A 39 year old man from Iowa now faces a sentence of up to 15 years after pleading guilty to the possession of “obscene material” in the form of manga depicting illustrations of minors in sexual situations. Another sicko locked away where he belongs? Maybe… But as you learn how the events of his case unfolded, you may begin to worry if you’re next.
In this week’s Robot Punch!, we follow up on a story at the front lines of art versus censorship.
Rape games have been banned in Japan! No, wait… They haven’t. Oh, oh! Yes! Yes, they’re banned. SRSLY
The ripples from Amazon banning the violent rape simulation game, RapeLay, continue to roll, leading to a radical change in Japanese politics. In this week’s Robot Punch!, we’ll go over play-by-play this revolutionary change in the eroge industry and what these decisions say about our cultural attitude toward these controversial games.
Columns, Featured Column, Robot Punch
In this week’s Robot Punch! we’re going to cover a news story that’s a bit on the old side, but I think it’s of an issue that we all need to be aware of. This Monday, we’ll see the beginning of a trial that could not only have severe repercussions on the comic book industry, but also your First Amendment rights!
We all love user-generated content. There’s something magical about being able to adventure into worlds that we crafted alongside our peers with a handful of tools and our imagination. It’s no secret that LittleBigPlanet has capitalized on this communal creativity, offering players a nearly limitless palette of set pieces and objects with which to design their own platforming masterpieces that are as much self-contained games as they are individual levels. It’s no surprise, then, that this massive tool box is capable of pumping out levels and items that look awfully similar to existing intellectual properties which are protected under copyright law. Despite fair use, Sony has decided to take no chances and are banning levels that contain what they believe to be copyrighted material.
Business, Game Design, Headlines
Australia, I used to think you were cool. Kangaroos, Aborigines, didgeridoos, Mad Max…I used to dream of visiting you, and us being so happy together. That was before I learned about your most recent abhorrence. It took a lot out of me to forgive you for Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, so when you banned Silent Hill: Homecoming, there was nothing left for me to give. I’m sorry, Australia, but it’s over.
There have been reports from EA about its upcoming, deep-space survival horror game Dead Space not being released in Germany, Japan, and China. Other sources suspect that it’s untrue and that EA is just pulling our chains. I used to care less about the restrictions that other countries put on their imported video games, but with survival horror, it has made me appreciate being a violence-loving, desensitized, blood-thirsty, American-born horror game fanatic.
The upcoming 2009 release of MadWorld has conservatives in a swarm. The game showcases a black and white ambience only disrupted by red swirls of blood that fill the screen during combat. One of these conservative groups is Mediawatch-UK, whose campaign for decency and accountability in the media has a serious problem with MadWorld. This could block Sega’s title from reaching Wii owners in the UK. So, is it suitable that committees like this one ban media content, including video games, or are they overstepping boundaries in defining decency?
Recently, Fallout 3 has earned Austrialia’s RC rating, meaning it would be “refused classification” from their ratings board. As the Classification Board puts it, the current version of the game “cannot legally be shown, sold or hired in Australia.” Essentially, the board is putting Fallout 3 on the same aesthetic level of hard core pornography and snuff films. But the real surprising part: it’s not for its violence.
