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Beyond: Two Souls is censored in Europe (violence) and probably also in US (nudity)
- Thread starter ekim
- Start date
Wouldn't be surprised if that happened.
dragonbane
Member
Probably marketing related.
GTA V is PEGI 18 though.
Beyond has an M rating. From the description I'm pretty sure nudity would have not changed anything.
Chance Hale
Member
I just fail to see why it would be censored here for erotic reasons, Indigo Prophecy was a long time ago and games released in the US since have been more graphic. The Witcher 2 has nudity and some degree of foreplay presented so I just can't help but feel if it is censored in the US Sony chose to do so on their own. The description only says that some erotic scenes might be shortened, hard to say what might be cut but I can't see it being anything other than nudity if so which as I said seems like something the ERSB of today wouldn't demand for an M rating.
Yes, it's stronger, if only because some retailers don't even carry 18+ games.
To be fair, this looks a lot more realistic than Fahrenheit. It seems like the boards should be harsher as time goes on and games are able to depict sex and violence in greater fidelity.
Fox Mulder
Member
It's kind of shitty how games get censored when movies have plenty of pointless nudity and violence even with a softer R rating.
games are still seen as children play things, even if something is specifically made for mature adults.
games are still seen as children play things, even if something is specifically made for mature adults.
dragonbane
Member
I mean the ESRB description. I didn't read it, because of spoilers. Some people did though and they are saying the game is so violent or gnarly that nudity probably would have not changed the rating at all. So this probably means the US version is uncensored and the German retailer is making shit up. Remember, we have no confirmation on the US version. From Sony's wording it looks like US is uncut.
EmptySpace
Banned
the us version being cut has had no official confirmation.
in the ps eu blog comment the guy specifically says the difference between eu and us is that 5-10 seconds of gameplay that got them pegi 16 instead of pegi 18.
but the esrb rating for the us version is m (mature).
in the ps eu blog comment the guy specifically says the difference between eu and us is that 5-10 seconds of gameplay that got them pegi 16 instead of pegi 18.
but the esrb rating for the us version is m (mature).
Chance Hale
Member
That's certainly true but the example of the Witcher 2 is a counterpoint that I used as it presents doggy sex with full nudity. It doesn't depict penetration of course but is realistically presented. Fahrenheit was used as an example as upon release in the US it was censored in order to not get an AO rating and until recently it was the only game to actually present sex and the courtship process in a realistic(although hilarious and somewhat crude) way without angles hiding nudity and so on. I was saying that since it came out things have been done elsewhere in a more graphic fashion and still received an M rating so the retailer's statement that the game was censored for erotic purposes seems unlikely.
Ah ok, I misunderstood you as I thought you were talking about the description listed in the OP. And yeah, it's most likely made up or misunderstood on the part of the German retailer.
Or really just decided it isn't worth the hassle making several version for europe, which is pretty common.
I'm German.
You don't need to know anyone personally, there's a ton of people willing to do this in exchange for a small tip. Apart from that you can easily import uncensored retail versions or use online key resellers like I mentioned before, which have no drawbacks except for requiring VPN activation in some very specific cases (which aren't punished by Valve).
silver.tongue
Member
I'll need some clarification before deciding my version.
Either way, I'm not happy about this.
Either way, I'm not happy about this.
Miles Quaritch
Member
Thanks, I don't know why but I've always thought they were banned in Germany. Maybe I'm confusing it with a different country?
Oh I didn't mean to imply the censuring was because f a German release, I just thought (wrongly it seems) that 18+ games weren't allowed to be released there.
EmptySpace
Banned
EmptySpace (accidentally) read some spoilers from the esrb ratings summary and there are worse things than nudity in this game, so the us version being cut because of nudity is just plain bollocks. the game still maintains the m rating from esrb.
as for the eu version shaving off 5-10 seconds of a 13-hour game is nothing, and that made the rating go from pegi-18 to pegi-16, which is huge no matter how anyone spins that. that is the difference between a 15 and an 18 movie in the uk.
and as the guy have said, the scenes were altered, and it is only 5-10 seconds. it is harder to cut scenes in the us version because the next rating to m is t, and most likely shaving off 5-10 seconds of gameplay will not turn the m rating to a t.
this is from scee:
"We can confirm that three minor aesthetic changes were made to the PAL version of BEYOND: Two Souls. These changes are purely cosmetic and do not affect gameplay or the overall story. The modifications were made in order to meet the requirements of regional ratings boards in the PAL region, and with the full support of the development team who do not feel that the title has been compromised in any way.".
No, there's a step above USK 18 (well, actually, there are several, but I'll keep this short). It's in some ways similar to the American "AO" rating, you aren't allowed to sell it "openly" (only behind the counter) or advertise it. Most shops also don't sell them at all. It's no actual rating, but rather the refusal of a rating by the USK followed by adding it to an so-called "index" by another authority.
In prior years, far more games used to be refused to get an 18 rating, but nowadays, there's fewer of them.
The perfect Dark
Banned
dragonbane
Member
Good, that's all I wanted to hear. I couldn't care less about slightly edited 10 seconds when it is not crucial to the game anyway.
PaulExcellent
Member
So... no tits or ass, but blood and gore is a-OK to the US?
Damn.
I want my tits and ass.
Damn.
I want my tits and ass.
Willy Wanka
my god this avatar owns
It's annoying that there are cuts at all but I think I can live without 10 seconds of footage that doesn't change the game in any meaningful way.
dragonbane
Member
The 10 seconds in question are not even cut. They just changed the camera angles slightly, so you can't see the violence/gore/whatever, but it is still there. They did the same in Heavy Rain for the Japanese version. It's really no big deal at all.
Uhm, of course...
Edit: Woah, way too late. I shouldn't just leave random tabs open for so long.
GravityMan
Member
That'd be nice, but the fact is that some major retail outlets refuse to stock AO-rated games. And the majority of console game sales are in retail stores.
A good and sensible idea in theory. But 98% of parents don't bother to set the parental control on their kid's account. Many of them probably don't know such a setting even exists.
The ironic fact is that there ARE different versions of Sony games for the UK and the rest of Europe. You won't find any German soundtrack on Sony games from the UK. They even enforce that for small games like Puppeteer or Sly Cooper. Those are different discs. That policy was instituted while Andrew House was still running SCEE.
They just decided not to make the UK version more attractive again by making it identical to the US version.
Motley Grue
Banned
So now I have buy another copy of the game from the EU or find some leaked footage of the cut erotic scenes and watch them at the right moment. THANK YOU SO MUCH repressed American prudes!
DidntKnowJack
Member
You might want to hold off on that until we have confirmation they altered the North American version at all. Sounds like a bunch of assumptions being passed along as fact in this thread.
Tiu Neo
Member
The game is rated 18 here in Brazil.
Hope that means it's not censored here.
Sony game. Brazillian version is always the same as US version, so no tits and asses for us.
Yeah but you're on about PEGI standards. It isn't the difference between a 15 and 18 movie in the UK. The BBFC standards are far different, and honestly far better. The issue at the moment is, seeing graphic content in a game suddenly makes it worse than a film, thanks to PEGI's ridiculously strict standards without context.
I wish they'd just go back to BBFC in the UK. One standardised system for all media.
I pre-ordered this as soon as I'd seen the trailer, and that order is now cancelled on principle. Perhaps in days/weeks to come we'll find out whether the US release really is censored or not, and maybe I'll end up importing it.
I really wish Amazon had a 'why are you cancelling' box. If Amazon say "we lost 30,000 orders due to this", then Sony might think twice in future. In reality of course I'm probably one of 30.
I really wish Amazon had a 'why are you cancelling' box. If Amazon say "we lost 30,000 orders due to this", then Sony might think twice in future. In reality of course I'm probably one of 30.
dragonbane
Member
It's not. And even if it is, it is so minor that every Quantic Dream employee already forgot about it. It's really no big deal and no one feels bad about it on the team.
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
Relax, this isn't political censorship. If the devs were aiming for a Pegi 16 and had to change it to fit the rating and reach a wider audience as they intended, it's their choice.
Case closed.
Stop! You're making too much sense!
Yes.BurnOutBrighter said:
GTAV was made to be a Mature rated game. Beyond Two Souls was most likely made to be a Teen rated game. In all countries. Obviously, when it went to PEGI and the ESRB, they said, "Hey, these scenes specifically are reasons we made your game M and Pegi18. Do with that what you will.". Obviously, Quantic Dream and Sony then went into a room and discussed taking out the specific scenes. It's less censorship, and more concessions to fit to the original plan of the game. If you're going to throw "Censorship" at anyone, throw it at the ESRB and PEGI. Or don't. Having a Teen rated game, means a bigger audience. It was obviously the plan from the very beginning. And believe me, if David Cage was ever unhappy with Sony, the people famous for giving their developers complete creative freedom, he wouldn't go back to them.
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
This is absurd. Do you cancel your preorder for every game that has content altered because the developers are aiming for a specific rating? You must not play many games.
Amazon are hardly losing 30,000 preorders. If anything they're getting more because the title has been deemed appropriate for a wider group of gamers.
EmptySpace
Banned
pathetic.
not one official confirmation that the us release has any censorship. one german site does not account to anything.
even if there were censored things, at best they are cosmetically-altered i.e. less blood, less violent, less something. trivial things that will not affect either gameplay or story.
the european release has altered scenes of 5-10 seconds. let EmptySpace repeat that: 5-10 seconds in a 13-hour game.
cancelling an order over those is just plain and utterly pathetic. no one is going to lose sleep over a 5-10 seconds worth of altered scenes, just as no one cancels their movie tickes when movies have minutes edited out of the theatrical release.
Live Free or Die
Banned
So its not censored then? This game wasn't on my radar until I played the demo but if its censored I don't want to get it.
EmptySpace
Banned
read the eu blogpost comments.
not censored, but scenes are cosmetically altered.
it helps to read first.
Live Free or Die
Banned
I did read but, I dont live in the EU so I don't visit the EU blog, so I didnt know there was a post on the EU blog about it.
EmptySpace
Banned
if it is the us version, there has been no indication of any censorship besides some paragraph in a german site. nothing. nada.
the eu blog comment was comparing the eu version and the us version, and the difference being there was 5-10 seconds of cosmetically-altered scenes in the eu version, because that minimal edit brought down the rating from a pegi-18 to a pegi-16, which obviously means a larger audience and which makes perfect business sense.