Germany Places Command & Conquer on Restricted List

heli0 writes "CNet is reporting that Germany has placed EA's newest Command & Conquer game 'Generals' on its restricted list, which means it may not be advertised or displayed on shelves although it may be kept under store counters and sold to adults. The reason according to Elke Monssen-Engberding, director of the Ministry for Family Affairs: 'It portrays war as the only way to resolve conflicts.'"

Comments

How about George Bush?

[cperciva]

Can we put George Bush onto a Restricted list? He certainly portrays war as the only way to resolve conflicts.

Re:How about George Bush?

[saskboy]

I'd mod you as insightful, but the troll mods you will no doubt accumulate would outweigh me. Michael Moore may be outspoken, but he makes the same point you do. Games don't kill people, people kill people.

Games don't help unstable people, but they don't twist stable, healthy people looking for a fun evening with friends.

The impact of this decision

[Harald74]

Anyone else wants to bet that sales will soar?

GTA3 was in the news here in Norway a lot when it was released. Different agencies and ministers connected with children all wanted to ban it. Result? Top seller in Norway that year...

Command & Conquer: Inspectors

[Anonymous Coward]

"We have evidence that the Brotherhood of Nod does indeed have a harvester. For all we know, they could be harvesting Tiberium as we speak."

Good for Germany.

[alistair]

A quote I saw the other day

"You know that times are stange when the best rapper in the world is white, the best golfer in the world is black, the Americas cup is held by landlocked Sweden, the French are accusing the Americans of arrogance and Germany is steadfstly refusing to go to war."

I agree with this decision. The reporting of this war has verged on pornography, with too many reporters getting excited about bombs and tanks and too little attention being paid to the human cost. They are right not to ban it, but right not to promote the joy of conflict at this time either.

Re:Good for Germany.

[Lemmy Caution]

I don't think it's ironic at all that Germany and Japan are, in different ways, two of the most resolute "pacifist states." It's more likely to be the consequence of their histories, than in spite of them.

Re:LOL

[SilverSun]

Yes, we are working hard here in to put chess on the restricted list, too. Then again, one might introduce some new rule, where the black king and the white queen can sit down on G4 and talk for a while, or we might replace the knight by a new figure: "the diplomat". The diplomat can't move, but will have some really cool abilities. What exactly is not yet clear, the EU games council is still negotiating.

Cheers, from good old Germany.

Defusing bombs

[ojQj]

You are absolutely right.

I'm an American living in Germany. I was listening to the radio on the way home from work the other day. The announcer was listing off the traffic jams and construction sites of the day and casually mentioned that they were defusing a bomb in a particular area, and that people who weren't directly involved should avoid the area.

This wasn't major news -- unexploded ordinance from WWII is still occasionally found and needs to be taken care of. With such ever present reminders of the horrors of war you begin to understand why the Germans are so utterly opposed to starting them these days.

You, sir, are ill-informed.

[nurightshu]

Because the Provos in Ireland are so upset about American hegemonistic tendencies that it's encouraged them to rise up and commit acts of terror, right? Ditto the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elan, the Basque nationalists, the PKK in Turkey, the New People's Army in the Phillipines, the Zapatistas in Chiapas State, and probably several others I've never heard of.

You "think Americans can only think of solutions in terms of warfare" because that's what grabs headlines. Brinksmanship is far more interesting on the world stage than a civil trade negotiation. Please note that when the Chinese were essentially holding U.S. Navy personnel hostage, that America did not go to war. Please note also that we are acting currently to enforce UN Security Council resolutions (most of them unanimous, if memory serves) that have been on the books for an even dozen years. Simply because some other countries object to the things they agreed to in the past doesn't mean our will must waver now.

When you make obviously inflammatory blanket statements that have no basis in fact whatsofuckingever, expect to get them thrown back in your face. Oh, and as for your statement about Americans trying to control the world, I leave you with a quote from Colin Powell:

Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.