[OxBlood]

Originally Posted by Dimnos

A little off topit but Im curious. Doesnt Germany edit lots of games if they dont just ban then all out? Can you just drive over to the Netherlands and buy one of these edited or banned games and bring it back? If you do could you get in trouble for it? Would they confiscate the game and possibly fine you for owning "controlled goods"? Kind of like Cuban cigars here in the states.

Banning is not so much of a problem. The only things that get banned are extremely violent games or games that have Swastikas in them. Examples of banned games would be the old and new Wolfenstein-Games, Dead Rising (I´m still allowed to own it, just couldn´t buy it anymore or show it publicly), the first Condemned and so on.

Our rating-guys basically have a problem with violence against humans and sometimes they don´t even care at all it seems. God of war 3 for example was released without any cuts or modifications, it´s just rated 18 and that´s it.

Our real problem here are some old farts who call themself politicians who never tire of blaming Video Games for all kinds of violence. Everytime there is someone running amok - Videogames, no doubt. It´s really really annoying. Sad fact: We had quite some cases of some kid running amok here over the last few years. Why? Because they were completely messed up losers no one cared about. That´s what drove them over the edge, everyone knows that but admitting it would be admitting that our politicians have to do something in terms of families and education and that´s WAY too expensive no sir, no money for helping the messed up.

Luckily most important politicians don´t give a shit because they know the Videogame-industry is too important by now to piss it off and that the whole affair is just plain bullshit anyway. But it´s still a popular way to draw attention away from real problems like stupid parents, insufficiently effective schools and other stuff in this country.

Of course, those who criticise Videogames and blame them for all kinds of stuff never touched or even saw a videogame. A special problem is a single guy, a...what´s the word in english...he´s a professor for criminology I think and he neeeever tires of honking around like a fucking elk when it comes to Videogames in connection to violence. Kinda like our version of Jack Thompson, only that no one shut the stupid bastard up yet.

In short: Our problem is not so much the censoring of videogames, even though that CAN be problematic every now and then, it is the defamation of millions of people with a harmless hobby, the discrimination of videogamers and the deliberate misinformation of the public by these liars and politicians who either use the whole topic to avert attention from their own mistakes or simply because they actually believe in all that bullshit. How I´d love to see them replaced by efficient people, that would be so wonderful.

Interesting fact: Most of the time, these people seem to be part of the CSU (christly social union), the bavarian branch of the christian-democrats who are about as convervative as you can get in germany. Egh...bavarians, you don´t understand what the hell they´re saying, they ruin our politics (not that other politicians were a lot better though), they´re way too extreme with their CSU-guys...what the fuck do we need ´em for anyway...

Not that I´ve ever been to Bavaria but if they can be prejudiced against my hobby and by that against me, I can afford not to like them too.

Oh and as a final statement: I HATE politics, it destroys so much with it´s scheming and all the lies and what´s worse, people believe all those lies. It´s like a fucking circus everytime there´s an election here. People "promise the blue from the skies", as we say here and still, a lot of people actually believe all this and go vote for the idiots. It´s true for all parties here, sure and not voting is a dangerous thing to do because it strengthens the brown guys but still: I won´t be able to vote for ANY major party while keeping a clean conscience...

Sorry, I got side tracked but maybe it´s interesting to know for you guys how things are handled over here.

Oh by the way, Strange Journey simply wasn´t released in europe, just a money-thing for Atlus, the strong religious themes never posed any problem here.

Edit (15:30h here): Hey, Dr. Boogie, guess what? Strange Journey just got here. The order from the Netherlands that is...talk about flying Dutchmen...2 Days, that´s a good time...