Tits out for the lads
Europe to get uncensored version of "Giants", complete with naked breasts
Planet Moon's action-strategy game "Giants" has been raising eyebrows for some time now with its mixture of off-the-wall humour and gorgeous graphics, but when the game first started to appear in the USA earlier this week, fans were shocked to discover that the game had been censored. Not only had the traditional splatters of gory claret been replaced by green blood, but the formerly topless Sea Reaper characters had been covered up with bras.
"These changes were part of a last minute bid for GIANTS to get a Teen rating from the ESRB", Planet Moon's Bob Stevenson explained. "It was only recently that the pressure has been mounting for us to cover her up or face crippling our potential distribution. That would obviously be completely cr*p for us, as we've labored over this game for 3 years."
In America the recent backlash against violent games means that Mature rated titles are no longer carried by some of the big family stores such as WalMart, and (shocking as this may sound to Europeans) some stores are actually asking people buying Mature games to prove that they are old enough to play them. Next thing you know shops will be asking you to prove your age before selling you pornography or alcohol. Stop this assault on our constitutional right to gawp at titties now! Ahem.
Ironically the last minute cuts failed to save Giants from a Mature rating in the US, although according to Bob "we may still have a chance at getting wider distribution if retailers step back and realize our game is not a danger for the minds of America". Meanwhile, as hundreds of spotty hormone-ridden teenagers threaten a boycott if they don't get to see naked breasts in the game, Planet Moon's creative director Tim Williams has been playing down the impact of the changes, pointing out that "three years did not go into making Delphi topless, it went into making a great game".
There is good news for the rest of us though, as "these changes were only for the US versions of the game - elsewhere in the world GIANTS will be seen as we originally meant it to be". Tits and all. Remarkably the game is expected to get a 15+ rating from ELSPA here in the UK, although we won't get to admire the curvaceous Delphi in the nud until January 5th...