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Gears of War 2 Won't Hit Two Countries

by Blake Ellison, Oct 22, 2008 9:58am PDT

Related Topics – Gears of War 2, xbox 360, Censorship

Another game renowned for its violence--this time Epic's Gears of War 2 (360)--will not see store shelves in Japan or Germany.

"We can confirm that Gears of War 2 will not be available in Germany or Japan indefinitely," said a Microsoft spokesperson to Edge.

The first Gears of War was Microsoft's first big break in Japan, as the game was the first Xbox 360 title to break into the Japanese sales charts.

The cover-loving shooter is the latest in a string of graphically violent games that face not going on sale in increasingly censor-happy countries. EA Redwood Shores' Dead Space faced bans in the same countries as Gears of War 2 and Australia, while PlatinumGames' MadWorld is expecting it to be impossible to release in its home territory of Japan.

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19 Threads | 48 Comments

#7

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By: BorenKets123 x Show Full Post

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Odd that Crysis and any Resident Evil did not get banned in Germany or Japan, respectively.

I guess they get away with it because the revenue is coming in and not going out eh?

Oct 22, 2008 10:11am PDT

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Odd that Crysis and any Resident Evil did not get banned in Germany or Japan, respectively. I guess th... : BorenKets123
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 5 replies.

#13

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By: [eXp]Rincewind x Show Full Post

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GoW2 has not been banned in Germany. Our local rating board refused classification to the first game and GoW has been "indiziert". Microsoft decided against releasing an altered version of the game here. I guess, they were having the same problems with its sequel. So the game is not being released in germany officially. But it has not been banned and neither has its predecessor...

Oct 22, 2008 10:26am PDT

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GoW2 has not been banned in Germany. Our local rating board refused classification to the first game and ... : [eXp]Rincewind
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 10 replies.

#41

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By: irishbloke x Show Full Post

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I hear its already being Pirated on the usual places, i hope mr Cliff B is watching. Id download the thing outta pure badness but the game is a pile of shite anyway no need too.

Oct 22, 2008 6:23pm PDT

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I hear its already being Pirated on the usual places, i hope mr Cliff B is watching. Id download the thin... : irishbloke
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 3 replies.
- Yeah the top 5 pirated games right now are all 360 versions too. : ElArabDeMagnifico
- Is this related to that packaging company guy they caught last week? I think I read it on the Shack too. : Syrek

#44

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By: ElArabDeMagnifico x Show Full Post

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Usually Germany and Japan just have stuff edited out. I guess it's too much effort these days.

Oct 22, 2008 8:59pm PDT

Usually Germany and Japan just have stuff edited out. I guess it's too much effort these days. : ElArabDeMagnifico

#39

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By: the_algor x Show Full Post

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So this looks like their idea of replacing blood with sparks didn't quite pan out...

Oct 22, 2008 5:27pm PDT

So this looks like their idea of replacing blood with sparks didn't quite pan out... : the_algor

#9

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By: Medster x Show Full Post

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Japan and Germany...... where's Italy?

Oct 22, 2008 10:22am PDT

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Japan and Germany...... where's Italy? : Medster
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 5 replies.
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  You forgot about Poland. : Mad Jack McMad
  - yea, you don't get it : dedgecko
- true ...i think the japs and the germans are reforming their alliance once again and are going to do mass... : hanged_man
- BUY WAR BONDS : the archvile

#1

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By: tomservo x Show Full Post

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Japan is kind of a surprise.

Oct 22, 2008 10:02am PDT

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Japan is kind of a surprise. : tomservo
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 3 replies.
- Really. for a country that has interactive-scat-rape-porn this is really odd not that i uh... know ab... : DewFuel
- Not at all, actually. There was a stabbing in an arcade and some other incident and after that a huge ba... : Vorlonesque

#32

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By: Vangoghs Ear x Show Full Post

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Is there something particularly bad in this one?

Oct 22, 2008 1:53pm PDT

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Is there something particularly bad in this one? : Vangoghs Ear
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- Prison assrape followed by a fountain of shit tub girl style! : Vorlonesque

#34

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By: Marrbe x Show Full Post

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Nice to see some balls in management. I don't believe in frivolous swearing, but fuck censorship. The more you feed it with appeasement and edited versions, the harder it'll be to get rid of it in the future.

I say go full hog. Boycott the sale of ALL your games in these countries. Get EA, Microsoft and Blizzivision in on it. Not financially sound? Millions in lost revenue? Hah, the micromanaging career politicians in Germany, Japan et al will give in so fast you can't say "socialism sucks" before they've removed the censorship bullshit.

Huge assets + balls = ability to make a permanent difference. Use them.

Oct 22, 2008 2:11pm PDT

Nice to see some balls in management. I don't believe in frivolous swearing, but fuck censorship. The mor... : Marrbe

#28

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By: Spok x Show Full Post

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Kudos to Microsoft and Epic for not backing down and not censoring their game. Hopefully people in countries with ridiculous "standards" get angry that they can't play the games the rest of the free world is playing and push for change.

Oct 22, 2008 12:43pm PDT

Kudos to Microsoft and Epic for not backing down and not censoring their game. Hopefully people in countr... : Spok

#27

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By: Ghillie x Show Full Post

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Makes me appreciate my freedom a little bit more...

Oct 22, 2008 12:20pm PDT

Makes me appreciate my freedom a little bit more... : Ghillie

#4

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By: WTHInac x Show Full Post

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Japanese citizens should be rejoicing this, not hating it!

Just think, when the US Dollar is worth NEXT TO NOTHING to the Yen, it's going to cost them absolutely nothing to purchase the game in the US and ship it overseas.

See, always a positive side in everything. :\

Oct 22, 2008 10:04am PDT

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Japanese citizens should be rejoicing this, not hating it! Just think, when the US Dollar is worth NEX... : WTHInac
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  Huh? The average AAA title in Japan is like 8200 or more yen. So that works out to what, $75-80 US Dollar... : CoreContingency
  - Did you miss where I said "when the US Dollar is worth next to nothing?" - Meaning the exchange rate will... : WTHInac

#21

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By: Sailor of Fortune x Show Full Post

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Better than censoring it down to the lowest common denominator.

Oct 22, 2008 11:40am PDT

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Better than censoring it down to the lowest common denominator. : Sailor of Fortune
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- You mean rather than be served less, better to not be served at all? : Endymion_

#22

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By: CoreContingency x Show Full Post

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Your Mom is a Classy Lady!

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/8/11/

Oct 22, 2008 11:44am PDT

Your Mom is a Classy Lady! http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/8/11/ : CoreContingency

#20

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By: socksta x Show Full Post

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Odd....a post about Gears of War on shacknews without any insults to it's fan base or developers?

Oct 22, 2008 11:27am PDT

Odd....a post about Gears of War on shacknews without any insults to it's fan base or developers? : socksta

#11

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By: Jobos x Show Full Post

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I wonder if Germany censors Animal Planet footage of lions attacking gazelles. I mean, if they censor video-game-cartoon-pixelated-violence, I'm interested to know how they feel about violence in REALITY.

Oct 22, 2008 10:23am PDT

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I wonder if Germany censors Animal Planet footage of lions attacking gazelles. I mean, if they censor vi... : Jobos
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 4 replies.
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  Germany censors nothing, the publishers just don't care about releasing because the game might be put on ... : razorblade79
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    Can you sell a game that's not classified in germany? : lost
    - You mean a game without a rating? That's automatically a 18+ game. Because of that there can sometimes be... : razorblade79

#12

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By: Mad Brahmin Disease x Show Full Post

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hahaha

Ahhhh Germany.

Oct 22, 2008 10:25am PDT

hahaha Ahhhh Germany. : Mad Brahmin Disease

#3

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By: Endymion_ x Show Full Post

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Needs more tentacle rape.

Oct 22, 2008 10:03am PDT

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Needs more tentacle rape. : Endymion_
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- Yeah that's probably it. And not enough underage rapings. : ieGod

#5

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By: dlr(2) x Show Full Post

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Banning it might actually increase sales in Japan.

Oct 22, 2008 10:06am PDT

Banning it might actually increase sales in Japan. : dlr(2)

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