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[Dr. Claus]

This. Although studying Japanese won't help as the censorship hits all versions of the affected games if I am not mistaken.

Something about this really rubs me the wrong way - I will be wary of which games I buy for which platform in the future.

You are mistaken. Games like Zanki Zero had no censorship in JPN - only in the western releases.

 

[Zambatoh]

Yeah no. Sony has completely lost touch with reality and their customers now. Specifically me.
This is probably going to be the first time I won't be buying a new console from them. So they can fuck off and die for all I care at this point.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Sony Cracks Down on Sexually Explicit Content in Games

Sony is cracking down on sexual content in PlayStation 4 videogames globally, reflecting concerns in the U.S. about the depiction of women in games but irritating some software developers.

www.wsj.com

Yeah, no PS5 for me.

It doesn't matter how impressive the speculated PS5 specs sound. The company that makes the PS5 doesn't respect creative freedom and I won't support that.

 

[brap]

Switch Pro can't come soon enough! Thank god I don't really give a fuck about western games anymore.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

"We don't have criteria in written guidelines or that sort of thing because the policy was introduced kind of suddenly in the wake of the #MeToo movement,"

I can't believe this is a real sentence by a real Sony PR representative.

"We have no defined rules"
Isn't this financial uncertainty?
Or are Sony hoping that Japanese developers hire "social justice" degrees to do that job, and in the process mutilate the games far more than just the occasional B-cup, since these types are known also for thinking characters should be written either immaculate good with zero flaws whatsoever, or caricaturial villains, depending on their position on the intersectionality chart given away by their outward physical appearance?

The slippery slope for every single possible veto is now on, it's open season for "anime" games for every single thing that might possibly be deemed problematic, from violence to associations with politics and whatever Sony San Mateo's fellow resetera members complain about.

Even Nintendo at their worst took their own interpretation of social norms and wrote it down as a guideline with specific taboo subjects, words, examples and exceptions (like drugs in a political "Say no to Drugs" context).
No one dared to tell third party developers to pray the stars the console censor's mood that day is good, or else they have to spend a last minute artist and implementation fees and go through the whole approvals (with an s) processes again.

This makes the context of NISA's comments about Sony back in 2016 make so much sense.

 

[wzy]

Criteria and written guidelines run the risk of being applied equally to Western and Japanese games, which they clearly have no intention of doing.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Even Nintendo at their worst took their own interpretation of social norms and wrote it down as a guideline with specific taboo subjects, words, examples and exceptions (like drugs in a political "Say no to Drugs" context).
No one dared to tell third party developers to pray the stars the console censor's mood that day is good, or else they have to spend a last minute artist and implementation fees and go through the whole approvals (with an s) processes again.

Also, games that have been censored on Nintendo platforms tend to be those developed and/or published by Nintendo. In contrast, Sony is making niche Japanese 3rd party developers censor their games even if the games will not be published by Sony.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

This makes the context of NISA's comments about Sony back in 2016 make so much sense.

Can you remind me what NISA said about Sony, please?


Also, yes, I knew I won't buy a PS5, but I hope now that the cows came home more people follow me.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Can you remind me what NISA said about Sony, please?

Here's an article.

"Sony is not friendly with small publishers like us," he said pointedly. "They just care about big Japanese companies." To be honest, this is the first time we're hearing something like this; since the beginning of the generation, PlayStation has been praised for its developer outreach, so we're curious if something has changed – or if this is just some personal beef.

Yamashita continued that NIS America's titles on the Nintendo Switch are outselling those on the PS4 by two-to-one when they release simultaneously, although as far as we're aware, Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle is the only title to fit his criteria. "A lot of PS4 titles are coming up, so the market is very competitive," he explained. "The Switch market still has lots of room for publishers to make money."

Ultimately NISA apologized formally for those comments.
They had similar comments for Microsoft (the minimum physical disc pressing count, if memory serves)
As it turned out ultimately that was actually true.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Here's an article.



Ultimately NISA apologized formally for those comments.
They had similar comments for Microsoft (the minimum physical disc pressing count, if memory serves)
As it turned out ultimately that was actually true.

Oh yes, I rememer that interview, and yes, NISA was more than correct, I just hope they, and the Japanese developers at large, abandon Sony over this draconian policy they are imposing on everyone.

 

[The Cartographer]

They don't need guidelines, they probably have a guy at the San Mateo HQ that can identify ''problematic'' content just by seeing a couple game screenshots.
You just got to trust the gut's instinct of social justice graduate!

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Reaching out for comment intensifies again, and it's Kotaku this time...

Kotaku is demanding the censorship of a song from Persona 5's DLC in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Now that Nintendo has shown to be willing to bend the knee, will they respond to "requests for comment" from Kotaku, and concerned "fans" from resetera's twitter account the same way they did twice so far?

In the track 'Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There', if you skip to around 1:48 into the track, you'll reach a section of the song where words are softly spoken rather than sung. At around 1:57 it appears the term "retarded" is used, and followed up by the assertion that "I can say it." The official lyrics for the song, curiously enough, does not include this spoken word section. This is our transcription of what's said....

We have reached out to both Nintendo and Persona 5'sEuropean publisher Deep Silver for comment, and will update this article with any response.

A lot of Persona fans are insisting the lyrics are "retort it" or "ritardendo" (a musical term). We've listened again and still don't quite hear it that way, but we thought we'd update to allow that there may be an innocent explanation and we're simply dealing with an unfortunate sound-alike. We have asked various companies involved with Persona for clarification on these lyrics, and will of course update again with any reply.

The word in question is according to Kotaku "disability slur", but fans say it's actually "retort it" or "ritardendo" (a musical term). However Kotaku still insists the song must be purged even in the event "it's an unfortunate sound-alike". The DLC was already toned down from Persona 5 (sparkles instead of blood, removal of "damn right") for rating concerns, but Kotaku really wants to score that win that badly.

They have been trying to get Persona 5 censored ever since the game was still Japan only, featuring articles why Ryuji's rising sun emblem on his shoes must be "localized" away from overseas versions, and how many scenes must be cut, but Atlus surprisingly carried it over mostly intact, perhaps not too keen to associate their localization style for future works with their Tokyo Mirage Sessions released earlier that year on Nintendo Treehouse's terms.

The track to be purged is also a remix of Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There, the OPENING of the game.

 

[Helios]

Reaching out for comment intensifies again, and it's Kotaku this time...

Kotaku is demanding the censorship of a song from Persona 5's DLC in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Now that Nintendo has shown to be willing to bend the knee, will they respond to "requests for comment" from Kotaku, and concerned "fans" from resetera's twitter account the same way they did twice so far?





The word in question is according to Kotaku "disability slur", but fans say it's actually "retort it" or "ritardendo" (a musical term). However Kotaku still insists the song must be purged even in the event "it's an unfortunate sound-alike". The DLC was already toned down from Persona 5 (sparkles instead of blood, removal of "damn right") for rating concerns, but Kotaku really wants to score that win that badly.

They have been trying to get Persona 5 censored ever since the game was still Japan only, featuring articles why Ryuji's rising sun emblem on his shoes must be "localized" away from overseas versions, and how many scenes must be cut, but Atlus surprisingly carried it over mostly intact, perhaps not too keen to associate their localization style for future works with their Tokyo Mirage Sessions released earlier that year on Nintendo Treehouse's terms.

The track to be purged is also a remix of Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There, the OPENING of the game.

They're getting a lot of shit for that article but instead of deleting it, they're doubling down.

 

[CatCouch]

They're getting a lot of shit for that article but instead of deleting it, they're doubling down.

Damn, that initial tweet was 2000 comments to 500 likes. "Quite the ratio", indeed. I've never seen a tweet get wrecked like this before. Writing negative articles about something people love without doing research is certainly one way to get clicks. I wonder if this has anything to do with Gizmodo being sold off by Univision? This is poor even for click-bait internet journalism standards.

 

[Abriael_GN]

It's amazing to me that a "News Editor" would not know the very basics of reporting news.

I'm almost ashamed of sharing the same work title. I've made my share of mistakes (who doesn't?), but at least I would be *extremely* careful when reporting something that has the potential to put someone in trouble over a sensitive issue.

Yesterday I found out that YouTube Gaming has removed listings for the Dead or Alive Xtreme and Senran Kagura series (making the videos of these series less discoverable on the platform), and I spent literally 4 hours examining caches, archives, and checking all over the place to make absolutely sure that I wasn't wrong, and that's a smaller thing that wouldn't put anyone in jeopardy.

It appears that certain journalists/publications have the exact opposite attitude, and when they get a chance to put someone in trouble, they remove all failsafes and throw all due diligence procedures to the wind instead.

Of course, considering how certain politically active writers have an axe to grind with Persona, I'm not all that surprised. Where I live, we call this "sniping."

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Because it's relevant for publishers with notable Chinese influence such as: Ubisoft, SNK, Koei Tecmo, Sony, Nintendo, Epic, and other partnerships with Tencent... Here are the latest developments in game approval guidelines from Chinese authorities.

While normally that would be just their business alone to take care of (and Chinese players indeed resort to importing whenever needed), there has been a recent trend of game publishers who actually agree with the Chinese regulators for ideological reasons, don't want to upset their Chinese business partners with the mere availability of a different uncut version that would encourage importing that over the local Chinese version, and the recent drive in Western game developers for censorship no matter how local the "issues" are (such as the Inkling girl in Mario Kart 8 getting her gesture offensive in Europe removed globally)

Some companies like Nintendo (then Ubisoft but only after a backlash when they planned the opposite) would go and say Chinese versions are accomodated for separately from other versions, but you never know how things will evolve especially with how popularized policies of content cuts at the country of origin have started getting traction, then enforced in the case of all Sony PS4 games.

This is why these regulations may be interesting to know. On one hand, the approval process was streamlined.

Along with the new application process, other changes coming with the new regulations include:

• An Online Game Ethics Committee formed of experts and scholars, which will evaluate whether or not games submitted follow China's social values
• A limit to the number of games approved each year. Niko projects fewer than 5,000 games will be approved in 2019.
• Games that are copycat titles, poker, mah-jong, or games that include obscene content will not be approved.
• Anti-addiction systems targeting children under 18 similar to the ones already in use on PC games in the country will be implemented on mobile.
• HTML5 games will now be required to go through the game approval process.
• Chinese publishers will be encouraged to self-regulate and promote titles with China's core values in mind while avoiding misrepresentation of history, politics, or law.

The SAPP provided this additional guidance for publishers looking to submit games:

• If a game is part of a series, this must be noted in the application. If not noted, the game will be assumed to have the same title as an existing game, and is unlikely to get a license.
• If an online game has offline content, the application must indicate that and explain the offline content.
• When submitting a game for approval, do not include the version number in the title.
• There shall be no images of dead bodies or pools of blood in any games.
• Developers may not change the color of pools of blood to accommodate.
• Mobile game applications do not require publishers to send a smartphone with the game pre-installed for approval.
• Publishers no longer need to submit a paper copy of the "banned words list" for each game, a digital version of the list is sufficient.

The new application process will be implemented this week, with new application formats being released soon and local bureaus being advised on the new procedures.

Any corpses, and any pools of blood regardless of color, are now prohibited. That's in addition to older restrictions for gambling, some board games, obscenity, some political themes and the lack of some specific content filters.

 

[Shin]

Man how I wish we'd go back to the old sexy design instead of realistic and/or plain ugly (IMO).
Korean mobile game looking like this:

Mortal Kombat 11:

 

[brap]

Man how I wish we'd go back to the old sexy design instead of realistic and/or plain ugly (IMO).
Korean mobile game looking like this:

Mortal Kombat 11:

Jesus fucking Christ western character designs are so goddamn hideous. Is that sheeva?

 

[Shin]

Jesus fucking Christ western character designs are so goddamn hideous. Is that sheeva?

Yes lol

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Quite daring move of Netherealm Studios to put Shrek in the new MK11 game. I wonder how it will work out for them.

 

[kunonabi]

Inkling girl had an offensive gesture?

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Quite daring move of Netherealm Studios to put Shrek in the new MK11 game. I wonder how it will work out for them.

For some reason, I read this in Dunkey's voice.

 

[Mochilador]

What the hell is happening to female fighters in MK11?

 

[JunkerWoland]

MK11 following the current Hollywood trend of making women look average does more a disservice to their female characters, than any positive result the developer & publisher thinks they're achieving by fighting the patriarchy and its male gaze. The end result is a game full of forgettable women, with boring costumes. So good job, Sheeva looks like a background monster from some Western RPG.

 

[Ulysses 31]

What the hell is happening to female fighters in MK11?

Finally getting the respect they deserve from NetherRealm Studios.

 

[Mochilador]

Finally getting the respect they deserve from NetherRealm Studios.

Tell that to Sheeva.

 

[Ulysses 31]

Tell that to Sheeva.

From the character lead, Brendan Geroge:

Our design is just getting more mature and respectful.

Who are you to disagree with him?

 

[The Mad Draklor]

I posted this on the Sony censorship thread, but I think it's also worth sharing it here:

 

[Mochilador]

From the character lead, Brendan Geroge:


Who are you to disagree with him?

Just a customer. Poor Sheeva doesn't look mature, she looks like Shrek.

 

[checkcola]

It seems shortsighted to undercut your own characters like that. I always think of fighting games, hey, any one character, that's someone's favorite. Making them unappealing, just dumb.

 

[wzy]

MK characters have to be unappealing trash out of some grade schooler's sketchbook, though. That's what makes it fine to crush their skulls and rip out their organs.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Speaking of MK11, while the developers were very eager to erase anything that might make female characters for male players, they were met with CERO rating board demands that the game's violence is too excessive and decided to cancel the Japanese release altogether. Interestingly, while this system doesn't apply to PC releases, the Steam version was geoblocked anyways.

Some Japanese developers adapt for this with "Grotesque editions" sold behind the counter or as DLC for more censored mainstream versions (Resident Evil 7 most recently), locking the camera angle above gory parts (Metal Gear Solid V), replacing dismemberment with broken dark limbs that are still attached (Dio's death in recent JoJo games by Bandai, Dragonball Xenoverse, No More Heroes)... Yet Western developers tend to feel strongly about the issue, and refuse to accomodate much for Japanese censorship the way they do for Europe or China, with some exceptions like GTA PS2 games (since it was localized by Capcom, a Japanese developer) or the Witcher 3. So you would see most Sony PS4 games replace the scenes with black screens and things like that. However skipping releases are a more uncommon development.

While this could be understood as sticking for their creative freedom, it's ultimately yet another attack on CERO which Sony California wants gone and replaced with a "Western standard" they are able to control (the ERSB is after all beholden to the Western game industry whims, as its origin story and very recently dragging their foot on condemning microtransactions revealed)

As it is, CERO is a videogame rating established since 2002 applying to console games (not PC), that replaced various console specific rating systems (one on Sega consoles allowed notably for the same minmal censorship with some bare nipples exposed, as well as body horror and blood as seen in the Linda Cube JRPG, Snatcher, among others... content no longer allowed at all by CERO) with notably stricter guidelines than other rating boards... at least until Sony California begun their recent policies and China became a factor. Yet for better or worse, CERO was known for annually polling customers, parents, and members of the general public for opinion on their guidelines, and even relaxed it slightly just after 2007, then 2016, for some aspects.

Sony California has been trying to undermine Japanese rating boards, markets and developers for a while, and adopting pretty heavy-handedly a one size fits all policy hoping that all markets align themselves on US tastes. Would the CERO disappearance in its current form help creative freedom or would Sony instantly impose a foreign standard the Japanese have zero say in to fill in the power vacuum?

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

So, Pot Meet Kettle it is not just Sony that attacks Japan, as a whole, it is the big Western Developers that attack the country of their co-workers as well?

Well I can easy skip those cucked Western games besides CDPR and not miss a fucking dog-shit, says I.

 

[Tesseract]

It always is. Men are always trying to tell women what to do, think and feel especially these 'male feminists'.

not wrong but women are always trying to control men so uh, the force is balanced

 

[DeepEnigma]

https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2019/...1-censorship-shows-a-much-larger-issue/82683/

YouTuber Upper Echelon Gamers takes the time to explain the "much larger" issue with Mortal Kombat 11 censorship, and how it doesn't help the game in any capacity but only hinders the product at hand and that catering to an audience that has not been the target of the Mortal Kombat franchise for over a decade isn't helpful.

 

[brap]

Thanks Soyny! Legs are fucking disgusting. This summer I won't even be going outside because I don't want to see all those whores and sluts expose their knees.

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

Thanks Soyny! Legs are fucking disgusting. This summer I won't even be going outside because I don't want to see all those whores and sluts expose their knees.

Don't think this is Sony censorship. The Switch version also cuts off part of the legs, but you get plenty of thigh anyway. A more likely explanation is that they simply centered Lulua and the title and had less room to work with.

 

[spandexmonkey]

Looks like someone decided to move the logo to the top, which ruins the layout that image was clearly planned around. I assumed when seeing the Japanese game that the name of the game was KT, therefor, no purchase.

 

[brap]

Don't think this is Sony censorship. The Switch version also cuts off part of the legs, but you get plenty of thigh anyway. A more likely explanation is that they simply centered Lulua and the title and had less room to work with.

The other games don't have the art shifted that much. And either way you can't really blame me with how stupid sony is being these days.

Another example of sony being fucking stupid^

 

[Isa]

Man I definitely prefer the Japanese cover of Lulua. Been looking forward to giving it a go for a little while now, should be a good time. I love the art and colors in these games.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Man I definitely prefer the Japanese cover of Lulua. Been looking forward to giving it a go for a little while now, should be a good time. I love the art and colors in these games.

They are a super relaxing time. Going to have to wait and see if anything is censored though. If it is, I will pick it up on Switch.

 

[Shin]

And either way you can't really blame me with how stupid sony is being these days.

Oh wow, good eye.
Such a shame also as the covers are nice looking or the art rather.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Always leave it to Sony to revive old nostalgic gaming practices... Koei just can't catch a break lol

Spoiler: Brandish 1 (SNES)

There's one live action show developed in America that had a licensed game based on it for SNES, and the cover art shot on a beach with real actors in not so revealing surf clothes, and Nintendo of America had them reshot the photograph with more leggings. At this point, this is a question of when, not if, for Sony.

 

[Shin]

China taking it a step further: https://gizmodo.com/chinas-new-video-game-rules-officially-ban-blood-corps-1834221957
RIP MK11 (hopefully).

 

[Dr. Claus]

Seems that Persona 5 Royal may have some censorship given the screens/trailer. During the first boss fight, multiple things are changed (listed in spoilers below). I am hoping that this is just an oversight and that these things are still in the fight - but given Sony's track record as of late... I am not so sure.

Spoiler

• No trophy
• The female legs are missing from the goblet
• Mashima takes the place of Cognitive Ann

 

[Dr. Claus]

 

[Helios]

Amazing.

 

[Barakov]

The crazy part is that this has already been affecting western studios and Ubisoft of all companies.

 

[brap]

Can homosexuals stop ruining games? I promise if I make a game I'll put in some skimpy male costumes for you guys.
btw jason rainville youre obj a dumb fucking cunt



TITS??? YIKES ICKY GROSS MISOGYNISTIC SEXIST!!!

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

That Rainville guy worked on Magic the Pedo Gathering and the totally cucked WotC? Oh, and of course he would have preferred pronouns in his Twitter profile...complete with a cuckface.

Of course he would like burkas.