Its been, what? 14 years since MK on the Snes? and still the same nintendo crap about blood in games...
Easy way to find out. If the Japanese PS2 version is like the Wii and Cube versions then we know it was Capcom but if not then point the finger at Nintendo. Pretty simple really. Yakumo
The game is censored in Japan across all versions because it was the first to be rated by the CERO ratings board. Capcom wanted to avoid a Z rating (which, I assume, may limit distribution or marketability somehow), and settled for a D rating by cutting out the decapitations. I would chalk it up to the saying that "the U.S.A. doesn't look down upon violence as much as sex" while "the rest of the world doesn't look down upon sex as much as violence."
Indeed, in fact the euro rating pegi gave DOAX2 a 12+ level, while the ESRB gave it a M for "this shit is too hardcore for little timmy" Mature:lol: I bet that if GTA got a 12+ in euroland there would be even more riots and burned cars than now, just like a E10+ rating on DOAX2 in the US would make teenagers even more horny You know, is funny: according to a study the free use of pornography (in the sense that you dont get arrested for selling or reading it) had helped to reduce the number of violent sex crimes in countries like japan, yet nobody proposes that violent games may actually help to reduce social violence... PS: how can GTASA get a 16+ rating in germany (the land of game censorship...) but HL2 gets an 18+? since when killing monsters, zombies and cyborg soldiers is more violent that shooting inocent bystanders and the police in a virtual city?
Capcom also censored Dead Rising for Japan I'm pretty sure because stores don't like to carry Rated Z games.
First Person Shooters are always more strictly judged. An often used argument is that while in a FPS killing is the only way to proceed in the game, in a game like GTA it is (to some extent) only an option. Games that rely on killing will always get a 18+ rating. If they rely on killing humans then most likely they are going to be banned from the market. As for Japan and Biohazard, I can understand the decision to censor the game. Games with an Z rating are located on seperate shelves in game shops, mostly somewhere in the back. Also there are only (?) non-Japanese games which makes them even more stigmatised and they are of course less advertised. Have you seen the promotion movie for the Wii Biohazard? (http://www.capcom.co.jp/wii_bio4/ > Click on the button on the right of "the another order") The bright setting and "fun" plot shows at what kind of customers Capcom is aiming at (<- ha!). I doubt that would have been possible with a Z rated game.
No prob dude, anyway, about japan (cez) I thought with all those gory mangas, anime and movies (seriously, those make Hostel look like My Little Pony) japan wouldnt be so cocky about violent games. And lets no even talk about hentai games: I heard theres already 3D rape games over there, and thats just NOT cool:fresh:...
I imagine so. I mean, that must be the reason why Super Smash Bros. Melee was rated TEEN by the ESRB (or it would've been rated E10+ nowadays); the graphics boost certainly made it all the more realistic than the predecessor. ... More of an educated guess. >>
They just seem to follow a global trend on censoring digital media arguing that it's necessary in order to keep children safe. Maybe someone knows the (political?) background that led to the new restrictive CERO ratings. And it's true, there is no such censorship on movies or manga. Just a matter of time maybe. This concerns violence only though. Porn stuff is not (easily) available to minors. There are porn movies of all flavors and the same goes for porn games. Nothing to be upset about imo.
Dude I'm against snuff films and such, why should I support snuff-like games? specially since the last thing we need is a rotten apple in the gaming industry...
"As long as they aren't doing this in real life and if these kind of images help suppress the action, then they are perfectly fine." Japan's a pretty ...repressed... suppressed? country. Shame is all the more damning to a person as a result. By some means, the country's porn can be some of the most extreme (objective, I know) on the Earth. [Someone said something like this on these forums a while ago.] That's all I've got. .. off topic has certainly led to an interesting discussion.
