What are peoples thoughts on SNKs soon to be released Witch Suspect game for the Nintendo DS, the one that is advertised quite heavily in a lot of chains (like Sofmap), has been given a cero C rating (so 15 year olds and above can play it) and one of the 'features' of the game is to use the stylus to examine various high school girls to see if they have witches marks... The website is here http://www.dokimajo.com/english/index.html This and Manhunt 2 are probably the oposite ends of the Spectrum but one, although one has been approved by Nintendo. It is likely that people will say 'We are adults, we should be allowed to play what we want' and on the other they are likely to say 'Ban this sick filth', I can imagine what the Tabloids would write about if they saw this game. "Nintendo release paedophile simulator on the popular kids games console the Nintendo DS"... If playing say "Counterstrike" isnt going to get me to grab a gun and start shooting people in real life then is a game where you touch 13 year old plus pixel girls going to make me a paedophile? Also a lot of the major shoot 'em up companies (Seibu, Psikyo, Toaplan, Video System to name a couple, Sega, Namco, Konami for example never have...) have at one point or another released Mahjong games (Psikyo for example made more money from the Hot Gimmick series then the majority of the shooters they did) which feature questionable ages characters in the games, for example Psikyo released the Hot Gimmick series of games, where Marion from Gunbird was a hidden character and yes she would take off most of her clothes if you won several hands. Does this say anything about these companies?
Japan just has a fucked up mentality when it comes to games. Hentai for example, wtf? And as for that rape game..... But meh, doesn't interest me in the slightest so tbh I don't give a monkeys what they play.
Japanese and USA markets are heavly different. Yeah Japan does have more Adult rated games I believe yet in NA NOA/SCEA have a strick stance against A rated games. Truthfuly it's not really hipocracy since all divisions are independant on what they aprove for their given region (why multi region releases are such a b**** to do sometimes). Anyways haven't most game companies had to censor their games for japan where in the states they were ok with an M rating when dealing with things like violence? -- edit -- Personaly I feel Manhunt 2 should be published in atleast 1 region unedited. While the game might be way too violent (we really cant say since we dont get to experience the original version) but being denied to publish it I think is going too far (sure it's a kick in the balls $$$ wise to publish an A rated game). Imagin if in the early years we were denied Mortal Kombat over it's violence (I do remember the game getting tons of bad press back then when today it's just the norm).
Yeah Stubbie is right, American games tend to pile on the violence - whenever I hear about an American game being censored in some other country it's always something violence or gore related. Sometimes it seemed like this was a badge of honor, there was an old PC adventure game called "Harvester" way that proudly had on it's front cover "Banned in Germany!" (what was actually in the game wasn't anything you couldn't see on cable TV. Kind of disappointing actually.) As for hentai games and the like, well it seems the Japanese have their own problems when it comes to perversion. Actually people here in the USA are just as perverted, just seems in Japan that fetishes have been elevated to a high art form. Seems to me that the American notion of is "perverted" is usually motivated by religious guilt and "taboo" subjects (nuns, schoolgirls, etc.) while in Japan it's more bizzare, strange, things-that-should-not-be-done-to-a-human-being (eels, strange things with vegetables, tentacles, etc.) Not that I'm an expert on any of this stuff. Most fetishes I just do not understand, and honestly most of the time I don't want to.
I agree with Subbie Japan likes them kinda things so you can expect a lot of adult games. Its like with Kill Bill there is that scene where it goes black and white in the USA and UK versions but for Japan theres is in colour because they couldn't really care they just like those kinda things and they know people will pay to see it.
