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This thread has been linked to the game 'Ninja Gaiden'.
Last week saw the release of Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox, which is, by all accounts, an excellent if difficult game, even though I haven’t yet gotten my grubby mitts onto it.
Many gamers have been talking about this title; it’s supremely hard difficulty level, it’s great playability, it’s martial arts mastery and it’s stunning visuals. But, another element that has been a talking point is the decision to censor the overly violent decapitation moves, depriving us of the full ninja experience, and to make sure us fragile little European gamers aren’t exposed to such evil imagery, images so gruesome that they would cause irreparable damage to us, even though the Americans, the most twisted gun/war/violent/compensation crazed culture on Earth, get the full-on graphic experience.
Surely it’s not really a big deal though is it? A few violent bits of heads being cut off taken out of the game doesn’t really effect the overall playablity and enjoyment of the gameplay.
That is true, whether or not we have these decapitations in the game doesn’t really matter one iota to the gameplay, but it does prise open a bigger can of worms; censorship in video games.
Censorship is thankfully something we haven’t been too exposed to that much in the land of gamedom (apart from EA’s decision to change the nasty looking Thrill Kill into some half-baked Wu-Tang Clan beat ‘em up). An overly violent game like Kingpin, Mortal Kombat, The Getaway or the GTA series will occasionally pop up, get an 18 rating, causing controversy, widespread condemnation and calls from The Daily Mail and their loyal army of witch-hunting followers for all video games to be burnt, or the very least, banned. But, very rarely do games get banned (in this country anyway), and even less censored, though I can remember some of the Resident Evil titles had the blood colour changed from red to green to appease the German market many years ago and BT kindly asked Sony to remove their vans from future copies of The Getaway as they felt that the mission where you dressed as a BT engineer, drove a BT van and went on a killing spree in a London police station didn’t do their public image much good (especially as it featured in such a god-awful game).
What’s interesting is that violent games aren’t new. We’ve had the aforementioned Kingpins and Mortal Kombats of this world come and go, causing a storm of controversy for 5 minutes then disappearing, so why do we have such a public story of a game being censored now, when so many more violent games have appeared un-cut and been played to death years previously? Maybe it’s to do with the fact that modern games like Ninja Gaiden are more immersive, and look and move a heck of a lot more realistic than games of old like the crusty Mortal Kombat?
As we all know, down the years video games have been blamed on all kinds of crimes; the Columbine High School massacre was supposedly all the fault of Doom according to some, and America is now ravaged with court cases, alleging that Grand Theft Auto is responsible for all kinds of car-jackings, highway murders and all that jazz.
Maybe censorship will be more commonplace in a way for developers and publishers, and in some outrageous cases the shops that stock the games, to cover their backs and avoid potential legal action if the games they make/sell are blamed for influencing some crazy nutball who commits a crime and blames it on the violent games he/she loves playing.
Maybe the rise of court cases and out of control compensation culture due to violent games being blamed on various crimes will force many games to be toned down in the future?
But that can’t really be the case here, because as I’ve already mentioned, the game isn’t censored in the US, only in Europe, so it’s not censored to avoid potential legal action if the game is blamed for a real-life murder case.
One thing that I find strange in this case is the difference between games and movies. We have a big story of Ninja Gaiden being censored, yet censorship in films is well-known, but is also something that has become a lot more lenient in the last few years; Back in the nineties, millions of films were banned, and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were renamed the “Hero” Turtles in the UK so as to avoid any association with ninjas, and some of their martial arts weaponry was toned down.
Today though, we‘re allowed to see Bruce Lee thrash dozens of useless henchmen with his super-fast Nunchaku moves in Enter the Dragon, we’re allowed to see once banned films like A Clockwork Orange or Last House of the Left, or even the ridiculously twisted violence, gore and masochism of a film like Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer, and numerous other old so-called “video nasties” can be bought in any high-street dvd shop today.
Even a film like Terminator 3, which had numerous F-words within (something that would have guaranteed it an 18 rating a few years ago), was only rated a 12, meaning a 12-year-old could pay for a ticket, and see some strong violence and a few F-words.
So, with the knowledge that film censorship seems to be more relaxed nowadays, the question remains, should violent games be censored?
My answer would obviously be, “of course they shouldn’t”.
I don’t know exactly whose decision it was to censor Ninja Gaiden, but a decision was made by some kind of stiff governing body, by idealistic people who’ve probably never played a video game in their entire life. They’ve decided what we are, or more to the point, aren’t allowed to see in our beloved video games, and that is the sad truth that I had hoped would never happen. Obviously I don’t think games should be overly evil and extreme in their depictions of graphic deaths, but who are we trying to kid? This is the modern world; we see and hear about so much real-life death and destruction nowadays, with nasty examples served up on the evening news each day, that we’ve become almost desensitised to even the most horrid and gut-wrenching of stories.
In the end, Ninja Gaiden sets a precedent. It’s an example of something that could become even more widespread in the future; violent games designed for responsible adults being censored, even though even more realistic and horrific movies are being released in their full un-cut violent entirety.
Censorship can cause a lot of resentment, especially when gamers in other territories get to play un-cut games or see un-cut films, whilst we have our version cut to ribbons. Why should our version be cut when the same game in other territories remains un-cut?
Anyone who’s seen the edited TV version of films like Robocop or Die Hard will know the awful consequences of what happens when censors attack (Yippee-ki-yay kimo-savvy or muddy funsters? What’s that all about?) Is that really what we want to see in our games?
Do we really want to see our games cut to pieces to appease a few blinkered politically correct moral high ground standing suit-wearing desk-jockeys?
No, we want to be allowed to be virtual Ninjas, and cut off heads for harmless fun.
Many gamers have been talking about this title; it’s supremely hard difficulty level, it’s great playability, it’s martial arts mastery and it’s stunning visuals. But, another element that has been a talking point is the decision to censor the overly violent decapitation moves, depriving us of the full ninja experience, and to make sure us fragile little European gamers aren’t exposed to such evil imagery, images so gruesome that they would cause irreparable damage to us, even though the Americans, the most twisted gun/war/violent/compensation crazed culture on Earth, get the full-on graphic experience.
Surely it’s not really a big deal though is it? A few violent bits of heads being cut off taken out of the game doesn’t really effect the overall playablity and enjoyment of the gameplay.
That is true, whether or not we have these decapitations in the game doesn’t really matter one iota to the gameplay, but it does prise open a bigger can of worms; censorship in video games.
Censorship is thankfully something we haven’t been too exposed to that much in the land of gamedom (apart from EA’s decision to change the nasty looking Thrill Kill into some half-baked Wu-Tang Clan beat ‘em up). An overly violent game like Kingpin, Mortal Kombat, The Getaway or the GTA series will occasionally pop up, get an 18 rating, causing controversy, widespread condemnation and calls from The Daily Mail and their loyal army of witch-hunting followers for all video games to be burnt, or the very least, banned. But, very rarely do games get banned (in this country anyway), and even less censored, though I can remember some of the Resident Evil titles had the blood colour changed from red to green to appease the German market many years ago and BT kindly asked Sony to remove their vans from future copies of The Getaway as they felt that the mission where you dressed as a BT engineer, drove a BT van and went on a killing spree in a London police station didn’t do their public image much good (especially as it featured in such a god-awful game).
What’s interesting is that violent games aren’t new. We’ve had the aforementioned Kingpins and Mortal Kombats of this world come and go, causing a storm of controversy for 5 minutes then disappearing, so why do we have such a public story of a game being censored now, when so many more violent games have appeared un-cut and been played to death years previously? Maybe it’s to do with the fact that modern games like Ninja Gaiden are more immersive, and look and move a heck of a lot more realistic than games of old like the crusty Mortal Kombat?
As we all know, down the years video games have been blamed on all kinds of crimes; the Columbine High School massacre was supposedly all the fault of Doom according to some, and America is now ravaged with court cases, alleging that Grand Theft Auto is responsible for all kinds of car-jackings, highway murders and all that jazz.
Maybe censorship will be more commonplace in a way for developers and publishers, and in some outrageous cases the shops that stock the games, to cover their backs and avoid potential legal action if the games they make/sell are blamed for influencing some crazy nutball who commits a crime and blames it on the violent games he/she loves playing.
Maybe the rise of court cases and out of control compensation culture due to violent games being blamed on various crimes will force many games to be toned down in the future?
But that can’t really be the case here, because as I’ve already mentioned, the game isn’t censored in the US, only in Europe, so it’s not censored to avoid potential legal action if the game is blamed for a real-life murder case.
One thing that I find strange in this case is the difference between games and movies. We have a big story of Ninja Gaiden being censored, yet censorship in films is well-known, but is also something that has become a lot more lenient in the last few years; Back in the nineties, millions of films were banned, and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were renamed the “Hero” Turtles in the UK so as to avoid any association with ninjas, and some of their martial arts weaponry was toned down.
Today though, we‘re allowed to see Bruce Lee thrash dozens of useless henchmen with his super-fast Nunchaku moves in Enter the Dragon, we’re allowed to see once banned films like A Clockwork Orange or Last House of the Left, or even the ridiculously twisted violence, gore and masochism of a film like Takashi Miike’s Ichi the Killer, and numerous other old so-called “video nasties” can be bought in any high-street dvd shop today.
Even a film like Terminator 3, which had numerous F-words within (something that would have guaranteed it an 18 rating a few years ago), was only rated a 12, meaning a 12-year-old could pay for a ticket, and see some strong violence and a few F-words.
So, with the knowledge that film censorship seems to be more relaxed nowadays, the question remains, should violent games be censored?
My answer would obviously be, “of course they shouldn’t”.
I don’t know exactly whose decision it was to censor Ninja Gaiden, but a decision was made by some kind of stiff governing body, by idealistic people who’ve probably never played a video game in their entire life. They’ve decided what we are, or more to the point, aren’t allowed to see in our beloved video games, and that is the sad truth that I had hoped would never happen. Obviously I don’t think games should be overly evil and extreme in their depictions of graphic deaths, but who are we trying to kid? This is the modern world; we see and hear about so much real-life death and destruction nowadays, with nasty examples served up on the evening news each day, that we’ve become almost desensitised to even the most horrid and gut-wrenching of stories.
In the end, Ninja Gaiden sets a precedent. It’s an example of something that could become even more widespread in the future; violent games designed for responsible adults being censored, even though even more realistic and horrific movies are being released in their full un-cut violent entirety.
Censorship can cause a lot of resentment, especially when gamers in other territories get to play un-cut games or see un-cut films, whilst we have our version cut to ribbons. Why should our version be cut when the same game in other territories remains un-cut?
Anyone who’s seen the edited TV version of films like Robocop or Die Hard will know the awful consequences of what happens when censors attack (Yippee-ki-yay kimo-savvy or muddy funsters? What’s that all about?) Is that really what we want to see in our games?
Do we really want to see our games cut to pieces to appease a few blinkered politically correct moral high ground standing suit-wearing desk-jockeys?
No, we want to be allowed to be virtual Ninjas, and cut off heads for harmless fun.
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how true. Movies and videos that depict violence much more worse then a computer game are allowed to be made. But when it comes to games no they can't make the game violent. Its truely shameful.
Oh, why was Ninja gaiden altered for in the european verson. What do we miss out?
Oh, why was Ninja gaiden altered for in the european verson. What do we miss out?
i agree, video games are harmless fun. for example, when we do play games, such as ninja gaiden, after we skillfully decapitate an unsuspecting victim, we hardly suudenly aquire the urge to go and do the same on the nearest person we can find.
i think electronic depictions of death, such as in video games or on dvd, have become a scapegoat to increased crime or social decline. sadly, the thruth is the people who decide these censorships probably havent even touched a video game in their lives.
yet, i think, we suffer in our gaming experience due to this, and it just isn't fair. all because we have a decision made for us, as if it was gamers' decision, then surely there would be no censorship as we realise that it is 'harmless fun', a phrase i think censorshippers dont understand.
they may not agree with some things that we can do, but we dont always agree with actions people in power take, not just censorships, but government decisions and others, eg the iraq war. how is a war allwoed to take place with substancially flawed reason, yet we are not allowed to slice and dice a computerised image very graphically?
i think electronic depictions of death, such as in video games or on dvd, have become a scapegoat to increased crime or social decline. sadly, the thruth is the people who decide these censorships probably havent even touched a video game in their lives.
yet, i think, we suffer in our gaming experience due to this, and it just isn't fair. all because we have a decision made for us, as if it was gamers' decision, then surely there would be no censorship as we realise that it is 'harmless fun', a phrase i think censorshippers dont understand.
they may not agree with some things that we can do, but we dont always agree with actions people in power take, not just censorships, but government decisions and others, eg the iraq war. how is a war allwoed to take place with substancially flawed reason, yet we are not allowed to slice and dice a computerised image very graphically?
you should have never make topics like this on any forum ever. You're far too good at it. Likewise, a decent post. Now, place this one in a magazine somewhere.
Still, cheers all the same :D
Rather belated, by two months or so, but I'm sure Bejam will appreciate it all the same.
Congrats Bejam.
*Gets breath back*
well done Bejam. What a bloody good post
Oh it won. :D
I couldn't be sure, but it was enjoyable reading.
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