With such a glut of WWII games out there all focused firmly on killing Germans I’ve been wondering how WWII games are received in Germany… I mean how does it work killing you fellow countrymen (or possibly even your grandfather) in-game? Do German kids disassociate themselves from this and look at it like killing Nazis and not Germans or do they just not play these games? Is there a link between this and the very restrictive German stance on violent video games? I’m probably not explaining my thoughts very well here but hopefully you can understand what I’m trying to get across here, anyone else out there ever had this thought? Any Germans out there care to contribute? Hopefully no one will take offence by this, as none is intended (you just never know these days!!) but none is intended so mods feel free to delete or censor if required…
AFAIK the Nazi's are not allowed to be referenced in the game, or its associated material (booklet, art etc). I seem to recall a German version of Battlefield 1942 showing the Axis trucks/planes etc with none of the Nazi markings on them at all. I expect that other WWII games are of a similar style.
I was always supprised by the Call of Duty game were you play as US soldiers fighting Japanise soldiers, which sold well in Japan.
Wasn't there a Medal of Honour game called Rising Sun that launched in Japan earlier than the rest of the world?
It confused the hell out of me when they did that. I can't find any sales charts, though, which is kinda disappointing.
Yes, there are laws in Germany with regards to what they call "Nazi Symbolism": Books, Flags, Icons (swastikas, SS logos, oak leaves, etc), even boots are all not only prohibited to be shown or sold, but also illegal to own (AFAIK - maybe someone living in germany can fill in the blanks here). Also, the Germans have what they call the "Index für jugendgefährdende schriften" (index for materials potentially dangerous to the youth - in plain English). Any title on this is not allwoed to be openly sold in stores, to different extents (again, speaking from my understanding of it, which might not be 100% accurate). I know for example that Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is not allowed to be sold at all. Quake is not allowed to be sold to anyone without proof of age, no public adverts AT ALL, and most of the gore removed. Obvisouly, being on that Index in itself can be marketing for some companies, but others try to avoid it (red alert 1 had no gore, all the soldiers were labeled "Robots", same with the dogs... IIRC, some of the sound effects were changed as well). When it comes to WWII, things get really stringent in Germany. Any Nazi Symbolism will result in the game being forbidden in its entirety. So developers already edit a lot out of it. The rest is up to the game's violence levels, content, etc. In general, sales of shooters remain good in Germany though. Lots of people that honestly couldn't give a rat's butt about what they're shooting at in that regard.
German Tour Guide: You vill find more on Germany's contributions to ze arts in ze pamphlets ve have provided. Brian : Yeah, about your pamphlet... uh, I'm not seeing anything about German history between 1939 and 1945. There's just a big gap. Tour guide: Everyone vas on vacation. On your left is Munich's first city hall, erected in 15... Brian : Wait, what are you talking about? Germany invaded Poland in 1939 and... Tour Guide: We were invited. Punch vas served. Check vit Poland. Brian : You can't just ignore those years. Thomas Mann fled to America because of Nazism's stranglehold on Germany. Tour guide: Nope, nope. He left to manage a Dairy Queen. Brian : A Dairy Queen? That's preposterous. Tour guide: I vill hear no more insinuations about the German people. Nothing bad happened. Sie werden sich hinsetzen. Sie werden ruhig sein. Sie werden nicht beleidigen Deutschland. You will sit down. You will shut up. You will not insult Germany. (Throws his hand up in a Hitler salute.) Brian : Uh, is that a beer hall? Tour guide: (Snapping out of it) Oh yes, Munich is renowned for its historic beer halls.
I thought that the way it was spun (and I had heard that the gore is toned down/stripped out as well) was that they were not fighting germans, but that they were fighting nazis who are a separate entity and not in fact german at all, to encourage the "nazis are evil you will not be one" attitude enforced after the end of the war.
Not 100% sure... I Personally haven't played a German game release in years. The last i did see was one of the older CODs/MOHs... and in that all the swastika flags were replaced with red flags, all the textures on the boots were different, the violence was toned down, and the word "Nazi" was not used once...
