Wolfenstein Recalled in Germany

Bobby Miller 22 Sep, 2009 at 5:01pm ET Article published in Gaming

Icrontic is now banned in Germany

A quick gaming aptitude test:

Do you enjoy shooting things?

Do you enjoy stopping facist Nazis from their goal of global domination?

You most likely answered yes to both questions. There are few better games to satisfy those needs than the Wolfenstein series, which recently released its latest incarnation of the super-Nazi slaying, zombie blasting action last month. The new Wolfenstein is taking gamers down the boulevard of FPS memories, but for gamers in Germany, that very boulevard has been blocked with ‘road closed’ signs.

Planet Wolfenstein is reporting that publisher Activision is recalling the game as it appears some swastikas are visible in-game. Germany has very strict laws against content displaying the Nazi emblem, for obvious reasons. The fact that Wolfenstein was even being sold there in the first place was a surprise to me, but it seems that this will no longer be the case.

It is not yet known if developers Raven and Id will work to remove the content in question and re-release the game in Germany.

Comments

1. 
   22 Sep 2009 ~ 5:21pm Thrax They should flip it so it becomes a hunt for zombie Hindu in a mad scientist's German castle.
2. 
   22 Sep 2009 ~ 5:22pm Idiot_Slayer I wanted to touch on this in my Wolfenstien article. I give Raven alot of props for putting the swastika in there. Too often in games like Company of Heroes or Call of Duty they are downplayed or omitted entirely.
3. 
   22 Sep 2009 ~ 5:28pm Winfrey If there's no swastika, is it really Wolfenstein?
4. 
   22 Sep 2009 ~ 8:20pm UPSLynx

   Idiot_Slayer wrote:

   I wanted to touch on this in my Wolfenstien article. I give Raven alot of props for putting the swastika in there. Too often in games like Company of Heroes or Call of Duty they are downplayed or omitted entirely.

   
   Yeah, they didn't beat around the bush with that. I don't know what the extent of the swastikas are in the German version, but it sounds like Raven pretty much ignored the localization rules when they moved it to Germany.
5. 
   22 Sep 2009 ~ 10:59pm CB A swastika is not something to give props for. Sure it adds to the realism and verisimilitude to a story, but it's a symbol that still evokes tender emotions for many people, and in Germany it's illegal to do anything with them.
   
   Many games, graphic novels and movies that depict "nazis" (really usually just stereotype nazi-esk caricatures) leave out the swastika, or use a modified version of it.
   
   Sometimes they do it because it offends people, but mostly it's a practical matter. It's a pain to have to change it if you ever want to sell it in Germany, so you might as well just leave it out to start.
6. 
   22 Sep 2009 ~ 11:03pm ardichoke I disagree. The swastika, like it or not, is part of world history. It's the most recognizable symbol of what is likely the most evil group of people to have ever walked the face of this planet. As such, if you are going for any semblance of realism, it makes sense to include it.
7. 
   22 Sep 2009 ~ 11:07pm Winfrey I am mostly surprised they even tried to market to Germany. I don't recall any of the previous iterations NOT being banned.
8. 
   23 Sep 2009 ~ 12:48am UPSLynx

   Winfrey wrote:

   I am mostly surprised they even tried to market to Germany. I don't recall any of the previous iterations NOT being banned.

   
   This surprised me as well. I would have never expected them to attempt to release it, let alone be successful (if even for a temporary amount of time)
9. 
   23 Sep 2009 ~ 1:37am Idiot_Slayer Maybe I was just praising the developers for not sugar coating history. I couldn't imagine Indiana Jones without huge red Nazi banners or SS soldiers without red arm bands. Maybe its just me, but when I have to kill Germans in WWII I want to make exactly sure I'm killing a National Socialist sympathizer and not a Wehrmacht soldier.
   
   That and I'm just of the mindset that omission or censorship only causes more attention to the object in question than if it were tastefully presented in the first place.
10. 
    23 Sep 2009 ~ 9:02am CB

    Idiot_Slayer wrote:

    That and I'm just of the mindset that omission or censorship only causes more attention to the object in question than if it were tastefully presented in the first place.

    
    The German government disagrees with you. :shrug:
11. 
    23 Sep 2009 ~ 9:06am Snarkasm And everybody knows that the German government is always reic- er, right.
    
    I am of the opinion that if a game is supposed to be about Nazis and you do not involve the swastika, the single greatest piece of symbolism in all of the 20th Century, you do not have a game about Nazis.
    
    Hiding it isn't going to change history, Germany. People still fly the Southern Cross in America. We all learn from it and move on.
12. 
    23 Sep 2009 ~ 1:40pm chrisWhite ^ that
13. 
    23 Sep 2009 ~ 4:45pm CB You're seriously comparing The Confederate States with the Third Reich?
14. 
    23 Sep 2009 ~ 4:55pm Starman Looks like he's comparing, but not equating.
15. 
    24 Sep 2009 ~ 2:11am Snarkasm I'm comparing one system that subjugated humans through mass exterminations with one that subjugated humans through mass enslavement. Both are life-destroyers.