They started with banning Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake in the '90s. They turned blood into a green ooze to make several games look less violent. Then they said "Nein!" to running over civillians in Carmageddon; so they had them mutated into zombies. But now, not even zombies can save Dead Rising from being banned in Germany. Capcom's ultra-violent action game for the Xbox 360 has apparently crossed the line in the eyes of the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) - the country's videogames ratings board, leading them to ban the game from sale in this contry.

Well, ok, so it's not an outright "ban" of sorts. At this time, the USK simply refused to rate the game, because there is a potential risk of banning. And with no rating, Microsoft's policy doesn't allow a game to be published on their platform. It's a tricky situation, but thankfully Gaming Bits has an explanation straight from a USK representative:

"That's right, the gorgeous Dead Rising received No Rating (Keine Kennzeichnung) by the USK. The USK and the OLJB cannot rate games when there is a potential risk of banning. Because if a game has a Rating, it can't be banned afterwards (when released). So the USK checks in advance if certain criteria of the Bundesprüfstelle are met, no Rating can be given." The representative goes on to say: "So the game CAN'T officially be released in Germany, because MS (Microsoft) politics doesn't allow non-Rated games to be published on their platform. From the youth Protection Laws point of view it COULD be released, you can even advertise for it, it can be on the shelves, you are just now allowed to sell it to minors, a fee of 50,000 €uro might hit you."

If the USK is to stand by its decission, Dead Rising would be the first Xbox 360 game to be banned anywhere in the world, which would obviously make Capcom look really, really cool in Germany.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)