No Gears of War 2 for Japan, Germany
No Gears of War 2 for Japan, Germany
October 22, 2008
Edge Online reports that upcoming Xbox 360 gore-fest Gears of War 2 will not be released in Japan or Germany.
Germany is perhaps not a surprise, given that the original 2006 GoW was banned there. Not selling the game in Japan, however, is raising some eyebrows. From the EO report:
“We can confirm that Gears of War 2 will not be available in Germany or Japan indefinitely” said the [Microsoft] spokesperson.
The news may come as a shock to many observers as the original Gears of War was one of the first titles to crack the Japanese software charts during a time when the 360 console was selling at its slowest...
The reasons why the game will not be released remain unclear... Edge has approached Microsoft’s offices in Japan for comment.
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Posted 07/05/09 at 11:28am
GoodRobotUs: It's not a tactic I see catching on in the future.
GoodRobotUs: It's not a tactic I see catching on in the future.
Posted 07/05/09 at 11:28am
GoodRobotUs: Just amuses me that Jack strives to match the most infantile of his his enemies, regardless of who he's actually talking to...
GoodRobotUs: Just amuses me that Jack strives to match the most infantile of his his enemies, regardless of who he's actually talking to...
Posted 07/05/09 at 10:49am
JDKJ: Or "Just because the customer isn't really our customer doesn't mean they aren't completely retarded."
JDKJ: Or "Just because the customer isn't really our customer doesn't mean they aren't completely retarded."
Posted 07/05/09 at 10:46am
GoodRobotUs: They could release it as a Demo tape for training and call it : 'Just because the customer is always right, doesn't mean they aren't, on occasion, knobs'.
GoodRobotUs: They could release it as a Demo tape for training and call it : 'Just because the customer is always right, doesn't mean they aren't, on occasion, knobs'.
Posted 07/05/09 at 10:42am
JDKJ: GRU: I suspect that the person Jack-O's been speaking with says, "Please go right ahead and tell me your concerns, Mr. Thompson," then mutes the line. Fifteen minutes later, they unmute it and say, "Thanks for sharing your concerns. Good day."
JDKJ: GRU: I suspect that the person Jack-O's been speaking with says, "Please go right ahead and tell me your concerns, Mr. Thompson," then mutes the line. Fifteen minutes later, they unmute it and say, "Thanks for sharing your concerns. Good day."
Posted 07/05/09 at 10:25am
GoodRobotUs: 'And yet he's still smarter than you Jack...'
GoodRobotUs: 'And yet he's still smarter than you Jack...'
Posted 07/05/09 at 10:25am
GoodRobotUs: You just know Jack's gonna phone your work again: 'Please Sir! Please Sir, Andrew came to school on only 3 hours sleep!!'
GoodRobotUs: You just know Jack's gonna phone your work again: 'Please Sir! Please Sir, Andrew came to school on only 3 hours sleep!!'
Posted 07/05/09 at 03:56am
Andrew Eisen: Hmm... You know, I think it would be wise if I stopped working on my music and tried to get a little sleep seeing as I have to work in 3 hours.
Andrew Eisen: Hmm... You know, I think it would be wise if I stopped working on my music and tried to get a little sleep seeing as I have to work in 3 hours.
Posted 07/04/09 at 11:08pm
Andrew Eisen: LGJ - Not that I'm aware of. The Twitter feed was someone else's live blog of the debate.
Andrew Eisen: LGJ - Not that I'm aware of. The Twitter feed was someone else's live blog of the debate.
Posted 07/04/09 at 11:04pm
Leet Gamer Jargon: @AE: Wait, wait, wait: JT has a Twitter account?! Are you serious?
Leet Gamer Jargon: @AE: Wait, wait, wait: JT has a Twitter account?! Are you serious?
Posted 07/04/09 at 09:24pm
PHX Corp: For those that want to know what i watching it's called man vs cartoon(a.k.a fixing Wile E. coyote's Mistakes one trap at a time by EMERTEC)
PHX Corp: For those that want to know what i watching it's called man vs cartoon(a.k.a fixing Wile E. coyote's Mistakes one trap at a time by EMERTEC)
Posted 07/04/09 at 08:20pm
GoodRobotUs: Went out for my Mum's 65th Birthday, which is the only relevance 4/7 has in the UK for me ;)
GoodRobotUs: Went out for my Mum's 65th Birthday, which is the only relevance 4/7 has in the UK for me ;)
Posted 07/04/09 at 08:18pm
Andrew Eisen: Beach + fireworks + root beer + strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, whipped topping, and pound cake = my Fourth of July!
Andrew Eisen: Beach + fireworks + root beer + strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, whipped topping, and pound cake = my Fourth of July!
Posted 07/04/09 at 07:58pm
GoodRobotUs: Which seems to be the only point Jack proved, that some people find some games offensive. i.e. Nothing.
GoodRobotUs: Which seems to be the only point Jack proved, that some people find some games offensive. i.e. Nothing.
Posted 07/04/09 at 07:57pm
GoodRobotUs: The discussion was supposed to be whether games were dangerous not 'Do you find some games offensive'...
GoodRobotUs: The discussion was supposed to be whether games were dangerous not 'Do you find some games offensive'...
Posted 07/04/09 at 07:55pm
GoodRobotUs: Some agreed, some didn't, but it was their choice to make, not the governments.
GoodRobotUs: Some agreed, some didn't, but it was their choice to make, not the governments.
Posted 07/04/09 at 07:55pm
GoodRobotUs: By asking the audience their opinion, he more or less proved that it's a matter of personal choice
GoodRobotUs: By asking the audience their opinion, he more or less proved that it's a matter of personal choice
Posted 07/04/09 at 07:55pm
GoodRobotUs: Meh, he ended proving Mark's point for him
GoodRobotUs: Meh, he ended proving Mark's point for him
Posted 07/04/09 at 07:26pm
Erik: Jack if you are reading this you are a LIAR. There is no legal weight to the MPAA's ratings.
Erik: Jack if you are reading this you are a LIAR. There is no legal weight to the MPAA's ratings.
Posted 07/04/09 at 07:24pm
JDKJ: I still think my buddy the midget who rides a unicycle backwards while juggling four bowling pins would have been a much bigger hit with that crowd. And he can make up statistics and misinterpret studies, too.
JDKJ: I still think my buddy the midget who rides a unicycle backwards while juggling four bowling pins would have been a much bigger hit with that crowd. And he can make up statistics and misinterpret studies, too.
Copyright © 2007 ECA. All rights reserved.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
Wow, I expect this sort of thing with Germany, but JAPAN? The country that has a porn vending machine doesn't want this?
---You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.
Forget the porn vending machine, some countries hold violence as worse than nudity and sex in media, what about their Biohazard series (aka Resident Evil).
Don't forget the UK. We seem to have an issue with violence as well...
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Joining the Manhunt 2 rush on the 31st!
Strictly speaking, isn't it?
No, Luke, I AM the Walrus
I'm still surprised by Japan's recent banning of games.
I mean they have a game where you play a big-boobed chick in a thong bikini (is there any other kind in Japanese games?) that runs around chopping up zombies with a katana who spew out gallons of blood as you hack away at'm.
Yet Gears 2 gets banned.
I'm wondering if it's really the violence or if their getting anal about how western games have, recently, been doing very well. Japan is known for trying to shut-down overseas competition.
Tea and cake or death! Tea and cake or death! Little Red Cook-book! Little Red Cook-book!
Name the game you mention or it doesn't exist.
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IMA FIRIN MAH LASER!!!
Aree you /sure/ you want to know? It's kinda... cheesy.
Oh, ok. The series is called Oneechanbara. And traditionally the Japanese have been more squeemish about violence, not sex, though seeing the two combined in Oneechanbara makes me wonder if there's a double standard.
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"They were retarded hairless pink bunnies, all of them. Except Shigeru Myamoto and... well, the good ones were just too /rare/ to be worth bothering about." - Mason Hornblower on the extinction of the human race
It got a small release as Zombie Hunters here in the UK
and a rumoured 360 release in Q1 2009 for the 360
Is it that these games are not being allowed to be released in Japan, or that the publisher/distributor is deciding not to release in Japan?
or is it all just an excuse to not hire a localisation team?
Why I´m thinking Japan don´t want any competition with their games?
The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/
Yeah the recent string of banning western games either rings of harsher censorship issues or to prevent competition...either way it is very unfortunate :\
I guess it's more about the competition, after all, this version is supposed to have a toggle switch that turns off the blood and the swearing.
---You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.
Where does it say GoW2 is being banned in Japan? Its not printed here or on Edge Online. It just says it won't be released in Germany and Japan.
Exactly. "Won't be released." My guess is that it got a CERO Z, and MS doesn't want to deal with it at this time.
For the record, Resident Evil 4's chainsaw bit was censored for the Japanese release. Gears 2 has a lot of chainsaw bits that are a lot worse.
Wow. Just wow! With all the explicit sex and rape games here, not to mention printed publications of the same nature as well as the Lolita variants I'm amazed something as tame as GW2 would get blocked. Then if one were to looks to the movies - after all Japan invented the splatter and mutilation flicks back in the early 70s. This is amazing to me.
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"The most difficult pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much and power over little" - Herodotus
Japan has a boner for censorship, so everything gets a mosaic in sex games and porn and such. So, yes, there's sex games, but you can't see anything.
Not in the majority of games I have see. Public hair is forbidden but many girls are dipicted with none (think lolita) and that seems to be OK.
Note: I'm no expert on the subject I have only seen about a dozen or so such games over the past decade and none of them were censored.
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"The most difficult pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much and power over little" - Herodotus
When will the ECA come out and fight the bannings?
--- Official Protector of Videoland!
My guess the games need to be really banned in the first place before the ECA would think about it. Also the ECA onlt deals in the USA and Canada markets currently. Microsft not choosing to release a game in a market is their choice and its hardly banning the game.
Japan also censored the boobs in God of War and the beheadings in Ninja Gaiden, if I recall correctly.
-Remember kids, personal responsibility is for losers! Jack Thompson is still a dick...
I find that odd given breast are regularly shown on normal TV here in primetime.
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"The most difficult pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much and power over little" - Herodotus
One word:
AKIHABARA
Yeah, it seems as though the game has officially been banned in Japan.
---You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.
Maybe if the Gears of War cast were raping innocent women and children it would be on store selves in Japan. Sadly Japan and it's history is a history full of them raping other countries and women. You think American Cruise Ships had it bad with the Japanese turning Western Women caught into "comfort women" but the Chinese and the Koreans had it even worse.
Japan is just an evil vile country which doesn't like violence unless its against a woman in another country
So I guess you think that US soldiers' penchant for raping Japanese girls is just the chickens coming home to roost? I guess you think those young girls are just evil and deserve everything they get.
This notion that an entire nation can be evil is just juvenile.
Speaking as an none Asian American man living in Japan for more than an decade and as a former manager of several night clubs in Roppongi I can assure you that the same treatment of women runs both ways. Japanese men are no different than American, European, Asian or African men. If you think otherwise you are naïve beyond reason.
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"The most difficult pain a man can suffer is to have knowledge of much and power over little" - Herodotus
Man, I wish I lived in Germany or Japan. If only my local game store wasn't going to be polluted by that lame homoerotic game.
It's true that western games have been dooing very well lately, but banning it to shut out competition seems like too much of a conspiracy theory. With the PS3/Wii so deeply entrenched in japan and lackluster at best 360 sales, I just don't see Gears 2 as being that much of a threat. At least in Japan that is. But then I'm not expert so what the hell do I know?
As for double standards *shrugs* what else is new? Every culture has different hot buttons when it comes to content. In the US violence and drugs are fine but so much as hint at sex and it's the end of the world.
I hate to break this too you bud but the 360 has been out selling the PS3 in Japan for a couple months now
I hate to break this to you bud, but according to Kotaku it has not. The XBox360 may have the fastest growing sales, but it's still outsold by the PS3 3:1. Even if XBox sales continue to grow that rapidly, once it outsells the PS3, it'll still have to catch up to more than four times the number of total sales.
Source: http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/10/lets_japanese_lifetime_console_sa...