BBFC defends Dead Rising

By Games Industry.biz Published 10 August, 2006

And decision to let it past uncut.

The British Board of Film Classification has told GamesIndustry.biz that it will stand by the decision to allow Capcom's Xbox 360 horror title Dead Rising to go on sale uncensored in the UK.

The game has already been rejected by ratings boards in Germany, and according to reports, a censored version will be released in Japan. But the BBFC has awarded Dead Rising an 18 rating, and no cuts will be made to the game for its UK release.

"Dead Rising is considered a fairly straightforward 18. We take the view that at 18, unless there is something harmful in the game, we have no reason to intervene as far as adults are considered," said a BBFC spokesperson.

"There is no clear evidence that playing games leads to copycat behaviour. We would only intervene if a game was going further than any other game in terms of interactivity and the 'thrills' it offers a gamer."

According to the spokesperson, the BBFC board did not find rating the game to be particularly problematic due to the nature of its content. "There's a lot of blood in the game, and the player is required to take gory photos, but there are no close-ups and no depictions of sexually motivated violence, which is something we might consider harmful," the spokesperson said.

"The game is gory, but it's not detailed and the violence is not sadistic, and it's focused against zombies. There's a fantasy element attached, and there's a sense of humour, albeit a macabre one."

Dead Rising went on the sale in the States earlier this week and is due to launch in Europe on September 8th.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • udat #1 6 years ago

    Why do they need to defend what is clearly the right decision?

  • Scientist #2 6 years ago

    "There is no clear evidence that playing games leads to copycat behaviour."

    Did you hear that Daily Mail!?!

  • dbeamish #3 6 years ago

    Maybe if parents actually looked at what they buy 8 year old little timmy we wouldnt even have to have stupid news items like this in the first place. Daily Mail - I blame you.

  • PearOfAnguish #4 6 years ago

    "We take the view that at 18, unless there is something harmful in the game, we have no reason to intervene as far as adults are considered,"

    I love the BBFC.

  • Freek #5 6 years ago

    How can Germany reject it? All the games enemies are already zombies, no need to switch them out! ;p

    And I bloody well hope this leads to copy cat behaviour. When the apocolypse comes and the world is overflowing with Zombies we need allot of people to go out and kill them!

  • Zero Beat #6 6 years ago

    What about the ability to hack a woman zombies head off then photograph her cleavage and cameltoe? :p

  • Penitent #7 6 years ago

    "Why do they need to defend what is clearly the right decision?"

    +100

  • alpha-0ne #8 6 years ago

    We know very well why germany are a nanny state, history thats all

    About time the BBFC is totally right the game is an 18, as an adult its my decision to buy it or not..

  • Hunam85 #9 6 years ago

    BBFC for the win! (well, these days :p)

  • President_Weasel #10 6 years ago

    ""We take the view that at 18, unless there is something harmful in the game, we have no reason to intervene as far as adults are considered,"

    I love the BBFC."

    And we know that the BBFC have seen the entire game, including every cutscene, before rating it. Unlike the ESRB who just want a 'representative sample'.

    I love the BBFC too. They are hard work but they are worth it.

  • tiddles #11 6 years ago

    but there are no close-ups and no depictions of sexually motivated violence

    said the BBFC spokesman as he zoomed in to get a a triple Erotica photo bonus

  • Laserbream #12 6 years ago

    How unusually sensible.

  • Azazel #13 6 years ago

    lol yeah, BBFC in common sense shocker.

  • penhalion #14 6 years ago

    Yay I like the BBFC they seem to be far more grounded than the US knee jerk reactions you get.

    There is nothing in the game that isn't in any zombie movie out there so what's to sensor.

  • jellyhead #15 6 years ago

    I'd heard that Aus had no intention of banning the game at least thats what one aussie in the forum was saying.

  • President_Weasel #16 6 years ago

    patAU, the OFLC have rated this game.

  • Mick #17 6 years ago

    /throws oil on the fire

    To be fair though - media does have an impact on the way people behave. Remember the "Youve been Tango'd" ads in the 90's? The one with the big orange fella slapping people? That was banned cause kids were copying it in school yards.

    Remember when you were younger, when you first saw rambo as a kid? Everyone wanted the plastic knife and headed off to the local park / dene and pretended to be rambo.

    /gets coat and runs....

  • Rambaldi #18 6 years ago

    "There is no clear evidence that playing games leads to copycat behaviour"

    Thank god, heaven forbid that kids might go out and decapitate some zombies after playing this.

    The Zombie Rights Movement would have a fit!

  • oldfruit #19 6 years ago

    "no depictions of sexually motivated violence"

    You could argue that giving extra points for shots of zombies private parts after you have slayed them encourages such violence in the game! (As pointed out beautifully by Gamespot presenter "taking pictures of naked lady zombies is just wrong dude!";)

    Also strange how the demos on Live have no rating or warning before download. How do you control that?

  • Rambaldi #20 6 years ago

    Good point..I never knew I was such an anarchist :)

  • geepersd #21 6 years ago

    I thought the live stuff was if not rated at least locked to certain profiles / parental settings - not having setup a child profile I don't know for sure though

    also, I'm sure Rambo wasn't a kids film (despite the Rambo - force of freedom cartoon)

  • kangarootoo #22 6 years ago

    "Remember when you were younger, when you first saw rambo as a kid? Everyone wanted the plastic knife and headed off to the local park / dene and pretended to be rambo. "

    So I guess all the zombies out there in the real world are in line for a world of hurt at the hands of misguided youth ;)
    Edited by 1 at 10/08/06 @ 14:33

  • Monkey_Chops #23 6 years ago

    I have to commend the BBFC for taking this stance. They've come a long way in the last 25 years.

  • ManicDrunkMonk #24 6 years ago

    Who is this "little Timmy"! Surely if he is treated this badly by his parents you should have already reported them.

    Poor Timmy, neglected by his parents, failed by the EG forumites... there's so much evil in the world!

  • jellyhead #25 6 years ago

    Right then Ban Everything!
    Just in case young timmy does something psychotic.
    Why is timmy playing this game anyway, it's an 18?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #26 6 years ago

    re: ManicMiner

    When we all played Rambo as kids, we only stabbed one another with plastic knives or shot one another with little rubber darts.

    Although some kids I knew had real combat knives with little compasses in the top, they knew perfectly well that it wasn't a good idea to stab their friends with them. I don't think parenting and educational standards have slipped far enough in the past 20 years that that isn't still the case.

  • Kami #27 6 years ago

    Sad that the BBFC have to defend a decision which makes complete sense.

    This isn't America, where kids can legally go and buy these games. We have censorship and age restrictions, which means that sales-wise at least it's adults-only. And if parents buy it for their child, then sorry, but the parent should take full responsibility if the child is messed up enough to copycat. Age-restriction numbers are on games now for a reason.

    This is just a (rare) victory for common sense. The world may be trying to nanny but its nice to see the BBFC actively saying, "It's an 18 game - it's for adults only, what's the big deal?"

  • dcangel #28 6 years ago

    This kind of reminds me of when the BBFC passed Peter Jackson's tongue-in-cheek splatterfest "Braindead" without any cuts, with much the same kind of reasoning (i.e. the dark humour, which made it fairly obvious that it wasn't to be taken seriously) - whereas in the US, a lot of cuts were made on the initial release.

    Anyway, a good decision by the BBFC here. Anyone who can legally buy an 18-rated game should (generally) be mature enough not to be influenced by what they see in the game.

  • ManicDrunkMonk #29 6 years ago

    Isn't it obvious! Everyone under (insert your age) is stupid and can't be trusted due to the decline in family values and educational standards since you left school!

  • gaijin #30 6 years ago

    so ManicMiner, you really *did* stamp on your little brothers head? And I thought you were joking...

    (edited due to presence on thread of various Manics)
    Edited by 1 at 10/08/06 @ 16:53

  • Retroid #31 6 years ago

    BBFC = scum of the fucking earth

  • kangarootoo #32 6 years ago

    @Retroid

    Are you an angry parent or something?

    "Scum of the earth" is pretty strong talk. I tend to reserve that kind of label for rapists and the like. Maybe I'm just nuts though eh?

  • Pirotic #33 6 years ago

    Hurrah!

  • Lothar Hex #34 6 years ago

    Did somebody actually complain about the game?

  • Vin #35 6 years ago

    "BBFC = scum of the fucking earth".

    You div.

    More a case of common fucking sense prevailing.

  • tenma #36 6 years ago

    ManicMiner: I really don't think you give kids enough credit. Who here as a kid tried to re-enact any violent act they saw on TV using the exact same weapons or were oblivious to the dangers inherent in using any type of weaponry? I remember watching Predator 2 when I was 10 and playing Mortal Kombat at that same age and never being deluded enough to actually try and imitate what I was seeing on screen. The vast majority of kids can separate fantasy from reality and I think a lot of people end up forgetting that as they grow older. Sure kids get hurt sometimes but I'd like to think in most of the cases it was unintentional. Just as unintentional as a group of 20somethings playing football and having someone get hurt in the process or as unintentionally as kids playing an innucous game of tag and someone tripping and falling.

    Kids experience pain at some point or another and I think they're fully aware of how much basic events like falling down when learning to walk or bumping their head on a table hurt. I doubt that they'd suspend that knowledge and attempt to recreate something that hurts tenfold or more.

  • NegativeZero #37 6 years ago

    I wish these guys worked for the Australian OFLC. :(

  • Retroid #38 6 years ago

    I bloody knew some people would be too daft to understand what I meant.

    Censors and 'moral guardians' = scum of the fucking earth.

    Just because they've made a sensible decision this time doesn't mean they won't be the first against the wall when my revolution comes.
    Edited by 1 at 11/08/06 @ 01:43

  • ice_freezer #39 6 years ago

    Hooray for the sensible people in that kind of organizations!

  • marc_si #40 6 years ago

    "I remember watching Predator 2 when I was 10 and playing Mortal Kombat at that same age and never being deluded enough to actually try and imitate what I was seeing on screen"

    I remember being 12 and ducking frequently to avoid shurikens made in metalwork by kids who'd watched too many Mutant Ninja Turtles .... ;-)

  • ManicDrunkMonk #41 6 years ago

    "I remember watching Predator 2 when I was 10 and playing Mortal Kombat at that same age and never being deluded enough to actually try and imitate what I was seeing on screen"

    A little difficult to imitate Predator, how long did it take you to realise that armoured aliens didn't come down to earth to hunt us?

  • Kafeen #42 6 years ago

    "There is no clear evidence that playing games leads to copycat behaviour."

    That's good, we wouldn't want people running around cutting the heads off zombies would we.

  • daft #43 6 years ago

    Good thing there's no sex in there. That would have been awful. Sex is the devil.

  • feoster611 #44 6 years ago

    "Why do they need to defend what is clearly the right decision?"

    +300! Why waste time too?

  • kangarootoo #45 6 years ago

    @Retroid

    Lol, you can hardly criticise people for not understanding what you meant when you barely wrote more than a few words. Try a whole sentence next time for better results.

    Its easy to oversimplify the whole censorship issue as a vehicle for being angry, but often as not censors are the filter that stops stuff getting banned outright. Without age ratings on films there would likely be NO films of an adult nature for example (see the well documented issues Aus has due to there being no 18 rating for games).

    Plus hating all censorship is quite a self serving attitude. Parents want to be able to know their kids can watch TV at 4pm without getting the shit scared out of them. Censorship allows their needs to be served.

    Its a much more complex subject than can be maturly discussed using pointless snippets like "BBFC = scum of the fucking earth".

  • Bezzy #46 6 years ago

    Don't know if I'm getting this right, but this defense was in response to typical daily mail scare-mongering and moral outcry? Moral outcry for more paper sales, if you ask me. People who read the daily mail only seem to form opinions after reading that rag.

    So... that's why they should bother to defend their reasons. Good on them, I say. I get the feeling that games are finally being welcomed into the zeitgeist, rather than feeling like a spotty teenager at a posh dinnerparty. Still has some growing up to do, but it's getting there.

  • Retroid #47 6 years ago

    ;p

    Age ratings are fine, as are watersheds, I've never had a problem with those, ever, and I think the people who do are ultimately shooting themselves in the foot.

    But - the BBFC are a shower of bastards and I would dearly love to murder them* all with a spade . Along with the staff of the Daily Mail :)

    I've been interested in censorship in this country and generally for well over the last decade, plus I've been workshy on this site for several years and my views on the BBFC, censorship and ratings have been done to death, I just didn't want to reiterate everything yet again :D

    Personally, I'm so glad we have some of the toughest censorship in the western word and our rock-bottom crime figures** bear out the BBFC's case for cutting releases in general! \o/





    *JOKE
    ** ANOTHER JOKE
    Edited by 1 at 11/08/06 @ 12:21

  • tenma #48 6 years ago

    A little difficult to imitate Predator, how long did it take you to realise that armoured aliens didn't come down to earth to hunt us?

    Heh, you ask that question as if that revelation was normal for most kids. Perhaps I should ask, how long did it take you?

    And while it may be difficult to imitate Predator, it's not difficult to replicate Mortal Kombat simply with the use of sharp projectiles found around the house. I sincerely hope that as a kid who had and used logic I wasn't the exception to the rule around here?

  • Retroid #49 6 years ago

    :)

  • urban #50 6 years ago

    WOW !!! They are actually not bad guys! zombies is how you get around the bbfc then :)

  • MrE26 #51 6 years ago

    I can't agree with some people's views on the BBFC. Sure, under Ferman they were fucking draconian, but in the past few years they've taken huge strides to do things properly & i can't complain about them at all. Cuts are being waived left right & centre, & the only things you see being taken out now are illegal stuff (animal cruelty etc. which is fair enough) & scenes where the distributor pushes for a lower rating to get more money in from the kids (which is fucked up but it's hardly something to level blame at the BBFC for.) We fucking moaned abut having to put up with these ludicrous decisions for years, now we're getting treated like actual adults & we're still moaning. I understand the point of people not liking things being 'approved' before they're allowed to watch/play them, but our society is so fucked in the head that without it there'd be some seriously sick shit out there. Fuck the Daily Mail though. Fuck it in it's stupid ass.