Wolfenstein Released in Germany Without Nazi References

[Guest]

Wolfenstein will be releasing in Germany for the first time... without Nazis.

Wolfenstein Released in Germany Without Nazi References : Read more

 

[catswold]

Bet there will be a lot of black market copies of the regular release sold there.

 

[cpatel1987]

Sounds like the bigger concern is the categorization of video games as a toy rather than media art.

 

[Matt Nelson]

I laugh when I see stuff like this... Not sure why, ultimately it's not funny, maybe it's to keep it surface level and cheapen all angles...... lol

 

[squirrelboy]

Sounds like the bigger concern is the categorization of video games as a toy rather than media art.

Toys and games are things you play (with). You don't play with art or movies.
I think that that's the reasoning behind the catogarization.

 

[dstarr3]

Don't mention the war!

 

[Amdlova]

now we have in germany stalin troops! muahaha

 

[kyee7k]

Nazis, Nazi Germany, Hilter, etc. are particularly very sensitive subjects within Germany.

 

[mrmez]

Don't mention the war.
I did once or twice, but I think I got away with it.

 

[catswold]

Don't mention the war.
I did once or twice, but I think I got away with it.

BASIL! Behave yourself.

 

[megiv]

How they expect to avoid the mistakes of the past if they are ignoring their history ? Not a smart move, to say the least.

 

[Alec Mowat]

It's stupid. It's only stupid because any idiot with a computer can do a 2 second search on Google and find out their Nazi's.
Germany; no kid who plays videogames really understands what a Nazi is. They will never (hopefully) see the horrors of war. Most of them grew up after the Berlin Wall fell. Just let them believe that Nazi's are some evil group of people that exist outside the laws of reality, like all North American children do.

 

[ohim]

Why should it be sensitive subject? Are they trying to close their eyes and say the nazzi and Hitler never happened ? It doesn`t change the history ... be a man and accept the history.

 

[Interocitor2]

Why should it be sensitive subject? Are they trying to close their eyes and say the nazzi and Hitler never happened ? It doesn`t change the history ... be a man and accept the history.

This is NOT some kind of history revisionism or something like that. Every schoolkid in germany has multiple history lessons about naziism, the holocaust, WWI, WWII etc. The law is to prevent neonazis from using nazi paraphernalia in public. But where do you draw the line in respect to the swastika? (the law has to be somewhat strict and specific to prevent loopholes) German law says: art is ok the rest is not.

 

[JUICEhunter]

It's just a legal version based on German law, without removing all the Nazi stuff they would not be able to sell the game legally. The original version was never released in Germany because they did not have this workaround at the time. I get it that you are killing Nazis but like Interocitor2 said, they have to be strict or else people would utilize loopholes.

 

[virtualban]

Bet there will be a lot of black market copies of the regular release sold there.

Black market, or a certain bay...

 

[invisibilian]

They simply replaced Nazi german soldiers with the Japanese. if they run into trouble japan, they can just swap it back.

 

[ddpruitt]

First

Wolfenstein has historically never been released in Germany because it's centered on the player fighting the Nazi regime.

Isn't correct. Wolfenstein 3D (1991) wasn't released and then removed from the market in Germany. Subsequent games including Wolfenstein (2009) were released in Germany with the Nazi symbolism removed, including Wolfenstein 3D.

Second I'm willing to bet that most of the people on this board taking issue or making light of the subject come from the United States. This ban on displaying Nazi symbols except for limited purposes is written into the German constitution. The relevant section was written in large part by the US Army after the second World War.

And this is basically a "Well duh" article. Every video game ever released in Germany has the Nazi symbolism removed not sure why it's worth an article, look at video or screenshots of the original Medal of Honor, COD, or Battlefield 1942 from Germany.

 

[catswold]

First

Wolfenstein has historically never been released in Germany because it's centered on the player fighting the Nazi regime.

Isn't correct. Wolfenstein 3D (1991) wasn't released and then removed from the market in Germany. Subsequent games including Wolfenstein (2009) were released in Germany with the Nazi symbolism removed, including Wolfenstein 3D.

Second I'm willing to bet that most of the people on this board taking issue or making light of the subject come from the United States. This ban on displaying Nazi symbols except for limited purposes is written into the German constitution. The relevant section was written in large part by the US Army after the second World War.

And this is basically a "Well duh" article. Every video game ever released in Germany has the Nazi symbolism removed not sure why it's worth an article, look at video or screenshots of the original Medal of Honor, COD, or Battlefield 1942 from Germany.

In their defense, very few American students are taught history to that depth anymore. The "boomer" generation was probably the last to be taught much about WWII in any depth and even then rarely in such detail.

I wasn't aware that that little factual gem--I knew it was a long-standing, severely enforced restriction, but not that it was in the constitution.

 

[TheAshigaru]

Most video games I can think of opt to use the de-nazified German Cross symbol. Company of Heroes and Battlefield 1942 both did this in the US versions. The modding community will usually create skins with more historically accurate vehicle markings and camouflage patterns, as well as uniforms for the soldiers.

 

[StarBound]

Atleast now I finally understand why the games were banned.

 

[Menigmand]

The nazis in Wolfenstein are not really nazis anyway. They are fantasy nazis.

 

[T-Bag]

What if people just download the game from Steam? Will they receive the censored version or the normal one?

 

[spartanmk2]

Sounds like the bigger concern is the categorization of video games as a toy rather than media art.

Toys and games are things you play (with). You don't play with art or movies.
I think that that's the reasoning behind the catogarization.

They just have a broader definition of what constitutes a "toy" and a narrow one for "Art" than we do in america (and elsewhere). Good example would be using legos to build a replica of the Brandenburg gate and putting it in a museum. Is it a toy or art? Its the end product that counts, but we all have our own definition.

 

[derekullo]

Imagine a "game" based on 9/11 ... Not so funny anymore