I use "ban" for "beschlagnahmt", because the police raids confiscating them are only a part of the consequences of such a ruling. Their sale in Germany is actually banned, as is their import for commercial resale.

I use "blacklisted" for "indiziert" because non-German speakers will not have a clue what "indexed" means, and "blacklisted" is the preferred translation for my US clients anyway.

Thanks! I should have met (and asked) you years ago, this would have saved me from a lot of mental acrobatics. ;)

Remember those C&C cyborg armies? Yeaaah, how stupid that was. Especially when Red Alert came out. That made no sense whatsoever. That's when I started looking at imports from the UK. They didn't suffer from questionable dubbing either.

So that is the difference, never noticed ;-).

I found a better example than Die Hard:

Fahrenheit vs. Indigo Prophecy. This game was censored by the US publisher to avoid the AO rating. Otherwise Walmart and other important chains wouldn't have sold it.

Due to this practise in Germany, we complained that much, because the only way to get an uncut version was a costly import or piracy (at least in the time before play.com). This is also one of the reasons I like the "digital age" so much, I can just go to Gamergate and get all games there, even the oney confiscated in Germany.

Those cyborg armies have become cult in the meantime. It took some getting used to playing C&C with real people.

Much like Flatout's famed crash dummies and Wolfenstein's Wolfsclan. They've become so ingrained in German gaming culture.

Just as an aside, this was the report of the blacklisting of a game in the 1980s (roughly translated by moi):

"...glorifies and plays down the effects of war. As the applicant correctly emphasised, the player is intended to empathise with the role of an uncompromising fighter and destroyer. This is apparent from the game's instructions. Sniper-like qualities are demanded in the game. The shooting down of enemy targets is richly rewarded. The destruction of enemy tanker trucks, helicopters, fuel dumps or jets gives up to 100 points, the destruction of an enemy bridge up to 500. The use of violent force is rewarded; whoever destroys the most targets gets the most points and has the opportunity to be awarded the title "____". The game also downplays the effects of war because the war is not depicted in an objectively sober manner; war events are presented as automated happenings brought about by technical means and therefore deprived of any moral assessment. The horrors and suffering of an offensive war are not mentioned, nor are they implied in any fashion."

Don't know what game this is?

Really, you don't?

Here you go. The most horrifically violent game of the 1980s.

(For the record, the BPjM did quietly allow the game to be removed from the index when it was included in a retro collection and was rated suitable for children aged 6 and up.)

Well, I never got used to it. *shrug* Hence, after getting the German C&C version I got all subsequent releases in full English. Not to mention content was cut from the former and co due to self-censoring. I remember Red Alert starting out the Russian campaign with Stalin discussing the effectiveness of killing off regular people. Or the NOD missions in C&C where your directive was to kill civilians. It does change the tone of the games considerably when those almost essential parts get left out.

Though one of the most ludicrous censoring I remember was from LA's Indiana Jones 3 adventure game and its Nazi flags. I know why it was done, but it's still stupid in my mind. "Oh, yeah. See those flags in the movies? Not in the game!" At least the way they altered them was absolutely ridiculous. Blanks? Black squares? As if we didn't know what was supposed to go there? It was more of a farce than anything else.

censored cards from TW1 say hello.

censorship is insane everywhere.

I remember that one. ;)

Btw, it might be interesting to read the complete new report on Max Payne 1. According to heise.de, the new assessment seems to link the game to Film Noire (which makes sense) and ... Greek tragedies. ;) The perspective of the BPjM still seems oddly skewed, but this time in the other direction. ;)

Ahh... I see the problem.