Okay, this is getting absolutely stupid. Not content to act like hypersensitive pussies and censor as many mature videogames as possible, it would seem that German authorities are going as far as censoring box art. The above image is the German cover art for Valve's upcoming zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead. Can you see what's wrong with this picture?
Yes, this artwork, unlike the cover art for all other regions, has a hand with its thumb perfectly attached. The other covers have the thumb bitten away, creating a silly but amusing visual gag -- a dead left hand with four fingers, geddit? Apparently, German authorities do not geddit at all, remaining true to their reputation as humorless dicks. A reputation well deserved.
Did Valve really have to add a thumb just to appease Germany's gestapo Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle ratings board? Either Valve was told to do it, or they did it of their own volition just to make sure all tracks were covered. Whichever scenario led to this pointless alteration, it's a sad and rather pitiful example of just how much growing up Germany's ratings board needs to do. Stuff like this helps nobody.
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Contest:
8:43 AM on 10.27.2008
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So in a nutshell: German gamers get screwed on all fronts. ebay.co.uk is the only thing that keeps me from being a sad panda all the time.
It's a left hand on the US version now.
Also, you'd think the Germans would be used to this sorta thing, what with all the Nazi Zombies they had in WWII.
This is just too much. But I wonder if the german system is like that for everyother form of media or just for videogames.
Was the poster for Saw V censored because it features a guy wearing a human skin mask?
If they're just using videogames as a form of media scapegoat...screw them.
It is not only like this with videogames. The Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) Isn't even the worst entity we have here. There is also the BPJM which is sort of the federal youth protection agency. With this agency everybody can file a complaint about any piece of media and they have to check if it is harmful for the youth. If they think so they can "index" that piece of media which means that it can no longer be advertised publicly and can only be sold to people above the age of 18 "under the counter" meaning that it is no longer allowed to be openly displayed in the shelfs. That of course is basically a form of total censorship because with those restrictions practically noone will even offer the product.
It's just a nice little way to work around the german constitution which states that the state is forbidden to censor anything as long as a piece of media does not violate any currently existing laws.
Which brings us to another little tool of censorship in Germany: The courts. They can forbid any piece of media that violates laws. The most important paragraph for this would be the §131 of the Strafgestzbuch, which forbids the display of cruel or otherwise inhumane violance against humans or beings resembling humans in a way that it glorifies or belittles this violence. That's how the first Manhung got banned here.
And finally there is also the Verfassungsschutz which can ban pieces of media that display values that contradict the values of the German constitution. They were the ones that got the original version of "The Darkness" banned becaause one of the comics that you could unlock in the game contained a swastika, which due to our history is forbidden symbol in Germany. Except if the piece of media is officially recognized as a piece of art. That's the reason why Indiana Jones and the last crusade is not banned in Germany even though it has a massive ammount of swastikas in it. Movies in difference to games are already recognized as pieces of art in Germany.
Luckily the German cultural board is currently working on videogames becoming official art.
The reason why Germany has been so hard on videogames in the past years is because of a rampage that a former student of a school in Erfurt started in that school. He ended up killing about twenty people including himself. The investigation later showed that he was an avid gamer and loved Counterstrike. The idiot even rebuilt his school as a map. Those events caused the stupid masses to shun videogames as devil's plaything and our politicians of course were happy to follow suit.
So overall you can say that Videogames are treated worse than other forms of media here in Germany.
I hope this little( or actually rather large) explanation of German censorship madness helped to clear up why German gamers are always quietly crying into their pillows when one of their favourite games got cancelled/banned again.
I think I'm going to repost this comment as my first c-blog. That way It'll be easier to find if needed again.
In Europe they have a reversed tolerance for violence/sex. In the USA, Violence goes as long as there's no sex. In Europe, it's the other way around: They'd rather censor violence than sex. But, they changed what? A tiny piece of the graphic on the box art? I think you are the one who needs to get your panties out of a bunch, not Germany's authorities.
Too awesome for words. I'm going to do some checking to see if anyone has complained about it yet.
I've seen movie covers with fucking guts splattered all over the front of them and I've seen a Cd cover with a topless chick yes TITS on the front. It was an older picture, bnlack and whie, but they were tits by golly.
Some people have issues and the new thing seems to be to pick on video games.
/Yours truly, Angry german thinking about shipment costs from austria.
orginal hand definately looks more deader
@wardrox nope, its still a left hand
LEFThand/4fingers/DEADness
I GET IT NOW
*shakes head in disgust*
C'mon, you know it's too easy. You can rise up to the challenge!
I'd rather see tits than a bleeding zombie hand any day and I'd rather my kids saw tits than a bleeding zombie hand any day.
But like I said before and has seemingly gone unnoticed is that Europe in general has a different take on censorhip, censoring violence instead of sex whereas here in the USA we censor sex instead of violence. Now, the USA has the most people in jail and the highest rate of gun deaths in the world. Coincidence?