Video gaming in Germany

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The video games market in Germany is extremely active.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Home production

[edit] Origins

German production of popular video-games began principally on the 16-bit systems such as the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST in the 1980s, although a number of successful titles were also released on the Commodore 64 which dominated the 8-bit computer market in the country at the time. One of the earliest internationally successful companies was Gütersloh-based Rainbow Arts[citation needed] (founded in 1984) who were, among others, partly responsible for publishing the popular Turrican series of games. Other popular developers of the 16-bit era included Thalion, Factor 5 (who were responsible for developing the entire Turrican series) and Blue Byte. Blue Byte and Factor 5 remain in existence in 2006 and produce titles for systems such as Windows-based PCs and seventh generation consoles.

[edit] Modern day

German game production experienced something of a lull during the mid- to late 1990's, before picking up pace again at the turn of the millennium. One of the most famed titles to come out of Germany in recent years is Far Cry by Frankfurt-based Crytek, who are currently producing the next-generation title Crysis.

Factor 5 had been concentrating on the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series of gaming from 1999 until 2003, and are currently working on Lair, a role-playing game for the PlayStation 3.

Ascaron have recently produced the Elite-clone Darkstar One and continue to produce the popular Anstoss (lit. "Kick off") series of games, the first two installations of which were released under the title On the Ball in English-speaking countries.

[edit] Popular titles from Germany

[edit] Consumption

Within Germany there is a popular taste for historical trade simulations that exceeds that of many other countries, including home-grown ones such as 1602 A.D. and its sequels and The Patrician. Indeed, 1503 A.D. and 1602 A.D. are considered the most successful German video games ever.[citation needed]

First-person shooters have also been traditionally quite popular in recent years, which has become a controversial debate. There has been much discussion about the violent content of first-person shooter games, and as such these games, especially uncut versions, are highly coveted in gaming circles. It is possible that this popularity has arisen out of a desire to "rebel" against the state, as a thriving trade in so-called "blood patches" (modifications which reinstate the blood and gore of a game into the German version, either hacked executables, executables from another localization, alternative texture files or modifications to configuration files) has been created in recent years.

[edit] Trade fairs

The main video gaming trade fair in Germany is the Games Convention which takes place yearly in Leipzig, and is highly publicized by the specialist press.

[edit] The USK and censorship

Violence in video games is a controversial subject in Germany and German localisations of violent games are often heavily cut to permit a public release. Usually this entails a simple removal or reduction of depictions of blood and gore, but sometimes extends to cuts in the content or plot of the game, as was the case in games such as Half-Life and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

All games that are released to the public are required to carry a certificate given by the USK (Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle - Voluntary Monitoring Organisation of Entertainment Software). If the USK refuses certification of a title, it may be, and often is, placed upon the index. The compulsory nature of the USK label was a consequence of the 2003 modification of the Jugendschutzgesetz.

The 2003 changes to the Jugendschutzgesetz also announced an intent to extend the restrictions on the depiction of violence in video gaming, leaving open the possibility of banning any kind of depiction of violence in video gaming, which was met by widespread outcry from the video gaming community in Germany. The current CDU/SPD coalition government announced their intentions to enact this in 2005, but in November 2006 it was announced that such restrictions would not be enacted, at least for the time being.