Nintendo Wii Fanboy

When will the UK stop freaking out about Bully? If you guessed "Never," "Probably not anytime soon," "Not in this lifetime," or "Is that a rhetorical question?" then you're on the right track.

The newest slew of censorship whinings stemmed from a commercial for the game, which some people found "offensive," "distasteful," and (insert negative adjective here). The ad featured typical Bully shenanigans: destruction of property, wedgies, and so forth. The Advertising Standards Authority received thirty-one complaints about the commercial in question, as a handful of folks were upset that children could easily see it on their tellies.

Take Two blames sensationalist media coverage for the complaints, and as for the ASA? They don't seem too worried, as the organization declined to take any action regarding the ad. Even so, Take Two has no plans to run it again in the future.

To see the "offensive" commercial for yourself, just click past the break.

A lengthy, to-and-fro legal battle between the BBFC and Rockstar prevented Manhunt 2 from being released in the UK, with the BBFC eventually giving up and granting the game an "18" certificate in March. Having won its right to lop limbs clean off be released in Britain, it was no surprise that the title appeared in Nintendo's latest European release schedule this morning.

But wait, for there's another twist to this twistiest of sagas! A Rockstar spokesperson contacted Eurogamer earlier today to reveal that it "has no confirmed release date set for Manhunt 2 in Europe." Ho boy. If any Europeans out there are beginning to feel particularly indifferent about Manhunt 2 at this stage, we can't say we blame you.

"No online racing for you!' That's the message Nintendo is sending to Mario Kart Wii owners hoping to race their Hitler Miis on its Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.

Any attempt to bring a Mii sharing the German dictator's name online for Mario Kart Wii will be met with the following error: "You cannot access Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection using this Mii name. Please change your Mii name and try again." Presumably, you should still be able to race with a Mii bearing Hitler's likeness while using a different name. You know, if drifting through Moo Moo Meadows as the architect of the Holocaust is your idea of fun.

According to initial tests, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, and several other dictator jerks are not currently banned. Really, though, when was the last time you ran into someone using a Mii of Robert Mugabe.

Brazil seems to be having a lot of censorship issues lately, but in terms of video games, Bully is the most recent victim.

According to an Associated Press article, Judge Flavio Rabello recently ordered that Rockstar's controversial game be banned from the country. This means that Brazilian stores (both brick and mortar and online) cannot sell the software, nor can the title be imported, distributed, or promoted.

So, why Bully over other violent games? State prosecutor Alcindo Bastos commented, "The aggravating factor is that everything in the game takes place inside a school. That is not acceptable." Yet, Bully isn't first game to be prohibited in the Latin American country; earlier this year, Counter-Strike and Everquest were banned as well.

It's a shame when governments don't take the time to understand something before following a knee-jerk reaction. Perhaps bullying is a touchy subject, since the issue involves children committing violence against other children, but pretending it doesn't exist by banning media that portrays it won't solve any problems.



[Via Game Politics]

Although Rockstar won the appeal to get the controversial Manhunt 2 rated in the UK, the battle is far from over. The BBFC is now challenging the verdict by applying for a judicial review of the Video Appeals Committee's decision. The BBFC is adamant about its course of action, stating, "The VAC judgment, if allowed to stand, would have fundamental implications with regard to all the Board's decisions, including those turning upon questions of unacceptable levels of violence." Won't someone think of the children?

The BBFC is also trying to have the VAC's decision suspended, so that the Board doesn't have to rate the game until after the judicial review.

While it seems no one cares about playing Manhunt 2 anymore, the final outcome is certain to have repercussions for rating games (in the UK, at least) in the future.

[Via press release]

Two interesting items related to localized versions of No More Heroes have popped up, and we decided to combine them despite the fact that they don't necessarily relate to one another. First, Amazon's page for the American version of No More Heroes now contains a boxart image. We have no idea if it's the final boxart or a placeholder, but it's cool and doesn't have too much clutter.

The other news tidbit is that Rising Star Games has apparently been responding to angry emails from European gamers who want ichor. The message, as reported by NeoGAFfer Dachande, says not to "rule out a revised, 18+ version released some time in 2008 incidentally."

If this happens, it's either a fan-pleasing move or an open grab at double-dippers' wallets -- or a confusing bit of marketing that will make people hesitate to buy the game the first time and, at worst, forget to buy it the second time. Most likely the statement is just Rising Star's way of trying to get people to leave them alone about the blood thing.

You may remember that Rockstar appealed the BBFC's decision to refuse to rate Manhunt 2. Well, things seem to be finally going Rockstar's way, for once, as the Video Appeals Committee ruled in favor of the publisher by four votes to three.

So, does this mean that this whole fiasco is over and Manhunt 2 will finally get its 18 rating? Not exactly. The BBFC can still take the case to the High Court in order to try to keep the ban on the game.

Whether you care about Manhunt 2 or not, we've already seen how the decision to ban the title in the UK has affected other games. At least this appeal is a step in the right direction regarding video game censorship.

Don't worry, it's not a big deal. It's not as if they removed the fatalities* from Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. Capcom, responding to complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, removed a short sound sample from the game, because it contained the phrase "Allahu akbar," which means "God is the greatest."

We'd love to understand the thinking that led to religious speech being included in the soundtrack to the children's pirate adventure game. We're sure it was just included to give the game an "exotic" feeling. We're glad Capcom removed the offending sample, else they could have pulled a Kakuto Chojin-- by which we mean "get recalled because of inappropriate Islam-related sound samples," not "be a crappy fighting game."

*There aren't any, we're pretty sure.