Dead Island Riptide will not be published in Germany - Report
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Game's creative producer reveals that there will be no censored version of the game in Germany due to country's laws prohibiting violence against human-like characters.
A Dead Island: Riptide developer has criticised Germany's laws restricting the sale of violent media, revealing that the upcoming title will not be published in the country.
In an interview with PCGamesN, Dead Island Riptide creative producer Sebastian Reichert told the publication that there would be no censored version of the game.
"We have no censored version of the game, so we cannot release it in Germany," Reichert said. "It feels […] awkward to have one of the most successful games in years and nobody in your country knows it."
Reichert explained that the game will not be able to be published in Germany due to the country's laws prohibiting violence against human-like characters; for the original Dead Island--which was banned in Germany--the problem was the fact that players could attack zombies, which, according to Reichert, was seen as mutilation of corpses.
Reichert went on to question why other games released in Germany were seemingly not subject to the same treatment.
"At the moment, I'm really confused that you can buy Gears of War 3 in stores in Germany, but not Dead Island. Because, where's the difference? [The enemies in Gears of War 3] are human-like, and [players] can do things to them. That's in stores."
According to the publication, Dead Island Riptide is due out on April 26, 2013. The game is a follow-up to last year's zombie shooter and boasts new weather effects, like flooding, as well as general upgrades to its game engine. The game takes place on another island of the archipelago depicted in the original game.
In addition, Dead Island Riptide players will be able to import save information from the original Dead Island. The game is due out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
The original Dead Island was developed by Techland and released in September 2011 to generally positive review scores. The game has shipped 4.5 million units as of August this year.
By
Laura Parker, Associate Editor
Laura Parker is the Associate Editor of GameSpot Australia. She loves adventure games, sparkly stuff, Trivial Pursuit, cake, Master Chief, earthworms, and rhetorical questions. She once stole a sandwich from Peter Molyneux.
107 comments
lots of ppl hated on Dead island but somehow I just really liked the game play. somewhat short story though....can't wait for Ripitide. hmm Germany seems to have very strict laws on games. Nice to see
1 Like I always thought the Germans were more open minded. I guess trying to kill all the Jews during WW2 made these fuckers sensitive!
I guess they don't want to remind themselves of what they did, not long ago. I'll let you decide where to take this one, readers....
1 Like As long as i can have a nice uncensored version in the uk. censorship sucks though and adult should be able to decide for them self what they want to play or see. adults don't need to have some one else saying your to stupid to view that we can make up our own minds. censorship is not needed all that is needed for violent games or films is a rating to tell people who should be allowed to chose to view or play it if they please and who is to young for it.
They released the 1st game uncensored in Germany and L4D2 was got censored the shit out of it i mean the bodies didn't even hit the floor they just dissapeard and of course no blood or limbs getting hacked off. And now this. Explain to me this BS.
Always wanted to know if German voters put their, well vote, on people that want to change this retrograde mistreatment to the gaming media.
Wow, Germany, nice work...Now if you can take a similar stand against the drinking age or drinking in general...
I can careless about what Germany thinks about this and the only thing I care is buying Dead Island: Riptide only because Sam B is coming back.
Germany's answer to everything is to force things. "We hate violence now, let's ban it. Democracy is amazing, love it or else!" I'm half Prussian, so I get this better than some...
3 Like "...due to the country's laws prohibiting violence against human-like characters..."
wow...Germany must be a boring place for gamers.
@fourclawrider no kidding, I predict an upcoming bestseller in the German market: "Lovey Duvy Fluffy Simulator, Light Edition".
@Ark1of712 @fourclawrider on the other hand their country is the only thing keeping the Wii U afloat
2 Like How many games do you know that doesn't contain violence towards human like characters? I'm surprised any games make it in Germany at all by that standard.
2 Like I agree that in Gears, you as the character are inflicting violence on a non-human character.... but not in multiplayer if you're the horde.... plus, to say they don't glorify violence in it!? please.... if that's the case, why the carefully animated chainsaw-gun deaths.
that right there is a load of shash as a statement.
censoring any media is wrong, whether it's games, books, films, music. there are no paths to explain or excuse it, let alone say why one item can get away with it and not another.
"At the moment, I'm really confused that you can buy Gears of War 3 in stores in Germany, but not Dead Island. Because, where's the difference?"Gear of War offers unrealistic science fiction context without glorification of violence. There you go :)
@darthchronik77 It's explained in my previous entries. Read them and believe what you wish.
2 Like @Warlord_Irochi Gee, I forgot zombies are a realistic scientific phenomena! And there's nothing glorious at all about stuffing a grenade into a persons chest cavity or tearing their head off with a Chainsaw!
@pal_080 Dismemberment in Dead Island comes along with bullet-time like slow motion, focusing in it's effect like something "cool and awesome". The player also gets rewards for it. Something that does not happen in GoW (Headshot or grenade, it's the same).Dead Island take place on earth, in a realistic environment and again creatures that were human once. it's the opposite with GoW.
It's long and complicated (and little pleasant for German gamers). Better if you search for "German game Index" on wikipedia or visit USK's website (they have an English section). But in this case the short explanation is: Dead Island shows glorified graphic violence, Gears of War doesn't.
@EvilShabazz Not the same: GoW focuses in action and fictional war context. Dead Island in dismemberment in a realistic environment. As I said in the previous comment, you need to read the full background to understand the USK's point (With which I personally disagree, but they have a point). In fact... at least they are not scared about nudity, one of the USK guy said once "Having sex is normal, chopping someone's head it's not" That at least makes sense.
2 Like @Warlord_Irochi @pal_080 The entire reason Gears of War exists is as a glorification of violence.
4 Like Once again poorly researched. Germany don't have laws that dont allow violence in video games against human-like creatures. We have a Law called §131 its about the celebration of violence in media. Which simply means that Violence is generally allowed in media but if it exceedes a special extent and its just for the sake of showing violence itself, its goes against that special paragraph.
When a game gets rated in Germany (FSK) a group of people will check if it breaks the mentioned law. If it does, it gets no rating without cutting or changing the responsible content. If the game is unrated its not allowed to sell it openly in the shops only if anybody asks for it and additionally the publisher risks that the game gets banned because it wasnt rated. Banned Games are not allowed to be sold in Germany (but can be played and imported of course).
So a lot of publisher choose to cut dismemberment or similar things to ensure it gets at least the highest rating (FSK 18), ensuring their sells.
(some simply release it unrated...for example Perfect Dark, Turok 3, Cold Fear)
I know for sure its not 100% right in the way how i discribed it but thats about it
And you can get a little overview and dont have rely on false information,opinions and BS. ;)
Dont forget that each individual game gets rated by another group of random people, thats the reason we dont have gears of war 1 but gears of war 3. Thats the reason why GTA IV was released totally uncut and Manhunt got banned here.
On the other side the reason why publisher sometimes skip releasing it in Germany alltogether is, because getting a ratingfor a game costs money and going several time to the FSK costs a lot of money.
Personally i hate how our politicians treat our games. But i have to admit that slowly the rating behaviour of the FSK gets better since the generations of people are changing so more and more people that are positive towards games are sitting in the groups responsible to rate the games. Which means more liberal decisions when it comes to violent games.
And still there are countries which are off much worse than we are. ;)
And most gamer here do all the same. Import your games. And if you want a version with german language import it from Austria.
Cheers and have nice weekend.
3 Like @GurtKurt Thank GOD! somebody documented himself instead of throwing a retarded comment to show everyone how retarded he is! My respects to you, sir.Just a little something: USK takes care of games, FSK is for movies :)As of late, a lot of games are released here uncut: Dead Space, No More Heroes on PS3, Dishonored, Far Cry 3, Gears of War 3, Lollipop Chainsaw, Shadows of the Damned, Resident Evil 6... just to mention a few...
1 Like @Warlord_Irochi :Whoops my mistake. Yes USK not FSK. And thanks for the extended list of Games that are luckily released uncut here. :)
@monoalvarez Depends on the game. Some will give you a censored version (Saints Row 3). Some would not appear at all but can be downloaded if you bought them in another country (Dead Island) and some can not even be downloaded inside Germany because the developer wishes it, not the German government (Sniper Elite V2 uncut version, Dead Rising 2).Your best option (with the exception of the last case) is ask a friend or familiar to send it you via gift (the game you get is the version from the country it was send from, ergo, the uncensored one). That is What I always do.Any more questions you can send me a PM :)
@GurtKurt @Warlord_Irochi Thanks for the info! :) Just a small question: how about access to the game through Steam? I recently moved to Germany and use Steam exclusively for my PC games.
So German gamers get the game from countries next to them, big deal! And there is a thing called the internet now a days, so i think that the German gamers might somehow find out about this game. I know a shocker isn't it!
@1nitram2 Yeah, It has been like that for years. Law allows you to import in fact. So either you get the PEGI version from Austria (If you want German language) or from UK if you can understand English (Most of the population can) also, from UK is cheaper.
Not strange. The original was Index-B (The only real actual Ban). If you don't publish it then you don't get a "rating denial" which means that people can import it from UK or Austria.Smart move!
Germans are so uptight, they are bottling up the frustration of the masses with these censorship laws and before you know it, BAM, it's 1939 all over again ;)
7 Like Censorship is telling a man he can't eat a steak because a baby can't chew it.-Mark Twain
I am absolutely sick to death of government censorship. This is happening more and more often. I wrote a blog (check my profile) on gaming censorship in Australia with regards to "Syndicate" being banned in Australia due to "localised damage".
If I want to play a violent video game I should have the right to. What ever happened to "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it"?
@Gelugon_baat Think I'm still being paranoid? :P
This comment has been deleted
3 Like Germany used to be a manly country. Now look at what the West have turned them into. Pathetic.
This comment has been deleted
3 Like @Gelugon_baat Prior to the World Wars, Germany was much better financially, culturally, and a prouder country. Now it has to bend to the whims and rules of other weaker nations.
@wilmarth45 @Gelugon_baat You guys... Don't mention the war... I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it...
@wilmarth45 @bsnimunf @Gelugon_baat
So paying thousends of dollars for a loaf of bread was well off financially? And may I remind you alot of thier production, espcially in the late 1930's, was war related
@wilmarth45 Dude, Germany went to war BECAUSE it was in the verge of absolute misery. Read a damn story book, for crying out loud!
@wilmarth45 Either you don't live in Europe with the present economic crisis, or you are really blind...
@wilmarth45 @bsnimunf @Gelugon_baat Well as a born German i must say were still one of the richest nations as far as i know and the people here can be happy to live here. But i want also to remind you to be careful with your information...dont mix up facts with opinions. Though i dont have the intend to correct you but maybe read a little about our country (Maybe something about the time past 1945... :P) and maybe visit us. Im 100% sure your view will change. cheers
@bsnimunf @Gelugon_baat Yes it was. The wars absolutely destroyed all of the economic prosperity of the country and it was riddled in debt. Even in modern times Germany has a struggling economy. Before the wars, industry was booming and Germany was the world leader in science, technology, and industry.
@wilmarth45 @Gelugon_baat Germany was not "much better financially" before the world wars. You cant go around just making stuff up.
@Gelugon_baat Buddy....look no further than the country that created your avatar pic, Japan, if you want a prime example of a country with scorn for other nations. Japan is one of the most xenophobic countries in the world,
1 Like @Gelugon_baat No. Actually the first World War had absolutely nothing to do with superiority, just the fact that they backed up the Austrian Empire as an oath. United States and Jewish propaganda has tarnished the image of Germany after WWII. The victors write the history and get to decide what is read and believed.
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