Gears of War banned in Germany

[Hooligunn]

Announced by M$ German PR Dept. today, no rating suitable enough could be given to Gears of War in Germany (which makes NO sense to me at all).

This means Gears of War has been banned from sale in Germany, and most Germans will have to import from Austria.

This is ridiculous and my heart goes out to you German Gearheads

Microsoft's German PR firm has announced that the Germany's video game ratings board, the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle, has refused to give Gears of War a rating and for that reason Epic Games’ masterpiece won’t be available in Germany

Following the ratings decision Microsoft explored the possibility of creating a version that could acquire a rating, but unfortunately this was incompatible with other versions released around the world when played on Xbox Live, so now Microsoft has decided to just not release the game, period. Germans still wishing to play Gears of War will likely have to import it from Austria, or the UK.

[shletten]

Poor them seriously... they are straight with game violence in Germany.

[Mugen]

..................ul

[MonkeyKnuckle]

For it to be released in Germany they would have had to take out the chainsaw and some other violent stuff, if they did that then people with the German version would not be able to play online against anyone else.

So it looks like Microsoft couldn't be bothered to do all that (or couldn't at all)


Unlucky Germans.

[Quicksilver]

Sucks to live in Germany. Could they try getting it on ebay?

[Mugen]

so do they just have pal in germany? can they just get a uk copy?

[MonkeyKnuckle]

so do they just have pal in germany? can they just get a uk copy?

Yes and Yes.

[Mugen]

Yes and Yes.

oh not too bad then, in fact i'd prefer that to a censored version.

[@nd1]

hey everybody,i read the news also today and man im realy pissed off.

[annunaki 23]

I think we will be hearing alot more about violence and video games soon. I wouldn't be surprised if this game provokes a more stringent system to keep this sort of thing out of the hands of minors. Which wouldn't be a bad thing in my opinion.

[jackrubyn]

hey everybody,i read the news also today and man im realy pissed off.

You shouldn't be.
As people have already mentioned, a UK version would be a much better option than a version mutilated by the censorships.

[GNRM of WAR]

i think GTA: VC is banned there as well. The sales went trough the roof!

[GKP]

I think we will be hearing alot more about violence and video games soon. I wouldn't be surprised if this game provokes a more stringent system to keep this sort of thing out of the hands of minors. Which wouldn't be a bad thing in my opinion.

tru dat.
Poor Germans.
Now they have to pay for S&H too.

[x El Scorpio x]

I'm really really glad I don't live in Germany

They ban loads of games that are violent (unless they're censored a lot)

I mean the "USK" is absolutely crazy

They [USK] gave Call of Duty 2 an 18 certificate!!!

In USA/Europe it's 13!

[Sjosz]

Like this'll stop me from playing Gears, ha!

[RIGOR_MORTIS]

I'm half-German and live in the United States. Does this mean I can only get through half the game? j/k

[annunaki 23]

No it means you can only see it from the waist down.

[Geared Up]

Poor Germany... they got ownedizzled...

[Buddha]

WOW Weird!! You have a Red Light District, but you can't have Gears of War? I don't know what I can say about this.

Buddha

[leadbelly]

germany has weird censorship laws. it doesn't mean the game is banned and cannot be sold, it just means that the USK(germany ratings board) has refused to rate it. a game cannot be banned until it has actually been launched. it will go on sale as 'unrated'. it is then up to another regulatory body to decide whether or not to ban the game. the funny thing is, even when a game gets banned it doesn't mean it can't be sold. it just means that it's illegal to advertise the game... lol

the same thing happened to dead rising as well.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=18407

it seems ridiculous to me for them to go through all this **** when at the end of it all, the game can still be sold under the counter.. what's the point?

[Hooligunn]

No it's actually banned from shops buying it in Germany, as with GTA:VC

[leadbelly]

No it's actually banned from shops buying it in Germany, as with GTA:VC

no it's not banned. read my link. the USK don't have the power to ban any game. they can only refuse to rate it. the problem is, having unrated content would break microsoft's built in parental control system. because of that, microsoft refuses permission for any publisher to launch software on the xbox 360 that is unrated.

it's not banned, but unfortunately it won't be published in germany due to technicalities.

edit - i will add... i suppose you can say microsoft have banned it. what i mean is, it hasn't actually been officially banned by the german rating board as they do not have the power to do so. it could be legally sold in germany, it just won't be published.

[elite94]

yes, i can see a stricter future upon us, but they cannot stop parents from buying minors games, my dad likes video games and he could just say it was him then give it to me, that is why i hope hilary clinton does not win the 2008 prez. election because she said she is really going to enforce the "M" rating even more than it already is...

P.S: sorry germany, if i had the money, i'd send everyone of you an unsensored copy...literally

[Creepsville]

It was a move they made in order to keep the game from being sold in Germany no matter how you slice it. They knew that Microsoft, because of their rating policies, wouldn't sell Gears without a rating. So that's what they did - they avoided giving it a rating. They knew what they were doing.

[Urza]

WOW Weird!! You have a Red Light District, but you can't have Gears of War? I don't know what I can say about this.

Don't say anything at all. Most of the world view sex completely different then the United States. While we shun it.. but cover our magazines with it.. other countries really don't worry about it. As a matter of fact, most of the world was laughing at us when the Republicans were trying to impeach Clinton for getting alittle oval office action.

Anyways...

They'll just buy it online from Amazon.co.uk or whatever the UK version of amazon is, or they'll find some where else online to order it, they just have to get around the region coding and there aren't that many region coding for 360.

[Creepsville]

As a matter of fact, most of the world was laughing at us when the Republicans were trying to impeach Clinton for getting alittle oval office action.

I don't see how that applies to this in any way.

[Urza]

I don't see how that applies to this in any way.

It's just an example of world views and lip service.

[Hooligunn]

no it's not banned. read my link. the USK don't have the power to ban any game. they can only refuse to rate it. the problem is, having unrated content would break microsoft's built in parental control system. because of that, microsoft refuses permission for any publisher to launch software on the xbox 360 that is unrated.

it's not banned, but unfortunately it won't be published in germany due to technicalities.

edit - i will add... i suppose you can say microsoft have banned it. what i mean is, it hasn't actually been officially banned by the german rating board as they do not have the power to do so. it could be legally sold in germany, it just won't be published.

Thanks for clearing that up for me lead.

[Nowellsy]

That sucks man!

[soda]

lol in australia GeOW is MA15+, any 15 year old can buy it, but our next door neighbour new zeland it is R18.

poor germans, maybe they should go on strike till they get all games released there?

[HykCraft]

The game was not banned. MS decided to not release it in Germany because it didn't get an apporiate rating. Read the press release.

[Nowellsy]

Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, USK (the unpopular banhammer of German gaming) has not granted GoW an official rating. Therefore, the title is now all but outlawed. Microsoft went on to comment that whist considering all the options, a cut-down (if you excuse the pun) version of the game was "not possible" without the core gameplay suffering as a result. And unwilling to compromise the integrity of what is sure to be their biggest title for the Xbox 360 this year is sure to be bittersweet news for anyone in Deutschland.

[leadbelly]

It was a move they made in order to keep the game from being sold in Germany no matter how you slice it. They knew that Microsoft, because of their rating policies, wouldn't sell Gears without a rating. So that's what they did - they avoided giving it a rating. They knew what they were doing.

i don't think they did it because they knew microsoft wouldn't publish it. they did it because they believed it possible another regulatory body would ban it the moment it got released. if they gave it a rating, it would of been impossible to ban it after, so they made the decision not to rate it and leave it up to someone else to decide after launch. it's just the way censorship laws work in germany.

if it was a PC game, it would of been sold at launch regardless of what the rating board had said.