The Darkness delayed for the Germans
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jun 29th 2007 at 6:45PM }
We love getting to use this word ... the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbskontrolle (USK) has decided that a few changes need to be made to The Darkness before it releases in Germany. Key elements that need to be changed are Nazi symbols and a finishing move showing a human heart being ripped out. Before the Americans in the room get all First Amendment happy, the Germans have never allowed Nazi symbols in games (all the way back to Wolfenstein 3D) -- they're a little sensitive about that stuff. These requests for changes are also a very tempered move by the USK instead of just outright passive aggressively "banning" the game by not rating it, like they did with Dead Rising and Gears of War.The Xbox 360 and PS3 version of the game will now release on July 27 to satisfy the USK's demands. The PS3 version was delayed a week ago for unspecified reasons across Europe until July 20 - so Germany will need to wait an extra week. This did not affect the UK launch or content of The Darkness which occured today.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jake @ Jun 29th 2007 6:52PM
The Nazi stuff is obvious, and I can see that coming out. But the gore? Germans kind of get screwed when it comes to games with gore. Dead Rising and Gears of War were both very good games that they didn't even get to play, and neither really contained serious material.
laserboyjc @ Jun 29th 2007 7:01PM
"However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is meaningless." Ecclesiastes 11:8
no, I'm not some pessimistic guy drowning in my sorrows, but I think those phrases are kind of cool, and kind of go along with the game
Shagittarius @ Jun 29th 2007 7:04PM
I missed the Nazi symbols where are those at?
The war scenes are WWI...or do you go to WWII the second time?
Gavin @ Jun 29th 2007 7:09PM
What developer doesn't know about the German/Nazi thing at this point? Really, it is nobodies fault but their own. If you want to sell a game in that country you have to Ix-Nay the Azis-Nay.
Mr Khan @ Jun 29th 2007 7:19PM
Yeah, it is illegal to be a Nazi or to display any Nazi symbols or spread Aryan propaganda
Censorship? Bet on it, but these people went through hell under Nazi leadership, and don't want to do it again, same with the Japanese with their "no military action except in self-defense" constitutional clause
gettin' nuked twice and having every other urban area bombed off the map (in both nations' cases) will do that to ya
AoE @ Jun 29th 2007 7:41PM
@Mr Khan,
You've got some of your facts mixed up. The lack of a Japanese military, and the existence of the SDF are owed to the fact that Americans drafted the Japanese Constitution as part of the Allied occupation following the war. Check it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Japan
I might be wrong, but I believe the no-nazi clause was Brittan's doing when they occupied west Germany following the war. That one I'm not so sure about... but the Japanese constitution being drawn up by Americans I am positive of (If memory serves, we're also the reason they have fucked up censorship laws regarding porn).
kingalekz @ Jun 29th 2007 9:26PM
Seems like I have to import just another game from Austria or the UK, again. /rolls with eyes
King A. from Germany
Rare Hare @ Jun 29th 2007 10:26PM
I just find it hilarious that most of the comments on this post are (presumably) Americans discussing the Germany-specific offensive content that caused this delay, and then you have the ONE German guy going, "Well, damn. Guess I'll import."
Savok @ Jun 30th 2007 1:40AM
It's WW1 guys, no Nazis.
But hey, maybe the krauts will get a working version of the game, god knows mine doesn't.
LordAlu @ Jun 30th 2007 3:15AM
"The PS3 version was delayed a week ago for unspecified reasons across Europe until July 20 - so Germany will need to wait an extra week. This did not affect the UK launch or content of The Darkness which occured today."
Actually, only the 360 version was released this weekend in the UK... the PS3 version has been delayed here till July 20th, just like the rest of Europe.
Judd @ Jun 30th 2007 3:16AM
"these people went through hell under Nazi leadership"
Yea, I really pity the millions of Germans who stood by and did nothing during the Holocaust. Poor guys.
itssuchadrag @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:26PM
@Judd
most of the german people had no idea the holocaust was happening. infact most german soldiers had no idea. so yeah pitty the millions of Germans.....
GTMoogle @ Jun 30th 2007 8:00AM
Whether they knew was somewhat debatable. They might not have 'known', but a lot of people were staring really hard at the ground for a long time.
A little slack is still appropriate. Psychological experiments have shown pretty effectively that it's a (sad and disturbing) facet of the human psyche, not anything specific to the Germans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
My favorite German censorship was always the soldiers in C&C being given robot sounds and oil-blood.
Training @ Jul 1st 2007 12:40AM
@Judd
Holy moley the stupidity of that comment is unbelievable.
Here let me tell you a secret. THE GERMAN DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST! Hitler discussed it only with the top leaders. He kept it a secret from his people because he knew what their reaction was going to be like.
The vast majority of german men who fought in the war served in the wehrmacht (Heer - Army Kriegsmarine - War Navy - Luftwaffe - Air Force). They weren't involved in the holocaust. Only special teams from the SS were.
The Allies found out about the Holocaust before germans did and you know what? They have more then paid for their ignorance. Seeing that the Allies raped and killed innocent german civilians. After the war they stripped germany and forced the people to starve. The only reason the Western powers let Germans survive was because they were afraid of them becoming communists.
The gemans didn't find out about the war crimes until the war. Americans know what their government is up to at the moment. Yet they are remarkably silent.
Know before you speak.
Lompocus @ Jul 1st 2007 3:27AM
@ training: Uh huh. We raped and killed innocent civ.....
You prob think the same happens over in Iraq, don't you? Your from Euro-land, aren't you?
I wonder, training.....can you tell me what ignorance feels like?
ZippyDSMlee @ Jul 1st 2007 1:01PM
Just so you know the SKU
http://www.gamepoliticsforums.com/showpost.php?p=42971&postcount=69
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unterhaltungssoftware_Selbstkontrolle
Dose not Outright ban stuff ,the black listed games can be sold to adults but can not be seen in public at least not to "minor public".
So you can go to your downtown game store ask for a the game and get it in a brown bag,no fuss no muss,more pubs should release their mature games like that in Germany in order to skip the whole censor madness thing.
Austral bans and confiscates imports so they are far worse.
training @ Jul 1st 2007 1:10PM
@Lompocus
No i can't tell you about ignorance but I'm sure you can tell everyone. Since your clearly ignorant.
Two words. Abu Ghraib.
mandor @ Jul 1st 2007 3:15PM
That "Zee Germans didn't know about the Holocaust"-meme doesn't really chime with me.
I was taught something else in my school's history lessons - in Germany by the way.
Training @ Jul 1st 2007 5:32PM
@mandor
So your telling me that they knew that the jews were being killed? Hmm Let me think. CRAP!
If the holocaust was public knowledge then why did the jews move when they were ordered to? It's impossible to fathom that they walked straight into their death.
That is a lie. They people were lied to. They were told that the jews were being deported. The Jews complied because they never knew about the concentration camps.
In fact just go wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust_%28responsibility%29#The_German_people
mandor @ Jul 1st 2007 6:19PM
Well I guess a genocide of this epic proportions could certainly be conducted without information trickling down to ordinary people - not.
In fact, the fourth paragraph of that very Wikipedia
article you link to hints at this.
I am not saying that every single one of our grandfathers did know what was happening.
But acting like that generation could wash their hands in innocence is ludicrous in my eyes.
I don't feel personally responsible or guilty for this part of German history. But I certainly won't allow it to be white-washed.
Training @ Jul 1st 2007 7:41PM
There is a huge difference between whitewashing (which the Japanese are doing) and demonising.
Can the old German generation wash their hands of the holocaust? No since it was their inaction and nationalistic fervor and belief in dolchstosslegende that brought Hitler to power. They only reacted to stop the regime when they were affected (Church protests).
The world is never in Black and White. To say the german people were innocent and to say they were guilty is to fall to that trap. In fact to say WW2 was between Good and Evil is a trap. Good guys would have never done what the Allies did post '45.
Oh and just to clear up. I'm not some racist white fanatic. I'm an Black guy living in London. Prussian and German history was a passion of mine when i was a kid.
ZippyDSMlee @ Jul 2nd 2007 11:45AM
Training
can they be innocent and guilty,it falls into the dirty gray world reality is, I see it as soem knew soem did not,but ti was clear thos in power were not beneath killing anyone or making them dissapaer if they got in the way of the leaders vision.
Censorship in itself tries to make a problem go away by blocking it but all it dose more often than not add flue to it,they should actively rail agisnt racist groups but nazi symbolism for film,art and game should be let back in just so it can become normal and "forgotten".
Its annoying Germany is owing up to it (for the most part) and japan is going all national pride with their war history not letting them selfs remember the horror they committed to get nuked... oh well I should not say the US,where I lvie, is one hell of a fcked up goverment :P