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[Bjoern the Smexy]

...and probably XBLA and PSN too.
This is actually really surprising for me. I for one liked NG3 and I know that many people don't but that's not the point here.

Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge was not released in Germany because of violence issues. Because of that the USK (German equivaleent to the ESRB and BBFC etc.) refused an age rating which in turn meant that the game is probably going to be indexed, thus prohibiting the game from being sold over the counter. As far as I know NG3RE wasn't ever put on Germany's infamous index.

But what I see now surprises me: Not only is NG3RE available on the eShop since January 2nd, it also has an age rating of USK18.
I used all my Google-Fu and wasn't able to find anything regarding this matter except that the USK has entries from November where they rerated the PS3 and 360 versions and gave them a USK18 rating as well, no words about the Wii U version, though. Since the title doesn't say soething like "Deutsche Version" or "Geschnittene Version" or something like that I'm going to assume that the game actually is completely uncut and all violence and gore is intact.

Yes, the Wii U fails in the sales department and NG3 sure as hell isn't going to change that but it's still interesting to see that either Nintendo or Tecmo actually went ahead and let the USK rerate the game and succeeded.

Seems strange since the game didn't really do well on either of the three systems if I remember correctly.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that:
If you live in Germany and want to play NG3RE, you can finally do so on the console of your choice without having to import it.

Still, does anyone know what happened and why? I just can't wrap my head around this situation.

 

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

Yeah, it was added on week 1 of 2014. I think it got a late rating. But I don't know why.
Sometimes you have just to try hard enough to get a rating like what EA did with dead space or epic with gears 3.

 

[69wpm]

Yeah, I posted that over a week ago. Nobody knows what caused the delay :/

 

[Ninja Dom]

When Razors Edge was coming out in the UK you couldn't watch the trailers in the eShop until after 11pm.

 

[Bjoern the Smexy]

When Razors Edge was coming out in the UK you couldn't watch the trailers in the eShop until after 11pm.

This has been rectified since forever actually.
Back then you couldn't even access 18+ titles on the eShop after 11 pm (10 pm in Germany).

But this is different. Ninja Gaiden has a USK age rating now and everything points to it being uncensored even. It didn't get a German rating back then because of the violence and gore. It's strange that it took over a year to get a rating and thus make it legal to sell it over the counter.

It's also strange that it didn't get indexed. Normally this happens quite quick.

 

[cafemomo]

When Razors Edge was coming out in the UK you couldn't watch the trailers in the eShop until after 11pm.

lel, really? yuros can only buy mature rated games after a certain time?

 

[iamaustrian]

lel, really? yuros can only buy mature rated games after a certain time?

not anymore

 

[Shaanyboi]

How did it take this long to get approved?

 

[Bjoern the Smexy]

How did it take this long to get approved?

It didn't get approved a year ago.
Since the game wasn't indexed Tecmo probably sent it in again to get approved this time around. It seems to have worked.
Note that this is totally legitimate. If your game doesn't get approved by the USK the first time around you are still able to get it approved again and again until you either get your rating or the BPjM indexes your game.
If your game gets indexed you can dispute this decision but more often than not you will not win this fight. A game being put on the index is basically a death sentence for this game in Germany. The only way you can get this game at that point is by importing it.

Also there are two different indexes, List A and List B. if your game is put on List A, there probably won't happen anything else. Your game is indexed and that's it.
If it is put on List B however there is a chance it gets seized, which means every copy of that in Germany that is not in the hands of a private person, is seized and put away because its depiction of violence violence German law (to be more exact it violates §131 JuSchG, a law which prohibits media of any kind to glorify violence). This means it is not allowed to sell your game. Not in stores, not from private person to private person. Still doing so would be a criminal offense.

But enough of this little walk down the road of stupid German laws (that have loosened up more and more over the last decade).
Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge didn't get a USK rating the first time around.
It did now.
The question is why, why so late and why at all if the game didn't sell that well to begin with?

 

[Mlatador]

I just thought about it, but somehow I think this might be a sign that Devil's Third is indeed coming to Wii U.

I think Nintendo is working closely with Tecmo now, so they went the extra mile to get NG:RE re-rated in Germany, maybe as a nice gesture towards Tecmo.

 

[Muchi Muchi Pink]

I just thought about it, but somehow I think this might be a sign that Devil's Third is indeed coming to Wii U.

I think Nintendo is working closely with Tecmo now, so they went the extra mile to get NG:RE re-rated in Germany, maybe as a nice gesture towards Tecmo.

Yeah, but how is working closely with tecmo having an impact getting devil's third?