Dead or Alive Banned in Sweden

[cortjezter]

Dear Nintendo,

A few days ago i found out that this game would be banned in Sweden since it contains pornographic images of underage "character"!
I was utterly shocked. How can a big company like Nintendo just ignore its fans without even a fight!???
I mean seriously if companies dont fight back for nonsense like this soon we wont be allowed to play FPS for its to violent, and whats next women can not show hair? i mean we dont live in Saudi thank god
Its such double moral, just have a look at classic movie like Pulp Fiction and most movies nowdays, they contain so much sex (even very young people) or violent (SAW anyone?) movies that are released without a bip from anyone. Why?
i tell you why. The companies are behind them. No one dares to challenge them but as soon as games contains a hint of nudity or violent all these freaking women's right people (i am not against them but they do abuse their right) complain and game companies put their tails behind their legs and hide.
Why why why??? Please Nintendo i urge you to fight for your fans. Just because one SMALL group say they dont want this game released it does not mean the whole country agrees with that (i'm sure they dont even like or play games!). I truly dont know even how this was decided but if it helps i could send complain email to any Sweden organization i gladly do that but perhaps its more powerful if Nintendo could have a blog or list where people can sign their name or something and make their voices heard if they are against the ban. This way it would make it easy for you claim the opposite when some group complain to you.
After all we do live in a democratic country and if 10000+ people are against the ban while 10 people are for it its clear what decision Nintendo should take here.

I dont know what can be done at this point so please Nintendo reconsider your decision, i'm sure many people will support you in this fight!

ps. People who are sick and are pedophile can easily make a Google search so why isnt google banned ??? i doubt this argument will hold in any sane cort! a image of a cartoonist character that shows legs? i can see that every day passing a school , go and wonder!

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Adding some very good arguments also here from a great post at:
http://shoryuken.com/2011/05/23/dead-or ... in-sweden/

Many many good arguments there like post 60 or 62 and more:
"Get this, the legal age of consent here in Sweden is 15. ie if Kasumi, who is 17 in the game, was a real person you could legally have sex with her, no problem. But because photographing a “minor” video game character can apparently be labelled “child pornography” now – and this can apply even if she has clothes on in the pictures – I am actually more likely to get in trouble for posting DOA Paradise screenshots from my PSP than I would be sleeping with a 17-year-old Kasumi cosplayer. This entire situation is completely ridiculous "

As last resort just change the age of the character to 18! Lets see them fight that

[thresholdXCI]

How is the character a 'minor' if she's over the age of consent in Sweden anyway? Confused... Or is 'minor' a legal blanket statement for 'under 18'?

If true, I think it'd be wrong to ban it if the character is over the age of consent. But if there's a legal reason behind the banning in Sweden then there really isn't much to be done. Sure Nintendo could challenge it. but do you really think Nintendo (or any company) would risk appearing to condone anything even remotely related to paedophilia? It only takes a misleading headline or two and bam, company image in tatters. Especially damaging considering the type of people Nintendo predominantly target (parents of young families).

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Just cause they put a bad name behind this law doesn't mean its unquestionable! The more reason to question it and fight against it i think.

Not saying it shouldn't be questioned, I agree that by the sounds of it it's a stupid situation and a completely unreasonable ban. But one stray bad headline like, "Videogame publisher fighting for release of banned child porn game on 3DS" (or something snappier) could be incredibly damaging. That's why they probably won't risk it.

Unless they just change the age of the character in Sweden like you suggest they could. That's probably easier. Increase the size of her breasts too, for added convincing. Pretty sure Team Ninja won't object to the latter anyway.

[vampyren]

I see your point and if the article would come out in that way it would for sure make Nintendo look bad. On the other hand it could say Gaming company stands up for what is right or for gamers or something like that but i would guess it would be the first option if i know media right. They want publicity and trash sells more

Anyway it would be very funny if Team Ninja changed the age and made everything out of proportion (Lara craftish) like you say just to make the team who made the decision go nuts

Personally i wasn't planing to get this but it made me mad just to read about it, i actually emailed Bergsala.se also who i think is behind the decision.

just glad we do get Zelda over here (hope Nintendo DONT put short skirt on the princess now hehe), already pre-ordered

[Golbez]

Actually, it's been banned all across Scandinavia, it seems. So it's not just Sweden.

Anyhow, like thresh said, I think you have to pick your battles, and this one may not be worth it for Tecmo - regardless of how stupid it may be. They probably figure that if you really want to play it, you'll just import it. I know the 3DS is region locked, but you can still import from another European country, right?

Also, welcome aboard, vampyren!

[vampyren]

@Golbez: yes i found out it was for the whole Scandinavia which is even stranger. Funny thing is yesterday when we were in the mall i saw soooo many teenagers dressed so amazingly thin (lack of work) and explained the whole ban thing to my girlfriend and she couldnt believe it either. And she dont even play games
But anyway i think its one of those things i cant win. I did send a angry letter to Bergsala about it and they responded politely that it was Nintendo Europe who decided on the ban. The one thing i really want to know was who in gods name even brought up the whole idea about child porn. Its sick to even think in such way. I mean if 1 person mention child porn its crazy that a big company backs down. Any way i had to ventilate my anger some how
I'm not looking forward to many other wonderful games like Zelda, RE, Mario,Ninja Gaiden myself.

By the way thanks for the welcome

[MasterofMonster]

Personally... what tha' hell is wrong with the people making there kind of Laws?! It's GAMES.
Sad when things like this in games gets more attention than Real-Life 'child-porn' etc...

[vampyren]

Well sadly there are small group of people who like to make noise and make it hard for people enjoying their passion = games.
Just see how the reset PETA crap made everyone react, that was toward a much bigger game (Mario) so more people reacted and fought back. As a result PETA came up with a lame explanation saying ooooh it was a big joke. Its total bullshit of course. They tried to save face but it was to late.
This game isnt that popular so no one cared to bother complain to Nintendo nor Bergsala or i'm sure they would change their mind.
I actually dont care about the game neither but i just got pissed about the whole ban thing since its so stupid.

[LegendofZelda1996]

Personally... what tha' hell is wrong with the people making there kind of Laws?! It's GAMES.
Sad when things like this in games gets more attention than Real-Life 'child-porn' etc...

I think the people making the laws think that children are more attracted to video games than the internet (where there is real like porn and stuff) when in reality, children are equally attracted to both video games and the internet.

[vampyren]

So true, also dont forget movies. Every now and then i watch a movie (usually horror movies) where i get totally shocked what they allow to show in term of unnecessary violence and scenes with children.....
But no one dare to question the big corps.