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German Ban On Doom Finally Lifted
An anonymous reader writes "18 years after its debut, Doom, the game that almost single-handedly popularized the FPS genre (remember when we just called them Doom clones?) is finally seeing the light of legality in the nation of Germany. The lifting of the ban also applies to the beloved sequel Doom II. A release date has yet to be set. I recommend that Germans who have not found some way to play this game over the last 18 years, please do so upon its release. Despite its age, it's still fun as hell. (Pun very much intended.)"
I can see wolfenstein (well actually I can't) but doom?
"People don't want to learn linux" hasn't been a valid excuse since '03.
It was never "banned". It was not allowed to sell it to a person under the age of 18 (which was enough to discourage publishers from even trying). This was now reduced to 16. Apparently id filed a request to reexamine the old rating.
Captcha: massacre. How fitting.
Doom was on the index of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Department_for_Media_Harmful_to_Young_Persons. When something is on the index is can be bought and sold but cannot be sold to a minor and cannot be sold in a shop that frequently has minors. This sort of law was originally intended to apply to porn but as a matter of implementation is a bit more difficult for videogames since minors are likely to go to videogame stores. Similarly, restrictions on how indexed media can be advertised make it difficult to advertise videogames. So the de facto result is that very few copies of games on the index are sold. But saying that the game was banned is incorrect. Prior to this appeal it was legal to buy and sell copies of Doom.
I donno... I think they'll be waiting for Duke Nukem forever...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
They had to change the paddle graphics in the German version. It was said the straight lines were too similar to the branches of a swastika, so they had to change them to parentheses.
I did nazi that coming!
The more you know, the more you have to say and the more you should listen.
Don't worry, Germany is already the European leader in school shootings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting#Europe .
*sigh* it's just.....not the same anymore....
I made an app! Shoutium
Some people enjoy the challenge of playing through a game without using cheats.
Is 1563649 a prime number?
As a Yank having spent the last 10 years (and possible y the rest) of my life in Germany I really don't care. I have never thought that that game was banned here but never really cared to try it. I order *alll* boxed video games I play out of the UK and pay with my American credit card to download them from US Server when possible.
Who needs German censorship? (meh)
They do in certain areas. As do we in the US in certain areas. It's just that those areas aren't really aligned,nor do they necessarily always make sense rationally.
Many of their magazines would get me sued for sexual harassment if I was caught reading on the job.
Yeah Thief for example was really little more than MAP13 with all the guns taken out.
I believe wolfenstein was banned in Switzerland
For your information, Switzerland didn't even take part in World War II and never had a real Nazi party. Thus, there are no Nazi-hunt/anti Swastika laws similar to these in Germany.
The absence of Wolfenstein 3D on iPhone in Switzerland might be due to other reasons, like localization: ~75% of the population speaks German (actually local Swiss-german dialects, but they most can understand standard German too). As Switzerland is a to small market, you seldom see Swiss-specific localizations of software. Very often, the software company will simply market the Germany localization (and piss the 25% remaining of the population) or sometime the France version too (in the rare occurrence when they notice that more than 1 language is spoken in Switzerland).
As no localization of Wolfenstein 3D exists for Germany because of the Swastikas laws, and because Switzerland alone is a to small market to bother doing localization for it, there are no localization which could be sold in Switzerland.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
WTF has the games industry been up to for the last two decades?
Copying shit. Poorly.
How many yearly releases of EA's NHL 20xx do we need before we realize it's all just rehashing the same crap. They're no better than the movie/music industry.
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
the swiss position in world war ii was very complicated and by no means devoid of nazi influence. there have been some great books come out in the past 10 years on this subject (the 'realpolitik' of a few swiss leaders at the time, forging the pseudo-alliance with various nazi officials in order to keep pressure off them)
I've said for years that pretty much all FPS games are just Doom with better graphics
And worse everything else.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
The ban on speaking of them was bad enough that they finally realized that the gag on nazi 'symbolism' lead to German children who had little idea
Don't forget who wrote the German constitution after the war. The Allies were desperate to turn the German people into monsters and make them feel guilty for being German that even the word "Nazi" became associated with the foulest demons from Hell. Reality is that there were a very few fanatics running the show, and the rest of the sheep did what they were told. It becomes easy to do unusual things when everyone else is doing them. Then eventually when war started what choice did the conscript have when he was given a gun and put on a battlefield? Not every German soldier delighted in killing, nor is the joy of seeing a person die unique to the German people. I've seen more than one video of US troops hooting like drunk teenagers while watching humans being turned to hamburger by a variety of ordnance in Iraq and Afghanistan. What makes them different from supposed "war criminals"? While killing is an accepted part of war, you're not supposed to LIKE it.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I went to Germany recently and found out that you can drink alcohol pretty much anywhere you like. On the street, on the train, whatever.
I'd trade that freedom for Doom any day.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
This entire rant falls so far away from reality that it doesn't surprise me that you're posting this as an anonymous coward. Willing to speak your bullshit, but unwilling to have such speech associated with your own name, because you understand how offensive it is. Perhaps though, you're just ignorant to how offensive it is to truth.
The youth of Germany well understand how Nazism was bad, and in recent elections, when a Nazi-apologist sought election signs and protests against Nazism, and satirical comedy depicting the well known Nazi symbols with humor.
This "statist government" out to destroy human rights as you claim, oddly has as Article I of their constitution their Bill of Rights. They restrict speech that could lead to Nazi-like fanaticism and another horrible repression of human rights, and destruction of human dignity. This idea that they're openly hostile to conservatives is also crazy, since the CDU/CSU (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union) is the major party and currently controls the Chancellory. Yes, their conservative party is currently in charge, and running things.
"But the CDU/CSU isn't conservative enough, the more conservative individuals are being repressed!" Well, yes, the reactionaries in Germany do experience suppression of their speech... because shock the Nazis were/are reactionaries! And before you start complaining that they're treating reactionaries wrongly, they also suppress radical positions as well. Any extremist is likely to meet with opposition in Germany, because they of all people have seen the horrors that an extremist government can wrought upon the world.
WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
The first conventional 3D first person shooter (in modern sense) was Catacomb 3D - also courtesy of id and Mr Carmack personally - which predated Ultima Underworld by several months.
Not just leader, Germany has a higher death toll in school shootings than the rest of Europe combined. 56-46
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It specifically worked by killing everything in the direction it was pointed in, AFAIK it does line of sight calculations from the player and projectile to determine what to hurt, it's not simply a distance-to-impact thing. On the other hand that means you can avoid it by breaking LOS to the shooter before the ball impacts.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.