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Ninja Gaiden Censored For European Release

Posted by simoniker on from the reptilian-royal-family's-fault dept.

Thanks to GamesIndustry.Biz for its article confirming that Tecmo's Xbox title Ninja Gaiden has been censored for European release, seemingly "to remove certain violent aspects such as decapitations." According to the piece, these changes "have been removed apparently at the request of European censors, and the final PAL code for the game has been granted a 16 rating by pan-European ratings body PEGI, which rates games for a wide range of European countries (including the notoriously censorious German market)." However, it seems "the actual impact of the change to the game is minor... and does little to detract from the well-received game - which was the best selling single-platform title in the USA last month." Update: 04/22 14:42 GMT by S : Simon Vivien explains what commenters also mention: "Germany still uses USK, which is another rating board dedicated to their market. The rest of Europe indeeds use PEGI. A 16+ PEGI rating doesn't especially mean a 16+ USK rating - as was witnessed in our latest shooter, Painkiller, who received a 16+ PEGI rating but was banned in Germany."

8 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdot censors too. Watch this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Heil Hitler!

  2. bah censorship... by hookedup · · Score: 4, Funny

    C'mon folks, HE'S A NINJA, it's what they do.

    Any idea if manhunt had a european release? I cant even see that game hitting the shelves over there.

  3. Re:Great Game by randomdef · · Score: 3, Funny

    see, you gotta look out buddy, look for the super packages that say "Online Enabled NOW"

  4. Doesn't Europe Realize by Mr.Dippy · · Score: 2, Funny

    when decapitations are outlawed only outlaws will have decapitations.

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    -Dipster
  5. Re:Thank goodness by feyhunde · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, we all know in France people qued up to get their hair cut during the revolution.

    --
    I'd say more, but my guild is raiding.
  6. Re:Not the first time, won't be the last by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Europe: Violence bad. Nudity/Sex ok.
    USA: Violence good. Nudity/Sex bad.
    Japan: Violence ok. Nudity/Sex good. Tentacle rape better!

    Different cultures/different attitudes.

    --
    The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  7. Re:PEGI is NOT valid in Germany by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    If you send me 50€ I'll tell you how I did that.

  8. In other news... by daVinci1980 · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... and because it didn't affect the rating in Europe, the ninjas you will be facing in Ninja Gaiden are all naked women.

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    I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.