List of banned video games

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Contents 1 Australia 2 Brazil 3 People's Republic of China 4 Germany 4.1 Confiscated because of §§ 86a, 130, 130a StGB 4.2 Confiscated because of § 131 StGB 5 Greece 6 Ireland 7 Mexico 8 New Zealand 9 Saudi Arabia 10 Singapore 11 South Korea 12 United Kingdom 13 References

[edit] Australia

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Video games in Australia cannot be rated R18+ as the rating only exists for film. This has led many games to be edited (to obtain an MA15+ rating) or refused classification.

Name	Reason
50 Cent: Bulletproof	Banned in 2006 due to the arcade mode 'counter kill' methods, which were determined to be of high impact.[1] A censored version was later released.[citation needed]
BMX XXX	Banned due to sexual content and nudity in relation to incentives and rewards.[2] A censored version was later released.[citation needed]
Dark Sector	Banned due to high impact violence
Dreamweb	Banned due to a scene of sexualized violence. However, the game was censored, and re-released with an M15+ rating in 1996 for "Medium level animated violence".
Duke Nukem 3D	Censored due to violence and sexual references. Was eventually released uncut with an MA15+ rating.
The Getaway	Banned due to high impact violence. A censored version was later released.
Grand Theft Auto III	Censored due to sexual violence
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	Censored due to sexual violence
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Censored/Patched due to the Hot Coffee mod featured in the game. Had its classification revoked following the Hot Coffee controversy.
Grand Theft Auto IV	Censored due to sexual violence
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude	Banned due to sexual content and nudity in relation to incentives and rewards.
Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure	Banned due to high impact violence and the glorification of graffiti.
Manhunt	Banned due to high impact scary violence and cruelty.
NARC (2005 update)	Banned due to high impact violence and illegal drug use.
Postal	Banned due to high impact violence.
Postal²	Banned due to high impact violence.
Phantasmagoria	Banned due to high impact violence, and a scene of sexual violence involving rape.
Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh	Censored due to sexuality.
Reservoir Dogs	Banned due to high impact violence and cruelty.
Singles: Flirt Up Your Life	Banned due to sexual content and nudity in relation to incentives and rewards.
Shellshock: Nam '67	Banned due to high impact violence, however, it was re-rated MA15+ by the Classification Review Board in its uncut form, upon appeal.
Soldier of Fortune: Payback	Banned due to high impact violence. Activision has since modified the game to meet MA15+ guidelines.
The Punisher	Banned due to high impact violence; however, it has since been re-rated MA15+ by the OFLC.
Voyeur	Banned due to a scene of explicit sexual dialogue.

[edit] Brazil

In December 1999, citing a man who killed three and injured eight, Brazil banned six games. Vendors were required to surrender the games to police or face a fine equal to about $11,000 USD a day.^[3]

Name	Reason
Blood	Banned due to high impact violence
Bully	Banned due to school setting
Carmageddon	Banned due to high impact violence
Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now	Banned due to high impact violence
Counter-Strike	Banned due to high impact violence[4]
Doom	Banned due to high impact violence
Duke Nukem 3D	Banned due to high impact violence
EverQuest	Banned due to high impact addicting violence.[4]
Grand Theft Auto	Banned due to high impact violence
Mortal Kombat	Banned due to high impact violence
Requiem: Avenging Angel	Banned due to high impact violence
Postal	Banned due to high impact violence

[edit] People's Republic of China

Main article: Video games in the People's Republic of China

Name	Reason
Command & Conquer	Banned due to "smearing the image of China and the Chinese army" despite the fact that the game presents China as a quasi-protagonist.[5] It is largely believed that the game was banned because the GLA (a terrorist group) uses a nuclear device to destroy the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Additionally, the Chinese campaign has the player destroy questionable targets such as the Three Gorges Dam and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Hearts of Iron	Banned due to depicting Tibet, Sinkiang, and Manchuria as independent countries and Taiwan as under Japanese control.[5]
I.G.I.-2: Covert Strike	Banned due to "intentionally blackening China and the Chinese army's image".[6]
Football Manager	Banned due to recognizing Tibet as an independent country.

See also: Censorship in the People's Republic of China

[edit] Germany

A game can be considered banned in Germany if it has been confiscated by court order because it violates a section of the Strafgesetzbuch (criminal code). Private possession (and thus playing it) and acquisition (such as downloading a demo from the Internet) is still legal, but any dissemination is not. The seller would break the law if a sale took place, not the buyer. On 2002-12-10 however, one German court (Oberlandesgericht Hamm) decided that a single sale of a single copy does not qualify as dissemination.^[7] Unlike indexing by the BPjM, which effects all content-equal versions, the versions that are confiscated are enumerated in the court order.

Being put on the index by the BPjM or, since 2003-04-01, being refused a rating by the USK does not equal a ban, it just imposes rather strict trade restrictions on the title. While only very few games have been confiscated, the list of indexed games is very long.^[8]

In December 2006, Bavaria and Lower Saxony proposed legislation, to be presented to the national parliament, that would make even playing games that feature "cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters" an offense punishable with fines or jail time of up to 12 months.^[9][10][11]

[edit] Confiscated because of §§ 86a, 130, 130a StGB

§ 86a outlaws the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations, § 130 Volksverhetzung (agitation of the people), § 131 instructions for crimes. In the official lists, these three sections are always bundled, so that action games where the object is to kill Nazis (and thus contain swastika flags or portraits of Adolf Hitler) are listed alongside racist propaganda pieces.

Name	Reason
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (English version 1999-06-24)	Banned due to Nazi references
KZ Manager (1990-10-29/1990-11-19)	Banned due to Nazi references
Mortyr (2001-10-24)	Banned due to Nazi references
Wolfenstein 3D (PC 1994-01-25, Atari Jaguar 1994-12-07)	Banned due to Nazi references

[edit] Confiscated because of § 131 StGB

§ 131 outlaws representation of violence in media "which describe cruel or otherwise inhuman acts of violence against human beings in a manner which expresses a glorification or rendering harmless of such acts of violence or which represents the cruel or inhuman aspects of the event in a manner which injures human dignity".^[12]

Name	Reason
Condemned: Criminal Origins (Decision AG Munic February 2008)	Banned due to high impact violence and cruelty
Manhunt (all versions, 2004-07-19)	Banned due to high impact scary violence and cruelty
Mortal Kombat (all Sega platforms, 1994-11-11)	Banned due to high impact violence and cruelty
Mortal Kombat II (all versions except Game Boy, 1995-02-08)	Banned due to high impact violence and cruelty
Mortal Kombat 3 (Sega Genesis, PlayStation, 1997-06-12)	Banned due to high impact violence and cruelty

Gears of War and Dead Rising were refused rating by USK. Gears of War EU version, was put on the Index (part A) on 26.11.2006 and therefore it cannot be advertised and nor disseminated to minors. Dead Rising was put on the Index (part B) and confiscated by Hamburg County Court's decision of 11.6.2007. Microsoft refrained from publishing them in Germany.

[edit] Greece

See also: Greek electronic game ban

[edit] Ireland

Name	Reason
Manhunt 2	Banned due to high impact violence

[edit] Mexico

• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 The Mexican Army are the antagonists of the game.^[13]

[edit] New Zealand

In New Zealand, games are classified by the Office of Film and Literature Classification. If they are dubbed "objectionable" in all cases, then they are considered banned. In this case, the game in question is not only illegal to sell, but illegal to own, possess, or import.^[14]

• Manhunt^[15]
• Postal
• Postal²
• Reservoir Dogs

[edit] Saudi Arabia

• The various Pokémon games were banned in Saudi Arabia for allegedly promoting Zionism and (particularly in the case of the trading card game) involving gambling.^[16] The Zionism claim is due to a six-pointed star appearing on several of the trading cards (representing unspecified energy card requirements).

[edit] Singapore

• The Darkness ^[17]

[edit] South Korea

Games banned in South Korea:

• Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
• Grand Theft Auto III
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• Manhunt
• Manhunt 2

South Korea will typically ban any game that mentions a fictional war between North and South Korea in order to avoid tensions between the two countries. However, in December 2006, Korea announced that the games will no longer be banned due to "freedom of expression. However, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Manhunt, and Manhunt 2 are still banned due to violence and cruelty."^[18]

[edit] United Kingdom

Games in the UK only usually receive a ban when they contain extreme and gratuitous violence; sex and nudity are not the main concern. Games are not 'banned' but are refused classification (RC) by the BBFC. It is illegal to sell (although not illegal to buy and play) a game that has not been classified by the BBFC in the UK. This only applies to games stored on physical media, not to downloadable media.^[19]

• Carmageddon (Later overturned, the full uncensored version was eventually released)
• Manhunt 2 (overturned)
• Thrill Kill

[edit] References