A coalition of German citizens has published an anti-game violence position paper that is being referred to as the Cologne Declaration.

The news comes by way of David Ziegler, a longtime GamePolitics reader from Germany. Ziegler writes that the declaration was issued in response to the German Culture Council's recent recognition of video games as cultural assets.

The Cologne Declaration argues that violent games are harmful to children as well as to the building of a peaceful society. Several prominent German social scientists have signed on to the edict, which specifically refers to Counter-strike, DOOM 3, Crysis, Call of Duty 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV as "killer games" and "landmines for the soul."

The document revives the notion that shooting games were developed by the U.S. military in order to condition recruits to kill and asserts that violent games further the aims of the "military-industrial-media complex." Researchers who have defended games are labeled as "collaborators and accomplices" of the video game industry by the declaration, which calls for the government to end state support for game development and ban violent games. The document concludes with:

We won't allow our children to be turned into killing machines on real and virtual battlefields.

GP: The "landmines for the soul" line has been used before by the German Society for Scientific Person-Centred Psychotherapy (GwG). The Cologne Declaration appears on the GwG website.

The claim that violent games are used by the U.S. military to desensitize recruits to killing was originally put forth by violent game critic Lt. Col. (ret.) David Grossman.  ABC newsman John Stossel disputed that notion in his 2006 book Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity.

The GwG's assertion that violent games are designed to further the aims of the "military-industrial-media complex" sounds similar to the views of fringe political figure Lyndon LaRouche here in the United States.

From the Told Ya So Dept:

In the January issue of Game Informer there is an interview with EA's Glen Schofield, executive producer of Dead Space. Since the game shipped, Schofield has been upped to general manager of EA Redwood Shores.

The interview is worth reading for a couple of reasons. First, because Dead Space is a terrific game (although not selling especially well, unfortunately).

But what really caught our eye were Schofield's comments regarding supposed censorship of the game. GamePolitics readers may recall that we created a bit of a flap in September by calling B.S. on an EA community manager's claim that Dead Space had been banned in Germany, Japan and China (see: Dead Space Ban in Three Countries? We're Not Buying It).

That was then. This is now. Here's what Schofield told GI:

Game Informer: You had some problems with the game being banned in Germany, Japan and Korea.

Schofield: Germany finally came around, because the bottom line is that the take it into a whole context... At the end of the day, Germany said they would take the game untouched, which is fantastic. I was very surprised with Japan. In finding out exactly the reasons why, it kind of makes sense. There is a cultural difference dealing with the dead. They just had something that we could not overcome and we didn't want to compromise the game. Hell, [Takashi] Miike is the king of horror over there, and if you watch any of his films they are frickin' insane. So, for us to get banned, I was a bit surprised.

GP: So, as we speculated in September, there was never a Dead Space ban in Germany. As to the other countries, EA doesn't even sell boxed product in China due to piracy concerns. Note that the original EA claim involving China somehow morphed into a Korean ban, with no explanation. And, unfortunately, Schofield doesn't address Korea (or China) in his response to Game Informer's question.

Regarding Japan, as we reported in September, EA only sells PC titles there, not console games. There is a PC version of Dead Space, of course, so a Japanese ban is theoretically possible. But we question Schofield's sketchy explanation of "a cultural difference dealing with the dead." Lotsa dead people in the Resident Evil series, after all. Unfortunately, Game Informer did not push Schofield to elaborate.

What's most troubling in all of this is the suspicion that EA may have leaked the three-country ban rumor simply to create some pre-release buzz around Dead Space. As I have noted before, from his opening remarks at E3, Schofield hyped the game's level of violence. Sitting in the cheap seats, it seemed like the touting of the blood and gore was part of the Dead Space marketing plan. That's EA's choice, of course, and Dead Space surely wouldn't be the first game sold that way. But if the publisher - or its minions - then proceeded to put out an apocryphal story that the game had been banned, that's something entirely different. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in September, a pair of in-the-know types at EA failed to respond to my requests for clarification on the supposed Dead Space censorship.

Three months later we find out that there was no German ban, Schofield doesn't address China/Korea at all, and the explanation for the alleged Japanese ban doesn't make a great deal of sense. What's a newsie to think?

Hey, don't get me wrong. Dead Space is a good game. It's the media manipulation expansion pack that we could do without.

UPDATE: In comments to this story, GP reader fug4z1 writes that Dead Space is not banned in Japan, either:

Just want to say that from personal experience, there was no Dead Space ban whatsoever in Japan, either official or "indirect" due to refusal to rate the game or whatever; both console and PC versions could be found in shops [in Akihabara, Tokyo] on the release day. There were even displays where you could play the game, both in-store and also just outside the store on the street (so potentially children could get their hands on this murder simulator -- the horror the horror, won't someone think of them etc). My PC version is labeled as "Asia-Pacific Edition" and there is no rating label or icons anywhere on the box. Last week in one of the imported game shops [again in Akiba] I noticed a printed [in English] label that was added on the display copy on the shelf, warning about the violence and blood in the game etc -- the game is still on sale as before. (Yawn.) By the way, on the weekend of the release, the game was even sold out in one of the shops. Now you can find it all over.

It may be Turkey Day here in the United States, but the sister of a prominent German video game violence critic has termed Electronic Arts "that pig of a company" at a conference in Munich.

As reported by gamer.tm, Regina Pfeiffer made the remarks at the Computer Game and Violence conference late last week. Ms. Pfeiffer is the sister of Christian Pfeiffer, the head of Lower Saxony’s Criminological Research Institute (KFN). Regina Pfeiffer also works at KFN. According to the report, she was frustrated in her efforts to sue EA over a violent game (Dead Space?) because the publisher is not headquartered in Germany.

EA exec Martin Lorber fired back at Pfeiffer, saying:

Should Mrs. Regina Pfeiffer have actually lost her composure to the point of describing Electronic Arts as being a ‘a pig of a company’, then I can only recommend that she apologises in full – at least, [she should] if she wishes to be taken seriously again in the future...

The [conference] organisers had no interest in holding discussions with the people who manufacture the games that were being criticised there. Initially, I found this very regrettable, because I had told the conference that I would be willing to hold a question and answer session. But now that I see how low the level of discussion obviously was, I’m glad that I didn’t waste my time.
 

European GamePolitics reader Soldat Louis offers more insights into the controversial gathering:

There was a conference held in Munich about "computer games and violence", that reunited many researchers on the effects of violent games. Most were German, to the exception of [Iowa State's] Douglas Gentile. I created a thread [in GP Forums] and tried to translate the first reports on this conference as best as I could...

One longitudinal study presented at the conference (and published in the Journal of Media Psychology) claimed that "violent games" are the #1 risk factor in violent criminality... Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann took advantage of this conference to call for a ban on "extremely violent video games". And fourth, because despite all that, there were voices of the reason, such as Douglas Gentile and, to some extent, [journalist] Rainer Fromm.

For Soldat Louis' fascinating, full write-up, hit the jump...

Edge Online reports that upcoming Xbox 360 gore-fest Gears of War 2 will not be released in Japan or Germany.

Germany is perhaps not a surprise, given that the original 2006 GoW was banned there. Not selling the game in Japan, however, is raising some eyebrows. From the EO report:

“We can confirm that Gears of War 2 will not be available in Germany or Japan indefinitely” said the [Microsoft] spokesperson. 

 

The news may come as a shock to many observers as the original Gears of War was one of the first titles to crack the Japanese software charts during a time when the 360 console was selling at its slowest...

The reasons why the game will not be released remain unclear...  Edge has approached Microsoft’s offices in Japan for comment.

Dead Space, EA's survival-horror game set in space, is launching today.

As GamePolitics has reported in the past, the game may or may not have been banned in Japan, Germany, China and South Korea (take your pick, since EA has chosen not to clarify this issue).

We note the following line from today's press release (full text after the jump):

The game has won over 11 awards...

So, 12 then? In that case, may I suggest that "a dozen awards" would sound more impressive? If the number is 13 or 14, "more than a dozen" would sound even better. 11 is just such an odd point to make that demarcation. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but I tend to do that more than 4 times per day.

GP: In regard to Dead Space, the whole was it or wasn't it banned situation was odd, to say the least. While my suspicion was - and is - that the undocumented "bannings" were hype, the game seems to be scoring well in reviews. GameSpot, for instance, gave the 360 version a 9.0, and EA lists glowing reviews from Game Informer and GamePro in its press release.

GP is an admitted sucker for simulation games, so it's no surprise that World of Subway caught our eye.

German developer TML Studios launched their first foray into subway sims in 2005 by adding the Berlin underground to Microsoft Train Simulator, a game which enjoys a following among hardcore rail enthusiasts. Top News has a report:

The game allows players to manoeuvre between New York City and New Jersey, picking up passengers along the way. Publisher Aerosoft says the program will win people over with its realism: slow motion is used to convey the sensation of movement. The three-dimensional cockpit starts vibrating at high speeds.

The program's creators do not intend stopping at New York. A series is planned focusing on the world's most interesting subway stretches.

GP: Here's hoping that the London Tube is TML's next sim project. Mind the gap, and all that...

A high-ranking German official who has in the past advocated jail time for creators and players of violent games may be forced to give up his post following weekend regional elections.

As reported by Forbes, the status of Bavarian state premier Guenther Beckstein (left) is in jeopardy after voters rejected his party, the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU).

That's the good news. The bad news is Forbes' speculation that Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, a fellow CSU member, may be in line to succeed Beckstein. As GamePolitics reported last month, Herrmann is pushing a ban on what he terms Killerspiele (killer games).

Thanks to: Long time GP reader Bart George, aka Soldat Louis...

It's been more than a week since the first wave of reports that Dead Space had been banned in Japan, China and Germany hit the web, yet publisher Electronic Arts has failed to provide a definitive answer as to exactly what's going on with the supposed censorship of the game.

That's unfortunate, since EA itself launched the story. The original report was set in motion by a pair of EA community managers for the sci-fi survival-horror game. Here at GamePolitics I have pointed out a number of reasons why the original ban report seemed questionable.

GameCyte now has a post in which Dead Space executive producer Glen Schofield (see him hyping the game's violence level at E3) says that the game has indeed been banned in Japan and "hints at difficulties in Germany and Korea as well..."

With all due respect to Schofield, I still have difficulty believing that the game has been banned in Japan, home of Resident Evil. I'd like to see an official announcement from EA and/or CERO, the Japanese rating organization. Moreover, as GP reported earlier this week, EA doesn't distribute console games in Japan, so only the PC version of Dead Space would potentially be at risk of a ban there.

Also in regard to Schofield's comments, what happened to the original claim of a Dead Space ban in China? Schofield doesn't even mention China. As in Japan, EA distributes no console games there, so at worst there might be a ban on the PC version. But we don't know. Does China even have a game content rating board? Doubtful. Previous bans have been handed down by government agencies such as the Ministry of Culture and the State General Administration of Press and Publication.

And now Germany has morphed from a ban to a hint of difficulties? As to Schofield's comment about a potential ban in Korea, that's a completely new one. Here's the quote from Schofield:

Glen Schofield: Australia is getting the full, complete version. No cuts. We’re not softening it for anybody. You know, I think a part of it was – he’s not a killer. He’s killing aliens and that’s why we thought for a while we’d get it through in Germany. And they were like ‘well, the fact that he can get dismembered pretty grotesquely is bad, so…’ We thought it was cool.

 

IGN: And Japan banned it?

 

Glen Schofield: Japan too. Korea thought they would get it, but we haven’t heard back yet.

As I see it, here are the possibilities:

• Dead Space has been banned in Japan, China & Germany, as per original report
• Dead Space has been banned in Japan and has "difficulties" in Germany & Korea, as per EA's Glen Schofield
• Dead Space hasn't been banned anywhere; it's all hype

It's important to remember that EA could clear all of this up with a simple press release. If I spoke Japanese I'd contact CERO myself and ask about the supposed Japanese ban. Any volunteers?

When a publicly traded U.S. company experiences what the Securities and Exchange Commission terms an "unscheduled material event" it is required to file a form 8-K in order to alert stockholders and the market at large.

For example, Electronic Arts filed an 8-K just yesterday to inform the market that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was slipping into 2009, with a resultant loss of significant expected 2008 income.

So, if the rumor that EA's upcoming Dead Space has been banned in three markets - China, Japan and Germany - is true, might that not trigger an 8-K disclosure as well? None has been forthcoming so far.

For the answer, GamePolitics turned to financial analyst extraordinaire Michale Pachter (left) of Wedbush-Morgan:

GP: If Dead Space was really banned in three major markets (Japan, China, Germany) as the rumor currently goes, wouldn’t that be a material event that EA would need to disclose to the stock market? Also – does EA sell console games in China? I thought no one did because of piracy issues.

PACHTER: Germany will allow the game with modifications.  Japan and China are essentially closed markets.  So really, no big deal. No consoles in China, yet

GP: Can you elaborate on what you mean by "closed market" in terms of Japan?

PACHTER: EA sells very little there, maybe $50 million per year, mostly PC games. I don't think it is that controversial.  [Dead Space] is a horror game, not the same as Manhunt.  The bans are from the usual suspects, not a big deal

GP: Thanks, Mike.

Although Pachter confirms that there are no console sales in China, Dead Space is scheduled to release on PC, so that's the version which EA would want to market in China and Japan. If the ban is real (still a pretty big "if" at this point), it likely involves the PC flavor of Dead Space in those markets.

Clearly, Pachter does not see this as a significant issue for EA, at least in the financial sense. Bans are always troubling, however, so we eagerly await EA's official word on this.

While mere gamer mortals wait to see whether the gaming gods at EA will deign to reveal whether or not the rumors that Dead Space has been banned in three countries are true, here's an interesting point.

Hyping the intense violence of Dead Space is clearly a large part of EA's marketing strategy for the game.

EA was upfront about the game's blood and gore factor at its E3 2008 press conference in Los Angeles. Very upfront. Check out G4TV's video feed of the event. Fast foward to 10:45. That's when Dead Space executive producer Glen Schofield walks onstage. Here's what he says about the violence:

For the past two-and-a-half years, my team and I have been creating a game that's a bit of a departure for EA. It's a very M-rated, sci-fi survival-horror game called Dead Space. [crowd cheers] That's what I like to hear...

 

Dead Space is the story of Isaac Clarke... we focused deeply on creating a rich story and pushed EXTREMELY hard on the horror elements. But we also innovated on our main gameplay features such as zero gravity...

 

And our core gameplay mechanic is - strategic dismemberment, which is a clinical term for you have to tear these creatures apart limb-by-limb in order to kill 'em...

Several minutes of game play follow... Schofield returns to the stage at 16:05:

[crowd cheers] ...Thank you. Dead Space will be available on the 360, the PS3 and the PC on October 21st. Now we just showed you some action in our live demo. I'd like to leave you with a gameplay trailer that really sets the mood and tone of Dead Space. This trailer is made with 100% gameplay footage. And I hope you're all over 17 for this one. Thank you... [trailer starts up]

GameStop's product page for Dead Space also hypes the violence. The first two bullet points are:

• Strategic dismemberment—Shear off limbs with powerful weapons as you carve a bloody path through the alien hordes. Find ways to neutralize attacking enemies effectively or they’ll keep coming at you. When ammo runs low, use telekinesis to pick up objects—even the enemies’ own arms and legs!—and fire them at anything that stands in your way.
• Terror in the far reaches of space—A blood-curdling interactive horror experience features state-of-the art graphics and effects, a panic-inducing audio system, and a truly frightening atmosphere of death and despair.

So... do rumors of a ban help fuel the marketing of Dead Space as a "bad boy" of EA's gaming stable?

In Saturday's coverage GamePolitics questioned reported claims by a pair of community managers that EA's upcoming Dead Space has been banned in Japan, China and Germany.

Over at Ars Technica, Ben Kuchera writes that a Dead Space team member using the screen name isaacclarke has been insisting via Twitter that the ban is real. Ben posted screenshots of several recent tweets by Isaac, including one entered at 4:20pm PST Sunday:

I just confirmed with upper management that Dead Space is banned in Germany, China and Japan. Not a rumor, folks... It's true.

So, we'll see...

GP: Reader Flowerbed reminds us that "Isaac Clarke" is the name of the protagonist in Dead Space. Thanks, FB...

Although last week's report of a Dead Space ban may be spurious, violent video games continue to come under fire in Germany.

GamePolitics has heard from several European gamers who have cited anti-game comments made by Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (left) to Zeit Online. Herrmann, a member of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), refers to violent games as Killerspiele (killer games). Big thanks to ECA forum member felix-reichert who has very graciously provided a translation of the interview:

ZEIT ONLINE: Mr. Herrmann, which "Killergames" have you played to come to the belief that they must be banned?

Joachim Herrmann: I personally don't play, but I have watched them [being played] extensively. I am shocked how the player is driven towards gruesome violence. He, so to speak, becomes a criminal himself and kills others to obtain money or to collect points. The more gruesome the killing the higher the score. We don't need something like this. Such games are unbearable.

ZEIT ONLINE: Obviously you are talking about the GTA-Series. The most recent GTA is rated 18. Why shouldn't adults be allowed to play these games?

Herrmann: From a cinema-owner I can expect that he actually only lets people over 18 years in. But if we're talking about Computer games its different. If an 18-year-old has a game, the next day he'll pass it to 17-, 16- and 15-year-olds. I don't believe that there's an entitlement for these games in our liberal society. The protection of children and the youth must be a priority. Its not about the playing [of these games] alone. There are numerous studies that explicitly prove: the more intensive teenagers engage themselves in these games, the higher the danger of them imitating this [behavior] in reality.

ZEIT ONLINE: Media-scientists haven't found common ground on that issue, though.

Herrmann: The criminologist Christian Pfeiffer provided corresponding evidence from his studies at our expert-round in Berlin. Of course not every player becomes a violent criminal. But even if games only cause a rise of a certain percentage in youth-violence it is reason enough to outlaw them. In other fields we also have clear bans, I'm thinking of child pornography.

ZEIT ONLINE: Still, the problem isn't that these games exist, but that children can still acquire them in spite of the German age-restrictions.

Herrmann: That is one of the problems. But the bigger the danger of such games getting to the hands of children and teenagers the more the state has to intervene. It is also forbidden for everyone to trivialize the crimes of the national-socialists.

ZEIT ONLINE:  However the [indexing] that exists today is in fact equivalent to a ban. For example indexed games can't be advertised.

Herrmann: That's not enough. Games that glorify brutal violence must generally be banned in penal law.

ZEIT ONLINE: The penal law already outlaws glorification of violence. A Bavarian draft for a new paragraph didn't find consent in Bundestag [German parliament, a bit similar to the House of Reps]. Also after six years of discussion the youth-protection-law was changed – and some say it wasn't even tightened. Do you really think a ban is possible?

Herrmann: We won't peg away at that, we want to continue this discussion. With the totally insufficient changes of the youth-protection-law this isn't concluded for us.

ZEIT ONLINE: The games-industry would call such a ban unconstitutional.

Herrmann: I'm very much hoping for a change of opinion there. Even today there are manufacturers that completely abandon the violence field. They want to make intelligent games, educational games, and many other fascinating things.

ZEIT ONLINE: But a number of manufacturers earn their money with games containing violence.

Herrmann: There's massive pressure from U.S. manufacturers. But we also do not have a different weapons law than America for no reason – over here not everybody can walk around at will with a firearm. We mustn't let certain aberrations of American society gain influence here.

GP readers Soldat Louis and David Ziegler report that in the wake of the Zeit Online interview, German magazine PC Games called on gamers to conduct a massive mail campaign to CSU leadership by way of protesting Herrmann's implication that violent game players are potential killers. The CSU responded with a press release calling for an urgent ban, and dismissed the gamer protest.

Apparently some younger officials of the CSU and other parties have voiced opposition to Herrmann's proposed violent game ban, which is an interesting development.

Yesterday we mentioned a Destructoid report which said that EA's upcoming space-horror-survival title Dead Space had been banned in Germany, Japan and China. Destructoid sourced the info to Dead Space community manager Andrew Green.

Right away, the story didn't pass our smell test:

• Germany, perhaps. They've been tough on game violence of late. But Japan? The home of Resident Evil?
• Does EA even distribute console games in China (due to piracy concerns)?
• No announcements from the individual censorship bodies of the three nations?
• All three bans come in simultaneously?
• Also of note, Australia's notoriously censorious OFLC cleared Dead Space with MA15+
• And the BBFC, which banned Manhunt 2 in the U.K., cleared Dead Space with 18
• No official press release from EA on the alleged bans?

GP immediately contacted EA, with distinctly unsatisfactory results. The top PR dog didn't respond to our e-mail. Later in the day we tracked down the EA guy who is handling Dead Space PR, and put the question to him in two e-mails and a live phone call. Never got an answer one way or the other. EA doesn't know if one of their high profile titles managed to get banned in three countries? Sorry, not buying that. Or, they know but aren't saying? Unacceptable.

GamePolitics reader Afirejar posted a comment to yesterday's story which argued that the supposed German ban was bogus:

I can confirm for a fact that Dead Space has not been banned in Germany. Under German law it's not possible to ban products before they are actually available. The game isn't out yet, so it can't be banned, it's that simple. It's just not possible under German law.

 

This seems to be nothing more than a marketing stunt, German gaming paper GameStar even has official word from EA, that it's a hoax. The USK ratings process isn't even finished yet.  (Sorry, German only)
 

Later, Videogaming247 cited a German language story by Eurogamer.de, which negates the report of a Dead Space ban in Germany:

Eurogamer.de’s scotched a report that said Dead Space had already been banned in Germany. Basically, it hasn’t.

 

The site’s spoken to EA Germany, and the game is still with the USK [ratings body], apparently, so no one knows yet if there are going to be any restrictions on the horror’s launch.

GP: It's time for EA to put an end to this nonsense. If there is a multi-country ban, gamers deserve to know about it. If there's not, gamers deserve to stop having their chains yanked...

UPDATE: Hey, I want to point out that I'm not faulting Destructoid here. They were not the only outlet reporting this, just the first. If the info is wrong, it seems that it somehow originated with the community managers of Dead Space.

Citing comments made by a Dead Space community manager, Destructoid reports that EA's upcoming sci-fi horror game has been banned in China, Japan and Germany:

We've also been told by Dead Space community manager Andrew Green that the title has been completely banned from the following countries: Germany, Japan, and China. That's right, there's just too much survival and way too much horror in Dead Space for these countries to handle. No word on whether EA has any plans to alter the game for a future release in those territories.

Oddly enough, in the U.K., the BBFC has rated Dead Space an 18, while quick-to-censor Australia has awarded it an MA15+. We're still checking with the ESRB, but GameStop's website is displaying an "M" on Dead Space packaging.

GP: I'm having a little trouble digesting this one. It's not hard to believe Germany would ban Dead Space, as they have been fairly quick on the censorship trigger of late. However, given that Japan is the home of Resident Evil, a ban on a survival horror game would be surprising. Also, I'm not even certain that EA distributes console titles in China, due to the piracy issues there. We have a request in to EA to confirm...

The real Berlin Wall came down in 1989, but Half-Life 2 owners can check out a virtual recreation thanks to an awesome-looking Berlin Wall map which has been posted on the Garry's Mod site.

An explanation accompanies the download:

The anticipated BerlinWall map has been released. The map offers singleplayer experience from the view of an East German citizen, dreaming of living in the West Germany. The gameplay in the map is non-linear, you can take many paths to west. Also, avoid making mistakes, they can be deadly, and remember to check everywhere for some sort of weapons.

The map works the best in Half-Life 2: Episode Two, but like common Source-based maps, it also works in Garry's Mod. Not offering the best gameplay experience in it, but works great for posing and comics.

GamePolitics reader Michael Jürges tipped us to the map. He writes in an e-mail to GP:

Although I haven't had the opportunity to play the map yet, the mapping seems, judging from the screenshots, pretty accurate (I'm German myself and I've been to this part of Berlin as well). Personally, I think this might be quite a good idea - reenacting historical settings and immerge oneself into this virtual environment can, perhaps, contribute to a better understanding about what the people who had to endure these challenges in order to escape from the East German regime felt like.

GP: This is something I'd love to check out, so I guess it's time to re-install HL2.

Video game content rating in Germany is not for the faint of heart (or the easily confused), according to a report in DW-World:

Legislation recently passed in Germany in July, for example, makes it easier to put [violent] games on the banned list following the introduction of a rating index... Games on Germany's banned list cannot be sold publicly. That includes any advertising and sales through mail order. The decision to flag a game is made by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (BPjM)...

But the labeling system for content rating is run by yet another organization in Berlin, under the sponsorship of two game industry groups:

The labeling system is organized by the so-called Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) in Berlin... Two industrial associations assumed sponsorship from June 1: the German Association of Computer Game Developers (G.A.M.E.) and the German Association of Interactive Entertainment Software (BIU), both of which are headquartered in Berlin.

...but, despite the industry's involvement, the government has an additional layer of control here, as well:

The decision-making power lies with the federal states. The Protection of Minors Act calls for the Supreme Youth Agencies of the state to undertake the labelling, he said.

 

"And they employ the USK," [BIU spokesman Olaf] Wolters added.

 

The USK functions as a service provider, commissioning a circle of independent experts. These observers first play the game, present their results to a five-person committee consisting of at least four of roughly 60 expert appraisers from the USK, including teachers and employees of the youth agencies. The committee is then completed by a permanent representative of the Supreme Youth Agencies of the states.

GP: It would seem that quite a few bureaucrats are involved in Germany's content rating process...

At GamePolitics, our coverage of political developments related to video games typically focuses on the United States, the U.K., Canada and Australia. One reason is that there is a lot happening in those places. Another is that, sadly, we have no fluency in other languages.

However, video game content issues are a political hot potato in a number of other countries, Germany among them. So we were pleased to come across an excellent recap of German video game legislation published in English by the Internet Business Law Service: 

In response to the [2006 Emsdetten school] shooting, the German states of Bavaria and Lower Saxony drafted legislation that would fine and possibly jail video game developers who create and market games containing ‘cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters...’

 

The Protection of Young Persons Act (PYPA) is a German legislation that protects youth... from the influence of inappropriate movies, games, and certain public places, including gaming places and those selling alcohol. The Act was enacted in 2002... establishes that video games or any other games cannot be publicly accessible to children or adolescents unless they are cleared and labeled for their appropriate age group by the supreme state authority...

Games have been banned and confiscated in Germany:

The County Court in Munich decided to confiscate all versions of "Manhunt" in July 2004... Other games, including... "Dead Rising," were placed in the Index and confiscated by a Hamburg County Court decision of June 2007...

The German experience in World War II apparently is driving some of the concerns over violent video games:

Nonviolence and pacifism form the cornerstone of the modern German society, where the memories of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich are still vivid... A major cultural and moral dilemma in Germany is how to reconcile its determination to apply the lessons of the past to educating and protecting its youth, while remaining a free and open society.  

If the entire front cover of a video game box was covered by an age rating, do you think parents might notice?

A post over at GoNintendo shows what might be a new trend of plus-sized game ratings in Germany. An illustration at GoNintendo shows poor SpongeBob mostly obscured by the game's USK (Germany’s software rating organization) rating.

Curious, we checked out Nintendo’s German website and browsed through over three hundred games. We found only two that had the enlarged USK ratings: Wario Land and a math game for the DS. The rest were no larger than your run-of-the-mill ESRB, PEGI, or BBFC rating. 

The Marblehead Blog reports on a German ad campaign which uses edgy, Grand Theft Auto-like themes to promote Burger King.

The campaign's "Veg City" theme is centered around the idea of fresh ingredients and giving customers choices in ordering from Burger King's menu.

From the article:

The first thing to remember is this would never work in America. While GTA: Vice City is still the best selling PS2 game of all time, it came with its share of backlash... However, the German culture is quite different than ours and one has to keep in mind the intended audience when evaluating a campaign...

 

The [Veg City] website opens with a Vegas city style sign and fades into a true GTA-style map. Like most interactive ad sites, there are downloads, games, and a backstory.  Each part of Veg City has it’s own unique twist on the freshness and choice themes...

 In the video, the player is portrayed as taking out an old (i.e., not fresh) onion...