Call of Duty: Black Ops is undergoing a number of heavy edits when it releases in Germany. Among the cuts is a soundtrack omission, with Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil getting snipped because it's 100% about World War II, and Heaven forbid Germany ever get reminded of its own history.
As always with Germany, a bunch of violent and gory content has also been cut, reminding us that, as much as Germany tries to never acknowledge its past, it's still incredibly keen on acting like a fascist state. Here's a full list of edits:
- A slow motion shooting scene involving lots of blood has been "toned down."
- A prisoner torture scene has been removed.
- Sympathy for the Devil cut out.
- Removal of anything deemed by officials to be "anti-constitutional symbols" (we're guessing Nazi stuff)
These edits only affect the German version, so I highly recommend importing or piracy for those gamers who don't like to pay inflated European prices for a clearly inferior product. As for Germany, its oversensitivity to violence and its refusal to ever dare recognize that Nazis existed now borders on the point of self parody.
Germany ought to grow up.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Censorship Details Revealed [CODFeeD]
[Update: I appear to have offended a number of German readers with a few of the comments made in my post, so I've taken it upon myself to address them:
For a start, when I talk about Germany as a censoring entity, I am not of course talking about every German person, so when I say "Germany ought to grow up" I'm not talking about you, the German gamer. In fact, the rest of the article should communicate that I am on your side here.
Secondly, I acknowledge that I was off-base with the "not recognizing its own history" thing. Obviously, when you see government regulations that bar the use of Nazi insignia in games or mentions of World War II in soundtracks, it smacks of denial. I still maintain it's incredibly stupid, but to say Germany refuses to acknowledge its own history when there are plenty of memorials about WWII in the country, wasn't correct.
I do not regret saying Germany, as a nanny state, needs to grow up, along with Australia. The censorship of violence and sex is intrinsically immature and childish, moreso than the content itself. Germany does need to grow up, so Germans can enjoy the same content that other gamers enjoy. I am not saying all Germans are childish. I am saying the rules currently in place are.]
Contest:
8:00 AM on 10.04.2010 | 
Germany is funny.
I HATE GERMANS O.O
(JK...)
I mean, the song mentions so many different things and events in history, it seems completely ridiculous to jump on it for that one line.
Also, obligatory "Don't mention the War!" reference.
Long live amazon.co.uk I guess.
Shut the fuck up.
(or "Halts Maul", as we say in Germany)
What you wrote is not only critically wrong, but also stupid and highly insulting. Yes, I also have a problem with the way games are rated here. And I agree that cutting "Sympathy for the devil" seems like a bad joke. But sitting there and saying that Germany "ought to grow up" and that we "refuse to ever dare recognize that Nazis existed" is so fucked up, I cannot even begin to say how wrong you are.
It is highly obvious that you never spent one minute to understand the reasons why the German rating board has these rules in place. And you clearly don't understand why Activison chose to make these adjustments. The game wouldn't have been banned, the sales would only be restricted to adults. And to sell more copies, Activision took some content out, to allow the game to be sold to people over 16. Nobody forced them to do this.
jim please dont talk about things you have absolutly no knowledge about.
besides, the cuts were made by activision not by any german institution. so the only people who are to blame fort his are the people from activision.
I won't lie, I'd rent the shit out of it just for that.
What are we talking about again? This is about how Sympathy for the Devil is in the game right?
Also, Hats Maul is now my new band's name.
Activision didn't NEED to make a number of these changes, they did so to lower their age rating and to maximise sales. It really doesn't surprise me, i can feel the cash in my pocket being drawn towards Kotick and his money grabbing machine from here!
I just wish, developers, publishers and rating agencies etc would all just accept that some games are for adults and as such can contain adult themes.
It's almost like a punishment to recieve an M or 18 rating these days. That's for games but also films in quite a big way.
Even games like Manhunt have an audience in adults. just because some parents are so irresponsible that they will buy 18 rated games for their kids to keep them quiet, doesn't mean the adult gamer population should go without adult themed games.
All games are for kids, so an 18 rated game is pointless.
/sarcasm
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Why DOES the German rating board have rules in place that would bump this game to an Adult title if Sympathy for the Devil was included?
Funny story about Sympathy for the Devil, though. My very religious sister was over with her kids for christmas and I let them play Audio Surf. Unfortunately, it turns out that Sympathy for the Devil was mislabled on my PC. Everyone was very quiet for a long time.
I understand that the way Germany acts as a "nanny state" bewilders many from the US, where freedom of speech, as a constitutional right, is held in the highest regard. But basically, you guys act the same. Just exchange "violence and nazi symbols" with "sex".
Here in Germany, we try to "protect" our youth from overly violent videogames and other media. Is it always the right thing to do? Is it even done well? No. We have much to learn and we are overeager, I give you that. But basically, as an adult, you have no restrictions getting the games you want. It's not as easy to buy Dead Rising 2 like buying Super Mario Galaxy 2, but we manage.
On the other hand, sex and nudity is a very natural thing here. And while in the US, national emergency is declared when a nipple slips out of a blouse on national television, here in Germany, for example, you even have margarine ads in commercial breaks in normal, free to watch television featuring nude people.
And I'd argue every time that watching people having sex is far more natural than people with chainsaw bayonets.
But of course, the videogame market is highly US-driven. So we rarely have erotic stuff in games. But the examples we have, like Mass Effect or Dragon Age etc., caused some huge discussions in the US, while causing only a shoulder shrug here in Germany. This is often ignored while talking about German "censorship".
tl;dr: Come visit Germany, drink a good beer, have a great time. I like it here. Even if buying Dead Rising 2 means going to a specialized game store, instead of buying it at mass electronics store.
"@Andreas Schneider
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Why DOES the German rating board have rules in place that would bump this game to an Adult title if Sympathy for the Devil was included? "
Really, I have no idea. But I guess it was a combination of several factors. I didn't play the game, obviously, but I'll try to give you an example. The german rating systems really doesn't like games glorifying war or violence. Violence as a means to a noble end, while telling a meaningful story isn't suited for kids, but otherwise ok. But imagine, for example, a rail shooter sequence in a game, something like from Apocalypse Now: You sit in a Huey, firing your chaingun, dropping napalm bombs and watching people die gory deaths, all while Ride of the Valkyries is playing. This would never get a release for a teenage audience. And in the changelog it would say "Remove Ride of the Valkyries".
Again, I don't know if this is how it is here, but this is a scenario which could explain it, you understand?
"I rode a tank, held a Generals rank
when the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank."
So can the song be played on the radio in Germany? Seriously want to know.
Confirmed for idiot.
Hey, I'm going to do that for some TF2 items. Pirate Portal 2 and spend the money I save on TF2 items :)
Thanks to e1m1 http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1467572
The Producers, the original and the remake, are sold freely (age rating 12+ for the original, 6+ for the remake) and the remake also carries the subline "Frühling für Hitler" (Springtime for Hitler). And it is sold in an Arthaus collection, which distributes culturally valuable movies.
If you guys have any more question about Germany, just ask.
Movies are no problemo they are officially rated as art so you could basicly watch swastikas all day long in german tv. But with games/comics its very different they are rated as...toys...and in Germany no game/plaything is allowed to contain nazi stuff.
I, for myself, am not a big fan of WW-FPS, but I can understand at least a bit why they censor swastikas and SS symbols. This is something we have to deal with. But to ban Gore and Blood just for the sake of the children... question is how they got their hands on those games, which leaves to their parents!
I would agree that at least part of the mainstream US culture is pretty violence obsessed. It really kicked into gear after September 11, when the entire nation was ready to go on a manhunt.
It feels like there's been blood in the water ever since.
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And I have to say, although Andrea has made a lot of good points, it does still seem rather silly to remove nazi symbolism. I very much doubt MWBO will glorify Nazis... and it's not as if Nazis are intrinsically adult - they've been in a lot of children's (12+, I think) movies.
@Andreas
As a Dutchman I like to make fun of you guys. And I often do. But you're one of the good guys. I guess somebody finally had to clear things up. Good job! Why don't you stay on Dtoid now that you're here? You sound like a cool dude. We love cool dudes.
p.s. My grandpa would like his bicycle back please. Thanks.
Uhh...we don't know that. I would really like to see arguments for this conclusion.
Perhaps you're right, and there is more to the omission of 'Sympathy for the Devil' than is readily apparent. I guess we'll have to wait for more details to surface, or an official explanation.
As far as the way nudity and violence are handled here in the US, I completely agree that it's crazy and perplexing. It turns out that religious nut-jobs enjoy playing in politics, as well.
Also, apparently you can't buy Mein Kampf in Germany. Or at least in German perhaps, i have a buddy over there who would like a copy for study, but is apparently having trouble getting hold of it.
'Cept that was by a lunatic fundie, not the government. :) Nice try though.