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GAF spricht Deutsch, zumindest hier drinnen...

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F

Fritz

Member
TheFeedingHand said:
Most underrepresented famous German in this thread:

220px-Albert_Einstein_(Nobel).png
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Yeah, I rarely see him post these days.
 
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raindoc

Member
Fritz said:
Yeah, I rarely see him post these days.
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that's because there's plenty of cousins to bang where he is now...

EDIT: just got my hands on the first season of MacGyver. now i'm afraid to watch it, because it almost certainly will destroy childhood images. :/
 
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anonymous_abc

Member
raindoc said:
that's because there's plenty of cousins to bang where he is now...

EDIT: just got my hands on the first season of MacGyver. now i'm afraid to watch it, because it almost certainly will destroy childhood images. :/
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quite likely...
good idea though to never watch it again :)
 
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snap0212

Member
Has anyone tried Watchever? I'm subscribed to Netflix but wanted to see what Watchever has to offer now that there's a PS3 app. So far, it seems like the selection is nowhere near as big as Netflix' but the quality of movies appears to be higher.

Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Bladerunner (though I've seen that one on Netflix some time ago as well), Back to the Future (1-3), E.T., The Wire, 2001 Space Odyssey... Many great movies and TV shows on there. Image quality is better than Netflix as well (even if you watch with Netflix' new super HD or whatever it's called). I wish they had more TV Shows, though. Most of it is available in English as well but there's currently no support for subtitles at all.
 
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raindoc

Member
snap0212 said:
Has anyone tried Watchever? I'm subscribed to Netflix but wanted to see what Watchever has to offer now that there's a PS3 app. So far, it seems like the selection is nowhere near as big as Netflix' but the quality of movies appears to be higher.

Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Bladerunner (though I've seen that one on Netflix some time ago as well), Back to the Future (1-3), E.T., The Wire, 2001 Space Odyssey... Many great movies and TV shows on there. Quality is better than Netflix as well (even if you watch with Netflix' new super HD or whatever it's called). I wish they had more TV Shows, though. Most of it is available in English as well but there's currently no support for subtitles at all.
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i actually never tried any of these streaming services. netflix, lovefilm, etc... i don't even know if netflix is available in austria now - it's been a while, but last time i checked it wasn't.
the only experience i have with buying/renting digital content is iTunes and Xbox Video and both don't deliver any TV content over here.
 
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anonymous_abc

Member
ElTopo said:
I just glanced over what Watchever offers and in Germany it's absolutely atrocious. Then again we don't have Netflix either, so I'm gonna assume the service is superior where you are?

Watchever in Germany offerered Carnivale, a series that outside of airing on German Fox channel since 2009 hasn't been available at all (not on streaming platforms, not on DVD/BluRay, not digitally). But they only offered Season 2.

Yeah...as far as I can tell Watchever is a piece of shit in Germany, as are all streaming platforms.
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yea its ridiculous, last time I checked lovefilm they had about a dozen(!) movies in english...
 
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snap0212

Member
raindoc said:
i actually never tried any of these streaming services. netflix, lovefilm, etc... i don't even know if netflix is available in austria now - it's been a while, but last time i checked it wasn't.
the only experience i have with buying/renting digital content is iTunes and Xbox Video and both don't deliver any TV content over here.
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Netflix isn't available in Germany either, but you can subscribe to the US one as if you jump through a couple of hoops. If you've never tried it then there's more than enough content to be satisfied for many months.

I usually ignore everything that isn't a flat rate to see "everything there is" (iTunes, PSN, Xbox Live) as the content there is just too expensive. Buying the DVD is cheaper than renting a movie.

ElTopo said:
I just glanced over what Watchever offers and in Germany it's absolutely atrocious. Then again we don't have Netflix here, so I'm gonna assume Watchever is probably also much better where you are?

Watchever in Germany offerered Carnivale, a series that outside of airing on German Fox channel since 2009 hasn't been available at all (not on streaming platforms, not on DVD/BluRay, not digitally). But they only offered Season 2.

Yeah...as far as I can tell Watchever is a piece of shit in Germany, as are all streaming platforms (and iTunes as well). Watchever is 8.99€, isn't it? Totally not worth it.
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But I'm talking about the German Watchever. :'( Though the fact that sometimes Season 2 of a TV Series is available when Season 1 isn't seems weird.

My Trial isn't over yet and I'm not sure if I'll actually subscribe. I'll probably be done with the good movies by then. Tonight I'll be watching good ol' 'Asterix in America'. ;)
 
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snap0212

Member
ElTopo said:
I'm not gonna subscribe to any of those horrible streaming platforms. I'd have to pay much more than someone from the US for much, much, much less. It's like the companies don't even want my money, it's like they're desperately trying to hold back any progress and change (even if it's for the better of everyone).
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Most of the offerings on Netflix are terrible, thought. There's more content, yes, but the quality isn't necessarily that high. The first time I opened Watchever, I was really surprised about the type of movies that can be found there. It's the one thing that stood out to me. And the fact that they seem to update their library on a daily basis is nice as well. It's a better deal than Netflix, imo. Though I've also already watched most of the Netflix-content I'm interested in so it might just be because the stuff on there is actually something I want to watch.

ElTopo said:
Law&Order - can I watch that anywhere? Outside of maybe two seasons it's not available around here on DVD. It's (outside of the last seasons) no longer on German TV. There's no way for me to legally watch it, outside of importing DVDs from the UK/US.
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Not entirely sure, but I think Law & Order is available on US Netflix.

edit: Seems like Season 1 - 8 are available via streaming according to Instantwatcher.

ElTopo said:
iTunes sucks horribly as well. Very small choice of shows to buy at a ridiculous price, though in all fairness at least in one or two cases (e.g. Once Upon a Time) shows are made available pretty early.
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Bought one TV show on iTunes and that was the Finale of the last season of Lost. Prices are waay too high. :(
 
R

raindoc

Member
ElTopo said:
I'm not gonna subscribe to any of those horrible streaming platforms. I'd have to pay much more than someone from the US for much, much, much less. It's like the companies don't even want my money, it's like they're desperately trying to hold back any progress and change (even if it's for the better of everyone).

Law&Order - can I watch that anywhere? Outside of maybe two seasons it's not available around here on DVD. It's (outside of the last seasons) no longer on German TV. There's no way for me to legally watch it, outside of importing DVDs from the UK/US.

iTunes sucks horribly as well. Very small choice of shows to buy at a ridiculous price, though in all fairness at least in one or two cases (e.g. Once Upon a Time) shows are made available pretty early. I've literally spent (at least) an hour or so today/yesterday, pondering what to buy with 50€ credit I got at Mediamarkt for 35€ this week. Not to mention you can't re-download movies/shows.
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agreed. in 2013 i really don't get it why the only option i'm given is downloading pirated content.
back in the days i used Napster because i was a kid and had no money. today i still use similar networks but because there's no legal alternative. make GOT, TWD, Castle, Hannibal etc available within one week of the original airdate and i'll throw my money at you faster than you can say "bitcoin"...
 
B

brotkasten

Member
This whole VOD discussion is kinda funny, in a sad and depressing way, because it reminds me that Germany hasn't even figured out its YouTube problem.
 
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systemfehler

Member
raindoc said:
agreed. in 2013 i really don't get it why the only option i'm given is downloading pirated content.
back in the days i used Napster because i was a kid and had no money. today i still use similar networks but because there's no legal alternative. make GOT, TWD, Castle, Hannibal etc available within one week of the original airdate and i'll throw my money at you faster than you can say "bitcoin"...
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Everytime I watch a Bluray my entertainment is diminished by the fact that I have to watch the copy protection notice, the FBI warning, the ads and trailers because skipping is not allowed and then an intrusive method (Cinavia) changes the audio signal advertised as lossless Dolby True HD. I don't even want to start about my legal rights to make a copy to use on my notebook when I travel.

TV Shows are even worse I have to wait ages for a overpriced Bluray BOX or wait a little less for the inferior translated version in SD quality. The excuses range from "complicated laws" to "meh we just don't care".

There are only a few examples (Defiance, Da Vincis Demons, ...) which air close to their original start in Austria but for US network TV you have to wait (and hope a network here picks the show up) and live with the translation and delay (about a year).
 
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TheFeedingHand

Member
Milchjon said:
It's not a censorship problem, it's a money problem. And it's idiotic.

Also, I don't really think we have more censorship than comparable countries. I can watch boobs on primetime TV! Deutschland, fuck yeah!
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Deutschland still loves banning violent videogames. I can only think of Australia as the other country with comparable censorship.
 
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systemfehler

Member
TheFeedingHand said:
Deutschland still loves banning violent videogames. I can only think of Australia as the other country with comparable censorship.
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In Austria it is different but are there really that many bannings? I thought nowadays a lot of the games/movies just don't get a USK rating and that means you can sell them but you are not allowed to openly show or promote them. Publishers do adjust their games to get a USK rating - sometimes that means they have to cut back in certain areas but it is not as "bad" as it used to be eg. robots which lose oil instead of humans losing blood.
 
M

Milchjon

Member
TheFeedingHand said:
Deutschland still loves banning violent videogames. I can only think of Australia as the other country with comparable censorship.
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Crazy, I thought they stopped doing this as much as they used to, but I was wrong. Saints Row the Third is on the index.

Although this only means you can't buy it if you're under 18, and there can't be advertising for it.
 
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TheFeedingHand

Member
systemfehler said:
In Austria it is different but are there really that many bannings? I thought nowadays a lot of the games/movies just don't get a USK rating and that means you can sell them but you are not allowed to openly show or promote them. Publishers do adjust their games to get a USK rating - sometimes that means they have to cut back in certain areas but it is not as "bad" as it used to be eg. robots which lose oil instead of humans losing blood.
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Milchjon said:
Crazy, I thought they stopped doing this as much as they used to, but I was wrong. Saints Row the Third is on the index.

Although this only means you can't buy it if you're under 18, and there can't be advertising for it.
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According to wikipedia, these videogames are banned and their possession is illegal even for people over 18 years old:
Dead Rising 1 and 2
Condemned 1 and 2
Manhunt 1 and 2
Madworld
Aliens vs Predator (lol)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games#Germany

There are a bunch of others as well. Mortal Kombat is somehow missing from the list, but there's no way that game isn't banned in Germany.
 
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Milchjon

Member
TheFeedingHand said:
According to wikipedia, these videogames are banned and their possession is illegal even for people over 18 years old:
Dead Rising 1 and 2
Condemned 1 and 2
Manhunt 1 and 2
Madworld

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games#Germany

There are a bunch of others as well. Mortal Kombat is somehow missing from the list, but there's no way that game isn't banned in Germany.
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It's a bit complicated. There are basically two stages of banning:

1. The ban of sales to underaged kids, as well as the ban of promoting it. This is called "indizieren"/"auf den Index setzen". These games can still be bought, though usually only from behind the counter. These games often come off the list later. All those early 2D games are slowly taken off and could be bought today, some of them without any age restriction :-D

2. The confiscation ("Beschlagnahmung") of media/games. Those can't be sold to anyone. This only happens to a very small number of games, often either because of Nazi stuff, or because they are inhumanly violent.

I think the Wiki list refers to the latter.

Edit: From what I gather, those SEGA games weren't even released here?

Edit2: Mortal Kombats are not "confiscated" anymore, but they remain on the Index.
 
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TheFeedingHand

Member
Milchjon said:
It's a bit complicated. There are basically two stages of banning:

1. The ban of sales to underaged kids, as well as the ban of promoting it. This is called "indizieren"/"auf den Index setzen". These games can still be bought, though usually only from behind the counter. These games often come off the list later. All those early 2D games are slowly taken off and could be bought today, some of them without any age restriction :-D

2. The confiscation ("Beschlagnahmung") of media/games. Those can't be sold to anyone. This only happens to a very small number of games, often either because of Nazi stuff, or because they are inhumanly violent.

I think the Wiki list refers to the latter.

Edit: From what I gather, those SEGA games weren't even released here?

Edit2: Mortal Kombats are not "confiscated" anymore, but they remain on the Index.
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Yeah, but the last Mortal Kombat (from 2011 or so) is probably banned with the second point (can't be sold). The wiki refers to the older ones.

Also, how the heck did the God of War games or Nazi Zombies in COD make it to Germany unbanned?
 
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Milchjon

Member
TheFeedingHand said:
Yeah, but the last Mortal Kombat (from 2011 or so) is probably banned with the second point (can't be sold). The wiki refers to the older ones.

Also, how the heck did the God of War games or Nazi Zombies in COD make it to Germany unbanned?
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Apparently, Mortal Kombat wasn't even released.

GoW III was uncut. Dunno why, maybe because of the setting.
 
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TheFeedingHand

Member
ElTopo said:
What's important is usually the context of violence.
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Well, things like Aliens vs Predator or Dead Rising don't have any "inappropriate" context. Violence just fits there.

Games like Gears of War and Dead Space were apparently not banned, so these bannings almost seem random.
 
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Rufus

Member
The key word is "menschenverachtend". The fact that you're rewarded for gratuitous slaughter of humans and human-like beings is what pushes some games over the edge, though what is and isn't "menschenverachtend" doesn't always make sense.

Consider Shadow of Rome. A PS2 game by Capcom that came out without any cuts, rated USK18. Large parts of the game consist of gladiatorial combat in the arena, where pleasing the audience raises your score. If I remember correctly you need to reach a minimum score in each fight to proceed through the game. How do you please the audience? Brutality. Cut off arms and beat people to death with them, cut off heads and throw them to the audience, kill people that are pleading for their life, set them on fire, etc.. Blood and body parts everywhere. And yet it's neither cut nor on the index.

Also, Gears of War 1 and 2 weren't banned, but they did end up on the index, which is why MS didn't even bother bringing them out here. Epic apparently didn't want to make any cuts. Gears of War 3 was rated 18, though I don't know if it's more tame than the others. I'm inclined to believe that they just flip a coin at this point.
 
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snap0212

Member
I think I'm one of the few people who don't have a problem with the "censorship" in Germany (games. YouTube and GEMA is a whole different issue). If you take a closer look at it then it's absolutely no different from other countries (that includes the free speech country USA). There are laws and products that break these laws may not be sold or owned. It's the same everywhere, really.

What I have a problem with is the fact that it's not transparent at all and that there are no updates. Society evolves and there's no reason that Resident Evil 2 can't be on the German PSN aside from "it's always been that way". Doesn't make any sense at all. Content could be re-reviewed every couple of years. Why was the yellow "+10" pop-up not in CoD: World at War but in CoD 4 and MW2? Makes no sense. Same goes for Nazi Zombie, which also wasn't in World at War but in Black Ops and Black Ops 2. There's no way to question the ratings, which is also shitty. Though I still think the USK is the rating board with the best intentions. They at least play all the games.

Improvements need to be made, but Germany (in general) really isn't that different from other countries when it comes to censorship of any kind of content.
 
W

wsippel

Banned
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TCRS

Banned
lolwut. Everyone is moving forwards with internet, faster speed and unlimited data, Telekom is going backwards.
 
G

GunslingerVit

Banned
This is so fucked up:

Das geringste integrierte Datenvolumen wird 75 GB betragen. Neben dem Surfen im Netz und dem Bearbeiten von Mails ist dieses Volumen beispielsweise ausreichend für zehn Filme in normaler Auflösung plus drei HD-Filme, plus 60 Stunden Internetradio, plus 400 Fotos und 16 Stunden Online-Gaming.
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But I guess that if Telekom is starting with this bullshit as 'Marktführer', then other ISPs will follow. And then Merkel will declare interesting things about 'IT-Standort Deutschland'.

http://www.telekom.com/medien/produkte-fuer-privatkunden/184370
 
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anonymous_abc

Member
the worst thing about that is, the others will likely follow...
sucks major donkey balls...
download a couple of large games from steam/PSN or whatever and you are screwed!
 
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Rufus

Member
Ha, invade. We only have to ask nicely.

ElTopo said:
I'll probably switch my provider. Telekom is already rumored* to be severely throttling Youtube. Did I already mention their own services do not count towards the data cap?
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Fuck net neutrality, I guess. Sigh. I wish our Pirates weren't such badly organized fuck ups.
 
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TCRS

Banned
Kochen kann ich gar nicht. Bei mir gibts nur Tiefkühl sachen oder Brot oder SPaghetti. Ansonsten wird bestellt.

Ich warte jetzt schon seit 50 min. Wo bleibt die scheiß Pizza.
 
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anonymous_abc

Member
TCRS said:
Kochen kann ich gar nicht. Bei mir gibts nur Tiefkühl sachen oder Brot oder SPaghetti. Ansonsten wird bestellt.

Ich warte jetzt schon seit 50 min. Wo bleibt die scheiß Pizza.
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we should teach you cooking then...
we can have a german gaf online cookery course ^^
 
S

Schuhu

Neo Member
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