Amazon Pulls Rape Game Following News Report, Political Pressure

So let me get this straight - rape in a game is disgusting and should be banned.  But multiple killings in a game is fine and should not be banned.

I'm not used to blatant hypocrisy from GP.  Hopefully it's due to some sort of temporary mental imbalance.

Wow, the internet goes into a fit over a pirated, nearly 3 year old game that some guy burned onto a few discs, so that he could scam some money off of the gullible on Amazon Marketplace, not knowing that eventually some British MP who, in need of a issue he can run on, would type 'rape' into an Amazon search and happily stumble upon his racket and use it to make a fuss.

Weren't you guys bashing some Haitian interest group for being a year late in noticing a directive to 'Kill all the Haitians' in Vice City a couple years back?

In a sense, Amazon is digging it's own grave by removing this product.

Western audiences are STILL going to want to get this game, even if it was removed off the shelf (heck, that may even add to the stigma behind the game, thus in it's on way promoting the game a-la "Postal".)

Since the western audience can't buy it in a store (unless you look at a mom-and-pop anime shop), the people who want to play this game are now going to hit the world of piracy, looking up torrents for said game, not only causing loss of profit to the Japanese publishers, but loss of profit for Amazon's commisions.

So, even though Amazon is trying to remain goody two shoes as far as morality and beliefs go, in a sense, it's a blow to their income.

I just want to mention, that "dark hentai" games like this are released in large numbers in Japan, there are plenty of other games just like this.  For example, games like this is pretty much all that the company "Lilith" produces.  Someone fantranslated one of their games, and the translated English name was "The Gang Rape Club".  Other than being in this controversy, titles like this are nothing unique in Japan.

Farthermore, some people disagreed that something like this should exist.  A good number of comments already address this, but I'll post this anyways.  Although pure rape games aren't something that I am interested in, as long as no real person is harmed in the making of something, there is absolutly no reason to ever suggest that they shouldn't be allowed to make and release what they want (applies to all hentai, porn, non porn, anything).  Otherwise you are saying that others are justified in trying to ban what you enjoy, because that is what you are doing when you say games like this shouldn't be allowed to exist.

Certain websites, like Ebay, remove products from being purchased when they are illegal in certain countries.  Like, you can't find Nazi memoribilia for sale because it would block the site from access to Germany.  Amazon doesn't carry lolicon because it is illegal in several countries (though maybe for other reasons as well).

Additionaly, as a free market company, they have the right to accept or remove any products they choose, and for just about any reason.  If they thought that this rape game would cause too much controversy for their site, then they have every right to remove it.  Hell, if they thought it was just in poor taste, they had the right to remove it.  If they didn't like how the seller spelled his name, they could remove it.  It's their business.

And everyone here is free to boycott Amazon, if it offends your principles that much.

Went out and bought it because all of the people complaining

For the record, I'm in agreement with the others who said that Amazon made the wrong move, but I will say this:

Making a game with rape as your main gameplay mechanic is risky, if for no other reason than there is NO way to gloss over rape like you can with other hot button video game content issues like murder.  You can take out blood, you can make the corpes disappear, you can add comical screams or one-liners when guys die, etc.

But there's just no way you can make rape funny or light-hearted (if you tried, it'd be even worse for you, I'd imagine).

"There is no sin except stupidity." - Oscar Wilde