hot coffee *cough*), and politicians don't drag out the issue of banning games avery election year here. On that same vein, the games that do get "banned" are always violent bloodfests (*cough* hot coffee *cough*), or games that glorify war. The quickest way to get a game banned (and actually banned, not just relegated to th top shelf) is to feature Nazis as the protagonist. If there's a story about censorship in the German media, this isn't it.

   by dervish (Unregistered) - 2006-07-18
 » Please change the headline

Dead Rising has definitely not been banned in Germany. It's perfectly legal to sell, buy, own and play as long as you're over 18, with some restrictions on the advertising. I might be banned later, because the ratings boards has refused to give it an age certificate (as soon as it does that, a game cannot be banned anymore), but it is not banned now. Other sites like Eurogamer have corrected their mistake, why can't you?

   by Traspler - 2006-07-18
 » To German ppl!!

Don't worry... get one from Switzerland and you can enjoy the Game with a german instruction manual and English Vioices and Text in-game :)

   by Boris Schneider-Johne (Unregistered) - 2006-07-19
 » The real story

I wrote a lengthy piece on this on my blog. The story is incorrect and has more layers to it. Read here:
http://www.dreisechzig.net/wp/archives/566

   by Not An American (Unregistered) - 2006-07-31
 » omfg u americans

@ An American
omg when are u americans going to realize that ur not the only democracy in the world anymore ? bla bla we have such lax laws... we're sooo free ... our government keeps track of our library records LOL .... Ur country is turning into a friggin police state and you don't even see it comming cause u have been brainwashed to think that ur soooo free. Well wake up there are a bunch of countries where there is more freedom than in your country. And the fact that you still think that ALL of the world's countries except yours are dictatorships makes u so popular with the rest of the world :)
Do read up on a few countries 4 example europe in case you've heard of it .. that's that other continent across the blue liquidy thingi .... (no offense to all the normal americans that got a brain. this is only directed at that idiot who posted here)

   by Albino (Unregistered) - 2006-08-08
 » Publishing?

Hey peeps. Common. Lets be friendly. Every country has their idiots. Like me. I'm a stoopid Brit. Lol. Anyway, I read Boris Schneider-Johnes blog and it was really good BUT I have one major question. U say that the game has been given NO RATING in Germany so at the moment it is not available to minors and it cant be advertised openly although it is allowed to be sold "under counter". Thats fine.
You go on to say that because Microsoft only allow rated games to be published that in Germany it cant be published. What exactly does that mean. Published? Is that referiing to advertising or does it mean that shops physcially wont stock it and I guess thats Microsofts fault because they wont publish it in Germnay due to the lack of rating. Effectively a ban? Maybe publishing means printing of the CD? Maybe I'm just being blonde but can u describe further what the meaning of not being allowed to publish entails and therefore the effects this would have? Cheers, Albino.
Ps. Those peeps with nice posts good on ya.
4 those speaking rubbish and given hassle to others, get lives and grow up.

   by Chris K. (Unregistered) - 2006-08-11
 » Okay, it's not the government's responsibility

Okay, first off, I'm an American. I personally don't see anything wrong with limiting sales of certian media to those over 17 or 18 years old. My biggest pet peeve is the notion that kids learn aggressive and deviant behavior from said games and movies, and the government should regulate the sale and distribution of such "offensive material." Give me a break...it's not the manufacturer, the distributor, or the retailers fault. It's not the government's responsibility to regulate what children do or do not watch on the television. It's the freaking parent's responsibility. I and a lab partner conducted a Psychology experiment for a Psych 102 class I had taken a few semesters back, where we observed purchases of 'M' rated games at a few local video game shops. We tabulated the following categories: A) Number of times a minor was sold an 'M' rated game. B) Number of times a parent or guardian refused to buy an 'M' rated game for their child due to content, and C) Number of times a parent or guardian bought an 'M' rated game for their child without question. Out of around 50 instances observed, guess what the figures were? A) 0. B) 11. C) 39. TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY. Look at the game you're buying for your kids before bringing it to the counter. If your kid finds the idea of chopping a person in half with a chainsaw intriguing thanks to "Dead Rising", it's not the game's fault. It's yours, Mom and Dad.

   by ? (Unregistered) - 2006-08-16
 » Shut Up

@Not An American
When are you guys gonna realize you're *****s?

And im not american myself, so im not saying this because dissing america.

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   by billy (Unregistered) - 2006-10-12
 » long hair,smale nose,very smart

I thik tha dead rising is the best game I'v seen yet,why would they band it?



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