King of Fighters Censored for Stateside Release

Coreyh writes "The just-released King of Fighters 2000/2001 game compilation for the PlayStation 2 has been censored. The content removed from the 2D fighter includes blood, guns, and Mai's 'bouncing.' Apparently SNK Japan is a bit cautious about the USA's acceptance of content. I wish SNK USA had more control over this sort of thing. The content changed seems very mild to me. King of Fighters 2003 has also had a limited Jamma PCB release for arcades around the world this week. Here is a trailer of the opening and gameplay. It has tagging and interesting new characters along with old favorites."

Comments

You know

[Anonymous Coward]

In vietnam the soldiers where not allowed to write swearwords ie fuck on the side of their planes but they where allowed to napalm villages and spray AgentOrange all over them and (fsk the enviro)

is there something fundamentally wrong with the USA when they think that showing dead people that they just killed on TV or watching the pornography of laser guided bombs hitting their targets killing REAL people live on TV is acceptable ? yet you are freaking out abou a fucking video game ?

seriously, whatever you are doing to try and improve your culture/outlook, its not working

Re:You know

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you read and understand basic sentences? The Japanese company is 'censoring' the game, not anyone in the USA. And it is certainly not the govt. that's doing this. Look at GTA3, if anything should be censored, that should be. What a crappy game. (Of course its the most popular, and we all know what that means from music, movies, clothes...)

Re:You know

[Hrothgar The Great]

NO. They are stuck in the late 80s/early 90s when the Tipper Gore censorship brigade used to freak out about every stupid little thing they possibly could, including the Dead Kennedys and Mortal Kombat. For a company to not realize that the atmosphere has changed significantly ALMOST 15 YEARS LATER is their own stupid fault, not ours.

In other words, hey SNK Japan: QUIT LIVING IN THE PAST, WOULD YOU?

Re:You know

[Carmelia]

Hello gangien :)
I wasn't trying to insult us citizens, I just told the guy that I have access to a variety of news channels from all around the world and there really is a difference in us channels versus all the rest. period.

Also, I was surprised by your strong reaction, as AC down there said, you really seem angry quite often ;) (i took a look at your recent comments, and any opinion diverging from yours sets you off and even innocent comments triggers a paranoid reaction from you).
I know I'll probably be modded down, but I'm replying anyways in hope you'll consider toning down a bit.

Best regards,
Carmelia

Oh?

[/dev/trash]

The content changed seems very mild to me.

You must not have children, then?

Re:Oh?

[pixelgeek]

--You must not have children, then?

I'd like to think that if I did I'd take some responsibility for them.

I'd also remember all the utterly violent and sexist crap I watched when I was a kid (remember Conan either the books or the movies) and realise that it is how you raise your kids that is just as important as what they watch.

Re:Oh?

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

You mean kids parents. Most people under the age of 14 still have their parents buy their games. Even up until 16 thats usually true. By 16, I think a few guns and some booby jiggle shouldnt be enough to scar you for life.

That is one of those reasons...

[Anonymous Coward]

...why pirated versions (from other countries and without stupid censorship) are so popular.

Piracy is competition. A competition that hopefully make censorship disappear (somewhen).

Er, it's nothing we haven't seen before...

[DrEldarion]

Blood and guns missing? We see those EVERY DAY on primetime television and in quite a few movies. Games use them all the time. Bouncing boobs? Fire up a game of DOA volleyball, turn on MTV spring break, watch the Victoria's Secret fashion shows on broadcast television, walk down the street, etc. etc.

Why they felt the need to remove things that we are constantly exposed to is beyond me.

Re:Not All Censorship Is Bad

[Terragen]

Different cultures and societies have varying degrees of what is considered acceptable. SNK just seems to take the cautious route here

You would think SNK would be quite aware of what its competitors are doing (ie: other video games) and they aren't really redfining the genre or pushing any limits here. A 2D fighting game with some blood and bouncing boobs isn't anything new or controversial. Mortal Kombat is a lot bloodier and I haven't heard anyone complain about Mortal Kombat is a long time..

So I'm not quite sure why they would think this is a sensitive issue. Sure other games like GTA3 may get some negative press but those games are few and far between - and as console/game sales have shown 99% of the buying public doesn't care what a bunch of little whiners think anyways.

Its not like this is some revolutionary new game where you get to take the role of a serial killer and graphically experience their most brutal moments of rape and murder.. now I can see that being much more of a potential powder-keg than just another 2D fighter.

Simple solution, DON'T BUY IT!

[Lord Kano]

Let the game companies know that we don't want a watered down version of the Japanese version.

If the sales for the game are shit compared to the Japanese version, they'll get the message.

Companies are driven by profit; if they know that they will make less profit, they will be more willing to take the criticism from people who don't buy their games to begin with.

LK

Re:Simple solution, DON'T BUY IT!

[Anonymous Coward]

If nobody buys it, then the game company may just decide not to port the games AT ALL.
It's much better to either:
1) Buy the game and then take it back with the explicit reason that it was censored. or
2) Buy the game and write the game company explicity expressing the dissatisfaction over the censorship.

The game companies don't have psychics working for them, and they certainly didn't think that censoring the game (minorly) would impact their sales to a large degree, or else they wouldn't have done it. In fact, they probably felt that censoring it would increase their sales to minors.

This is not censorship.

[BigZaphod]

Censorship is when the government or another body imposes restrictions on information onto a 3rd party. It sounds like in this case the company that made the game is choosing to take out certain elements. It is not the same thing.

Re:This is not censorship.

[gl4ss]

most censorship is of this nature, self censorship.

the movie producers do it all the time, tv series producers do it all the time.. they limit themselfs from going over the threshold of having to edit it later because of public outcry.

f

credo quia absurdium

[mac os ken]

For those of you who actually still play KOF faithfully (like me) this is an outrage! KOF has always been about flair and tradition which is why this game is still released stateside.

Remember when the Mortal Kombat sparked the whole violence in videogames debacle? The Sega Genesis Mortal Kombat was the first game to realistically (umm... 16bits was realistic back then...) portray violence and capture media attention. Though the premise of killing was no different than say Smash TV or NARC for NES. It was just looked more realistic and not cartoony.

There's so much more violence in other videogames, so much more sex, and so much more other crap that underage gamers are exposed to. Leave the majority (males 16-25) who legitimately buy KOF for its substance out of your violence and sex in videogames Hindenburg.

Don't censor The King of Fighters!

Code?

[t0ny]

Did they at least make a code you can use to enable the blood and bouncing tits?

Re:Censored in arcades, too

[bogie]

Oh gimmie a freaking break. NO good arcade games since the early 80's? You might as well have a sig that says "The only good music ever made is the music that I grew up with".

But what if...

[hc00jw]

While I in no way agree with censorship, I don't understand why bouncing boobs had any place in the game in the first place! It was the same with Street Fighter Alpha 3 and R. Mika. It was obvious why Capcom decided to include that character, and it wasn't to balance the game play.

Maybe the bouncing wasn't so much censored, as changed for the good of the game? Maybe somebody at the U.S. headquarters with half a brain realised it was unnecessary and could reflect bad on the series in the U.S. (I know I wasn't impressed when I first saw the R. Mika character).

Re:Watch Bowling for Columbine

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it just me, or do the number of posters who can use their shift key go down when a game topic comes up?