"[...] burning crosses in people's yards" ? We do that all the time over here in Germany. Hanging ourselves from street lights not so much though.

Reminds me of my "Triumph of Death" Shirt from Hellhammer.

Well, why not? Someone would have claimed it racist and we'd have a shitstorm to deal with. I thought it was compelling box art, but whatever. Better safe than sorry.

I think the point Jim is trying to make is a logo with someone hanging doesn't cause or stop lynching from happening.

Though I do have a rock that prevents tigers from coming around. Do you see any tigers around you? Consider yourselves lucky I had this rock.

I can understand this censorship in the U.S. I've seen a few American articles where the author describes the word lynched as being viewed as a direct reference to the KKK and racism etc...Has that been your experience Jim?

Being a Brit, I've often heard the phrase 'I couldn't do that! I'd be lynched!' used in a comical way and it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

On a different note I actually think the strung up 'thing' looks a bit odd since it doesn't make much sense. I'm presuming nobody would kill a zombie by hanging it. So it's a person? Who killed themselves rather than be eaten? From a flimsy branch of a small palm tree?

Maybe another letter should have been used. The E? You could have a traditional arms out zombie. Arms for the top part, long feet for the bottom part. I don't what could be the middle 'sticky out' bit though....;)

Nothing major except the freedom of expression that's lost when nanny groups like the ESRB decided that material will offend whiny cunts and cause people who like to use rascism as a crutch to start on the warpath to satisfy their need to perpetuate prejudices in order to validate themselves. That's a BIG problem.

It's funny how video game box art gets edited while most cop shows go in to graphic detail about a victims' death. Welcome to the good ol' Double Standard Ranch!

So some of you really don't see a problem with a person hanging from a tree? Really?

Damn, I didn't even look closely at that logo! That REALLY sucks, that first one is pretty amazing.

First it was the trailer that had nothing to do with the game now it's the logo. This game is probably going to suck. You heard it first

FUCK YES....i prefer the new censored logo than the original..thanks to Dtoid's explanation

Also, ban explosions: Someone may have been hurt. Also, blood: Where did it come from? Someone got hurt. Also: racing cars. They may hurt someone. Also, guns. Guns hurt people. Also, mellow-looking individuals: Love hurts.

@ShotgunDiplom4t
You can lynch someone without them being black... that's where the ESRB is right. People jump to conclusions. And if YOU, someone who doesn't seem to be bothereed by that, jumps to the conclusion that its could have a racial connotation, whats gonna happen when some stupid local media outlet makes that same mental leap too?

The censored logo looks like shit, by the way.

Print original box art> place in box.

But yea, fuck censorship.

@Sonic

You're right, I'm not "bothereed" by that, because it's a fucking picture. The world is an ugly place. I've gotten over that. And no, I don't see ANY racial connotations. I was saying that the media and people like Jesse Jackson, who will slap the race stamp on ANY issue just so they can stick their nose in and make some publicity, will take it as that. I could give a fuck less about the fact that people of any skin color can be targeted for being strung up. Censoring it doesn't change the fact that it happens, and censorship like this is enabling people who use racism and controversy as a scare tactic to gain more ground. That kind behavior needs censorship, not fucking box art.

Strange fruit indeed.

I think it looks like a lynched zombie.

Okay. I understand that all of you have concerns about the censorship and have a small understanding of the race issue. But what you fail to realize are the implications such an image holds. I won't go into the details of the situation here, but the comments you have all made seem very ignorant. Not only is the image of a hanged person from a tree redolent of the United States Jim Crow era, but even the use of zombies in media has conveyed societal fears about the "othered" races. I strongly suggest that you all read up on literature concerning lynchings, Jim Crow, and zombies and Haitians.

Finally, saying that there is no racial connotation associated with a lynching is like saying that a picture of a bunch of dead people in a gas chamber has nothing to do with Jews. Personally, I find the image and the comments made here offensive. Even if the artist did not mean for the image to have any racial associations, there is an entire history of hate that the image becomes a participant of - whether the intent was racist or not. Words or images by themselves really have no meaning, it's where, and how, they're placed that allows us to create a certain interpretation. I think you all need to challenge exactly how you're looking at the image and what it would mean in the United States of America.

Look, by that same logic, it would not be allowed to depict any banner, colors or uniform of any army in the history of the world as they all have been, somewhere along they way, implicated in war crimes or crimes against humanity. Come to think of it, killing other people is a crime against humanity in itself, all other circumstances no-withstanding, but that's another issue altogether.

@ Angus

I think the point Jim is making is that people have to learn to be offended. A film like Irreversible is allowed to have a ten minute long rape scene but video games aren't allowed to have a hanged man in a logo. When Irreversible came out, many critics and audience members left the theater in disgust and labeled it as misogynistic but there were very few attempts to censor it. The cover isn't made to desensitize you; it's made to give you a certain emotion. Jim's point seems more to be that people step on video games like this and that it's totally acceptable in society to do so.

@Angus

You know what's great? People like you only perpetuate those racial connotations. It's a fucking game about zombies. It has nothing to do with race or mankinds history of violence. But people like you constantly search for meanings that are NOT THERE. Way to go. Youre helping contribute to the use of race as a weapon against freedom of expression.

The point I am trying to make is that, some people will get offended anyway by whatever they find offensive. It does not mean that what offended them is offending. In that case all it means is that the ESRB thinks that a significant amount of people (although exactly how would you define "significant" and "people" is beyond me) would be in danger of finding this offensive. Which is off-course bollocks.

I'm pretty sure VGboxart will come out with a printable uncensored logo at some point. So I don't think it's that huge of a deal.

@ShotgunDiplom4t
You my friend, are my new hero.