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 11/08/09 at 09:02am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
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...