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I think all Jermans can now relax, I certainly think this is nothing to get upset about, dunno why it took quite this long for them to come out with it, but hey.
Thoughts?
Jerman censorship
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Starts at about a minute in.
I think all Jermans can now relax, I certainly think this is nothing to get upset about, dunno why it took quite this long for them to come out with it, but hey.
Thoughts?
They are going over the top. This is really not necessary at all. No german court would see these pictures as pro-nazi "propaganda", and thats the thing which is forbidden.
But I guess they asked a lawyer, so who am I to claim different.
But I guess they asked a lawyer, so who am I to claim different.
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Correct. Thats an problem with the entire gaming industry. They are simply doing unnesseary overcensoring of their games to make sure they will get through the USK and the BPjM without any problem. I can of course understand them for doing it, because it takes pretty long for games to get an review by those, frankly pretty slow, institutes which dont really have set guidelines of what is ok and what not. Today they are much more open to games and not longer under influence by the politics, which frankly blamed videogames for their failure a while ago. If anyone remembers the censorship in CnC Generals, where all humans were replaced by cyborgs for example, such censorship is long gone. Mortal Kombat X and (the new) DOOM are complelty uncensored USK 18 titiles, even tho the previous titles in those series were on the index previously, meaning they cant be advertised but still be bought.
Films show nazis and nazi symbols since decades without any problem. There is one problem tho, when it comes to brutality. Films and Videogames get treated differently because they argue that Videogames are an interactive media, which would mean there would be an "emotional binding" or some nonsense like that and apperiently makes people into aggressive murderers or something like that, unless of course the brutality is that over the top like in mortal Kombat X, that it is totally ok again and dont need any censoring and gets an usk 18 badge.
Another problem is, no game developer would even think about going to court, because it is much easier, faster and cheaper to simply censor games to make sure they go through, especially compared to films which are very hard and costly to censor.
In the end there is no point in discussing it any further. It is what it is, germans will by the uncensored international version as always, the german gouverment wont get their 19% cut and everyone but the gouverment will be a winner. The censorship isnt even that bad at all, all they did was shade the faces of hitler and some political leaders. As far as i know they arent even going to change their names like in the german HoI III version apperiently, where he was called "Adolfo Hiller" or something like that according to some people, I got the uncensored international version, legally on steam. The swastika isnt present in any HoI game in any version to be clear. In HoI III we had the Tradinng Flag of the german reich and HoI IV has the Warflag even in the international version.
It should also be pointed out, that unless the international version gets banned for some reason, which rarely any games beside very few get, it will be perfectly fine and legal to buy the international uncensored version. Games that are put on the index only cant be openly advertised, but are legal to buy as an grown adult. Even Amazon offers imported UK (english) and Austrian (german) versions of games.
If you made it this far into my massive block of text, congratiulations and thanks for reading. I hope this makes the situation with german censorship in games a bit more clear for outsiders.
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I'll agree it's not perfect, but at least the real names are in the game.
That would've annoyed me otherwise.
That would've annoyed me otherwise.
The only issue I have is that they simply ignore the question: "Will German customers be able to buy the international, uncensored version via Steam on German soil?"
I will play it in English anyways, I'd just love to know if German customers will have the chance to buy the uncensored version or not.
I will play it in English anyways, I'd just love to know if German customers will have the chance to buy the uncensored version or not.
I don't think we'll get an answer. I think that question has been floated numerous times by now.
Paradox has to make a decision about what is better for their customers and themselves. In their shoes, I'd be as conservative about this issue as they are. Otherwise, they risk delaying a German release.
They may also have to not tell people how to skirt the German censorship (while knowing that others will likely fill in the details) out of an abundance of caution. I also believe that is best for them, as well as for their customers.
They may also have to not tell people how to skirt the German censorship (while knowing that others will likely fill in the details) out of an abundance of caution. I also believe that is best for them, as well as for their customers.
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