Germany rejects Dead Rising
For now.
Germany's videogames ratings board, the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle, has refused to give Xbox 360 title Dead Rising a rating.
In an earlier report, we stated that the game had actually been banned outright, but Marek Klingelstein from the USK has been in touch to clarify this. "The German Age Rating system (as your much better informed readers already know) cannot ban a game," he wrote. "A game can only be banned by the BPjM when it's on the market."
"Getting no Rating for a game (That's what happend with Dead Rising - we declined to give it a rating) gives the BPjM the opportunity to ban the game later on," he explained.
According to reports, the USK made the decision to reject the game after its content was deemed to be too violent. Dead Rising sees players taking on the role of photographer Frank West, who finds himself caught up in a battle against an army of zombies. It's thought that the USK has objected to the way in which players must hack and slash enemies to destroy them.
Historically, Germany has taken a tough line on violence in videogames, and publishers are often required to release different versions of their titles there - for example, many titles must feature green blood instead of red so that they appear less gory.
Marek isn't happy with that either, by the way. "Please, no more green blood discussion. As the gametester I have played over 8,000 games, and the last green blood I saw was in 1995. This is an urban legend that we're trying to overcome, but it gets harder and harder - maybe journalism is part of the problem." Maybe you're right - sorry Marek!
Capcom has yet to issue a statement regarding the USK's decision.