We love it when a violent game is making its way to Germany. Why? Because we inevitably get to type out the name of Germany's ratings board: Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK). Say that three times fast. According to CVG, EA will be altering Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars so that it is suitable for Germany's impressionable youth. It seems the game's suicide bombers will no longer actually commit suicide. Instead, these more risk averse almost-suicide bombers will remove their deadly explosive payload and run away. EA notes that this is only an animation change and that it will not affect the game balance in any way.
This isn't the first game to fall under the USK's ratings hammer. Other 360 titles, including Dead Rising and Gears of War, have been banned from the country outright. Of course, smart gamers know that they can pick up an Austrian copy. At any rate, Command & Conquer 3 for the PC debuts this month, with the 360 version following soon after.
1. Here we go again... Dead Rising and Gears of War are NOT banned in Germany, they are "indiziert", meaning they may not be advertised, displayed and sold to minors. Every one of legal age (and that is 18 and above) may order and buy the game at retailers carrying the games as imports (mostly from Austria where a German version was published). Microsoft chose not to publish the games directly in Germany because they have a policy of not publishing any game that is denied a rating by the USK.
Posted at 3:28PM on Mar 14th 2007 by mnemo