Information about the German version (Censorship)

[Zeruberusu]

Hi there,

I wanted to ask you if the German version will be censored or be identical to the international version.

If you censor the game, will there be a region lock on the original one? If yes, will this only affect the activation of the game or even when you want to start the game?

I really hope you don't geolock it as there is no legal need to do so in Germany. I understand when you want to follow the local laws, but you don't have to make it even more hard for customers to get an uncensored version as it already is (like Bethesda did for Wolfenstein, it would have been enough just to deny the activation, but not to geolock the game permanently).

Hope to get answers from Paradox and for the trolls:

don't even try, I won't feed you.

 

[Assuran]

They've mentioned in multiple streams the German version will comply with local laws.

I don't believe they mentioned anything about geolocking that I can recall.

 

[voidnyx]

The German version will be altered from the original version to accommodate for German law, yes.

BUT about 20 seconds after release you will be able to simply mod the flag / leader portrait etc. to your liking with minimal work involved and since those things are not checksum relevant as far as I know you will be able to get all the achievements or what ever you want with your altered version.

 

[JoyAndMisery]

Well, even HoI3 was censored but since this game has no graphical conetentm (splatter etc) the only thing really to be censored for us is Hakenkreuze etc. But there will be, I am sure, plenty of mods pretty fast available to bring the game to a greater historical depth.
So chill, there will be plenty of ways to get rid of this censorship

 

[Orlunu]

Well, even HoI3 was censored but since this game has no graphical conetentm (splatter etc) the only thing really to be censored for us is Hakenkreuze etc. But there will be, I am sure, plenty of mods pretty fast available to bring the game to a greater historical depth. E.g. flag of the rising sun since IIRC Japan does have the white background red circle flag...
So chill, there will be plenty of ways to get rid of this censorship

The white background flag was the national flag, and has been since 1870. The flags with rays (two different designs) were the flags of the Army and the Navy. The Navy flag is still exactly the same, the Army flag has now been switched to a slightly weird variant on the old one.

Spoiler

Example Japanese propaganda from the period.

 

[Zeruberusu]

The German version will be altered from the original version to accommodate for German law, yes.

BUT about 20 seconds after release you will be able to simply mod the flag / leader portrait etc. to your liking with minimal work involved and since those things are not checksum relevant as far as I know you will be able to get all the achievements or what ever you want with your altered version.

I really hope so. It's just a joke to play an historic game that would inclue the wrong flags, leaders and generals... I really hope they will not geolock it xD

Thank you very much

 

[lekim]

What will exactly be changed? Swastikas and Hitler are forbidden for entertainment purpose but the rest should be there, or?

 

[potski]

The German version will be altered from the original version to accommodate for German law, yes.

No. The original version has blacked out Hitler (and his mates). That is the version that will be sold in every country in the world. Daniel confirmed that is what they are using, and will be sold in Sweden, and Jake confirmed that is what he would download if in the UK.

If you are not in Germany you will be able to enable lit-up Hitler, as seen in the last Japan WWW when Daniel forgot to disable it before streaming began, and swapped back to blacked out very quickly when he realised his mistake.

They won't need to geolock it. Steam knows you are in Germany, if that is where you registered. And the Paradox mod forum isn't ever going to allow people to post mods of this, or with swastikas etc.

This gets answered very 3-4 days. And every 3-4 days the moderators close the threads because people start arguing the toss and discussing banned subjects.

 

[Pashahlis]

No. The original version has blacked out Hitler (and his mates). That is the version that will be sold in every country in the world. Daniel confirmed that is what they are using, and will be sold in Sweden, and Jake confirmed that is what he would download if in the UK.

If you are not in Germany you will be able to enable lit-up Hitler, as seen in the last Japan WWW when Daniel forgot to disable it before streaming began, and swapped back to blacked out very quickly when he realised his mistake.

They won't need to geolock it. Steam knows you are in Germany, if that is where you registered. And the Paradox mod forum isn't ever going to allow people to post mods of this, or with swastikas etc.

This gets answered very 3-4 days. And every 3-4 days the moderators close the threads because people start arguing the toss and discussing banned subjects.

Because such mods will surely be only avaiable on the paradox mod forum.... *cough* steam workshop *cough*

What will exactly be changed? Swastikas and Hitler are forbidden for entertainment purpose but the rest should be there, or?

Sadly swastikas arent banned because of entertainment purpose, but because german law is outdated and basically says games are not art. Art like movies or... art can have swastikas or hitler in them, but games cant. If games would be considered art in germany, then they could have swastikas and hitler too. But this will never happen because this isnt an important subject to discuss and nobody really cares about it except gamers like us who hate having a different version than everyone else in the world. There are also still dumb people who believe games cant be considered art and are a waste of time.

 

[Oddb@ll]

This again? It's been discussed/asked too many times already.

 

[lekim]

Because such mods will surely be only avaiable on the paradox mod forum.... *cough* steam workshop *cough*

Sadly swastikas arent banned because of entertainment purpose, but because german law is outdated and basically says games are not art. Art like movies or... art can have swastikas or hitler in them, but games cant. If games would be considered art in germany, then they could have swastikas and hitler too. But this will never happen because this isnt an important subject to discuss and nobody really cares about it except gamers like us who hate having a different version than everyone else in the world. There are also still dumb people who believe games cant be considered art and are a waste of time.

I am living in Germany. The law states that any reference to nazis for entertainment purpose is forbidden, otherwise a lot of history books will be forbidden as well.

If it is only swastikas and dark Hitler portrait I can live with that, dont care much for this nazi shit anyways.

 

[brobman22]

If it is only swastikas and dark Hitler portrait I can live with that, don't care much for this nazi shit anyways.

Controversial opinion you have there

 

[lekim]

Controversial opinion you have there

How is it controversial?

 

[Zeruberusu]

But the question is:

Can I buy an international CD KEY and install the game or will the pleb steam tell me that this version is not available in my region?

Becaus I was in Italy, bought Wolfenstein and was able to play it. As I returned to Germany, I wasn't able to play the game anymore and that **** Steam changed my international version into a crappy German version!

So, if I can DL it after I bought the int. Version, or at least when I activated it outside of europe, I hope the game won't be locked! Worked perfectly with the international version of South Park and no one here seemed to care.

 

[Pashahlis]

I am living in Germany. The law states that any reference to nazis for entertainment purpose is forbidden, otherwise a lot of history books will be forbidden as well.

If it is only swastikas and dark Hitler portrait I can live with that, dont care much for this nazi shit anyways.

Thats not true. Art can have swastikas, etc and movies are considered art in germany. And movies are for entertainment purposes, or not? You know the movie "Hitler: Aufstieg des Bösen"? You can see lots of swastikas in the german version. Also, whats wrong about having swastikas for entertainment purposes?

 

[aruon]

How is it controversial?

he was being sarcastic.

 

[Flamso]

What will exactly be changed? Swastikas and Hitler are forbidden for entertainment purpose but the rest should be there, or?

I'm pretty sure that swastikas won't be in any of the versions for HoI4.

 

[Had a dad]

*cough* steam workshop *cough*

if you think we cannot kill mods on the workshop, you are sadly mistaken.

No. The original version has blacked out Hitler (and his mates). That is the version that will be sold in every country in the world. Daniel confirmed that is what they are using, and will be sold in Sweden, and Jake confirmed that is what he would download if in the UK.

If you are not in Germany you will be able to enable lit-up Hitler, as seen in the last Japan WWW when Daniel forgot to disable it before streaming began, and swapped back to blacked out very quickly when he realised his mistake.

They won't need to geolock it. Steam knows you are in Germany, if that is where you registered. And the Paradox mod forum isn't ever going to allow people to post mods of this, or with swastikas etc.

This gets answered very 3-4 days. And every 3-4 days the moderators close the threads because people start arguing the toss and discussing banned subjects.

This

 

[Had a dad]

I'm pretty sure that swastikas won't be in any of the versions for HoI4.

you are correct.