Fallout 3's Megaton safe from Japanese gamers

Per

Per

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Kotaku reports that adjustments are being made to the Japanese release of Fallout 3 to remove or tone down certain elements.<blockquote>The side-quest The Power of the Atom has been changed. Non-playable-character Mr. Burke has been taken out of this side-quest, removing the option of detonating the nuclear bomb. That's not all, the name of a weapon was changed as it was deemed "inappropriate" for Japan. Smart money says the weapon is mini-nuke launcher "Fat Man" for obvious reasons. The online reaction from the Japanese users seems to be largely disappointment to these edits. Fallout 3 goes on sale in Japan this December.</blockquote>If I read the translation of the press release right, there will also be no dismemberment of humans or named ghouls, while feral ghouls, super mutants and beasts will still fly apart and there is no (other) reduction in gore.

Link: Bethesda press release (in Japanese)
Link: Auto-translated version (not in Japanese)

Spotted at N4G.
 
Far be it from me to tell people what they should or shouldn't be offended by, but anyone who might have been offended could just, you know, not buy the game. This seems like a preemptive knee-jerk on Bethesda's part.

And after all, it's just a video game. Too bad for the Japanese gamers who are getting a censored, crippled game.
 
In related news, adjustments have been made to the German release of Call of Duty: World at War. Zombie Nazis are now being called Living Impaired Persons of Undefined Nationality and Undisclosed Political Affiliation. Hooray for political correctness!
 
The Japanese are not used to shit being blown up in their own cultural output. They need to be eased into these things.
 
Forhekset said:
Far be it from me to tell people what they should or shouldn't be offended by, but anyone who might have been offended could just, you know, not buy the game. This seems like a preemptive knee-jerk on Bethesda's part.

And after all, it's just a video game. Too bad for the Japanese gamers who are getting a censored, crippled game.
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Beth can't do that! They'd go to any extent for people to buy the game! You just need to remove the nukes, the weapons and make flowers grow and rate it E. I bet that's the next item on Beth's list. /sarcasm over

Seriously though, the Fat Man launcher is stupid in the first place so it should just go from the game. As for removing Megaton quest, it's just crippling the game further. Funny that an American game would be censored while going into Japan while a lot of Japanese games don't make it to US because of censoring. Just because Beth is afraid that "OMFG someone might find this offensive". If they're afraid of offensive games, they should not have touched Fallout.
 
Ausdoerrt said:
Funny that an American game would be censored while going into Japan while a lot of Japanese games don't make it to US because of censoring.
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Apparently, the concepts of tentacle rape and blowing sh*t up are mutually incompatible.
 
So much for the "only one version for the whole world" stance. Now they have three already.
 
If they were removing the Fat Man altogether the Japanese market would be getting a superior version IMO.
 
But they won't be able to get Burke's sunglasses!

What about Tenpenny Tower?

They should have renamed "Megaton" to "Hiroshima".

THAT would have been funny.
 
Ranne said:
Ausdoerrt said:
Funny that an American game would be censored while going into Japan while a lot of Japanese games don't make it to US because of censoring.
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Apparently, the concepts of tentacle rape and blowing sh*t up are mutually incompatible.
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You beat me to it. I saw a giant Demon fuck a girl in the ass with a monster 5 foot long cock. Japanese people are weird.
 
Per said:
The Japanese are not used to shit being blown up in their own cultural output. They need to be eased into these things.
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Black Rain
Graves for Fireflies
I'd say they've explored the consequences more than anyone else. And not in the perfunctory, superficial manner that FO3 does. Eased nothing, those films will rip ya up inside like nothing else on celluloid. I defy anyone to watch those movies and not cry like a little girl.

And what about everyone's favorite atomically awakened reptile?
 
That's pathetic.

Anyway. So, blowing up Megaton is inappropriate for Japan, but Fatman is appropriate for Fallout setting?
 
Cimmerian Nights said:
Per said:
The Japanese are not used to shit being blown up in their own cultural output. They need to be eased into these things.
Click to expand...
Black Rain
Graves for Fireflies
I'd say they've explored the consequences more than anyone else. And not in the perfunctory, superficial manner that FO3 does. Eased nothing, those films will rip ya up inside like nothing else on celluloid. I defy anyone to watch those movies and not cry like a little girl. ....
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Grave of the fireflies has nothing to do with atomic bombs, but the last sentence is still true.
 
there will also be no dismemberment of humans or named ghouls,
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This is the country who created Elfen Lied, and Bethesda is scared of offending by offering marginally realistic gore and dismemberment?
 
Per said:
The Japanese are not used to shit being blown up in their own cultural output. They need to be eased into these things.
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Err... Not really. I've seen anime that's more violent than Fallout 3 so I'm not getting why Bethesda is censuring the game. Maybe to get a D rating instead of a Z with CERO, though I'm not sure that the Z rating has the same type of stigma that the AO rating does...

EDIT: Fat Man was the wrong name for the hand held nuke launcher from the get go and I said as much. Yes, the name was expanded from the single weapon to that type of weapon but why the hell is it being used for a hand held nuke launcher? Why didn't they just call it "Hand Held Nuke Launcher" like they call the flame thrower "Flame Thrower"?

That all said, sucks for Japan.
 
Per said:
The Japanese are not used to shit being blown up in their own cultural output. They need to be eased into these things.
Click to expand...

This statement is nothing but uninsightful. From my experience US has the second most-censored media output in the world (second only to China). Apperently it's the yankees who need to be "eased into" things.

The rest of people too: don't go assuming stuff if you know nothing of the culture.

As another example: A nuke exploding above Nagasaki Bay in Ghost in the Shell: 2nd GIG shows just how sensitive Japanese are bout nukes and how they have to be censored. /sarcasm
 
There's a whole lot of sarcasm detectors broken in this thread. You guys realize Per was messing around there?

Still, it's always a bitch to realize how little the gaming industry has progressed with regard to censorship. This reminds me of Bionic Commando turning nazis into Badds, only we probably won't get to explode Hitler to bits this time.
 
Ausdoerrt said:
This statement is nothing but uninsightful. From my experience US has the second most-censored media output in the world (second only to China). Apperently it's the yankees who need to be "eased into" things.

The rest of people too: don't go assuming stuff if you know nothing of the culture.

As another example: A nuke exploding above Nagasaki Bay in Ghost in the Shell: 2nd GIG shows just how sensitive Japanese are bout nukes and how they have to be censored. /sarcasm
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Indeed, nuclear explosions aren't banned in Japan or anything, nor is excessive violence and gore. Even though Fallout 3 treats nuclear explosions like candy, there's no good reason to censor the Japanese release.
 
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