Looks like Germany got fucked

Post by **shiv4** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:46 pm

TwR|Slice wrote:
And because of the WWII thing, i would say that this is not because of the Worldwar, i think ist because of littleton(the school massacre)and they are afraid to have this in germany.

They are afraid to have a Littleton in Germany? No offence, but lol ... there have been already enough school shootings in Germany and as I remember the whole public disussion about "counterstrike" and "ingame violence" hit the fan right after the massacre in Erfurt.

id games have been put on the blacklist long before that, because wolfenstein used nazi symbols, which touches german laws related to WW2. Then Quake came out and was banned because of violence related to other legal restrictions called "youth protection" (which also affects violent movies and comics). I suppose it's been the bad start with wolfenstein 3d that led to comparably hard and ridiculous restrictions on (later) id games. at the same time there were enough other games where you could blow heads off and there were no ratings at all.

The school shootings were then taken as a reason to raise the level of censorship and ratings for all games, so that red blood in HL got replaced by green slime and ragdoll effects are removed sometimes.

I was already looking for a way to get the real version, cos I heard about the Activision announcement of a castrated german Q4, so I was really surprised today, when I found the original version of Q4 advertised by a local shop. Think I will get it tomorrow, before the censorship strikes again.

Post by **TwR|Slice** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:57 pm

littleton was meant as a preamble, i know that there have been shool massacres in ger. but i think it is a good thing to censor those games for children ... but we(the adults) should be able to see als the gore in games, but this discussion is as old as the german censorship... so don't feel attacked by my conclusion ...

Post by **shiv4** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:18 am

TwR|Slice wrote:littleton was meant as a preamble, i know that there have been shool massacres in ger. but i think it is a good thing to censor those games for children ... but we(the adults) should be able to see als the gore in games, but this discussion is as old as the german censorship... so don't feel attacked by my conclusion ...

No problemo, sir. I was just amused that you, like many other germans, refer to the events in the us as if they could swap over to a country where such problems are rather unknown.

anyway, happy fraggin

BTW, have you seen the special Q4 box with Q2 extension packs in Germany?

Post by **shiznit** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:20 am

If anyone has a germany copy I would like to see what they changed. Maybe some screenshots? Thnx.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:26 am

Stagnant economy, limited freedom.

Post by **shiv4** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:26 am

quote:

If anyone has a germany copy I would like to see what they changed. Maybe some screenshots? Thnx.

Hm ... I thought bare nipples were not allowed here?

Post by **TwR|Slice** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:26 am

no , sorry
I have been in several shops(MediaMarkt, MakroMarkt, Saturn, Kaufhof, Karstadt a.s.o.) and all i saw was Q4UK ... what is the price in US/UK for Q4 in gerany i paid 47 euro(like 56 USD or 31 GBP)

Post by **shiv4** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:29 am

K, seems to be the same version here, thx.

Post by **Foo** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:38 am

Right so wait... the game is cut to get a german rating, but in reality the original version is on shelves?

Post by **chopov** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:38 am

"germanized" version isn't out yet. I read somewhere it would come out around begin of november...

Post by **cyxxon** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 11:56 am

Two things:

1. under the old "Youth Protection" laws (which were active until last year or so) concerned parents could not ask for games to be reviewed/abnned/whatever, only state officials (Jugendämter, "youth institutions", and the like). Don't know why the whole thing started though, maybe one of those workers was a parent, too. Anyway, not only id games were "on the index", but many others as well, Quake and Doom were only the best known I think. Sadly I cannot find a list of all the "forbidden" games, only found 404-links.

2. I also have only seen the regular UK version, but bought the Special Edition incl. Q2 at a german online retailer, okaysoft.de. Regular Q4 euro 46,90, special 52,90. Don't forget to add in the additional 2,50 for eigenhändig delivery, meaning the postman may only give it to you, not your friend/mother/dog.

Post by **shiv4** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:10 pm

sheesh ... I finally bought the UK version yesterday since I couldn't wait any longer. besides I don't buy at okaysoft any more cos they wanted a copy of my identity card

anyway thx for the info, maybe I'll get the box later

Post by **R. Tetzlaff** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:33 am

Foo wrote:Right so wait... the game is cut to get a german rating, but in reality the original version is on shelves?

Like I said... adults in Germany can buy whatever version they want, currently the UK version is on shelves. That special German teenager version is meant to be approved by the BPJM to get a 16 rating. And it isn´t out yet.