Brazil bans Counter-Strike and Everquest

[Komb.at]

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/21/brazil-bans-counter-strike

thoughts?

I think it's totally nuts. My poor english vocabulary isn't huge enough to express my anger about the ignorance of the people involved in this ban .... :doh:

one doh isn't even enough .... :doh::doh::doh:

[Sang]

GEEKS throughout Brazil are expected to flee the country

Hah! Not likely. They're just gonna have to live with it. Or maybe protest or something (but that will not work), but a mass emigration.. naaah :p

[Komb.at]

It's not like they can somehow control the gamers. CS can be bought online, it's played online, and there's no real common master server that could be blocked by their ISP's... i have no idea how this "ban" is going to work ...

[Yatta]

It'll just be banned from stores. Not a big deal at all considering most people just buy that game from Steam anyway. In fact it's stupid to buy a boxed copy because it'll have outdated files and you'll end up re-downloading the whole thing off Steam again.

Now if it was a single player game, then having the manual and CD wouldn't be so bad--but it's not! :)

[avatar_58]

Actually steam has to follow local rules. It can ban the game's sales on steam. Everquest can ban by location. I'd LOVE to see what they *think* they can do to paying customers. If they banned purchased games/subscriptions then that would cause a major revolt.

[Komb.at]

Cool, i didn't know Valve can deaktivate games by country... but it makes sense of course. It will propably just lead to unnecessery pirating.

[hanged_man]

Great news. next step, WOW ...i just wish they ban CounterStrike here in my country, people still play 1.1 version for very very veryyyyy long hours and they have no idea of other great multiplayer titles and dont even wanna know, as if they are brainwashed or something

[Water12356]

sigh, that sucks to be them.

[NutWrench]

The ban was ordered in October 2007 by a Brazilian federal court Judge, Carlos Alberto Simoes reckoned the games, encouraged "the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security." At the time most people thought he was joking.

I came to this thread to hear an official say something stupid. I was not disappointed. :D

[Echo Black]

I'm from Brazil, a lot of misinformation going on around the net regarding this one. There's nothing really confirmed nationwide, as far as we're concerned this only applies to a single state so far. EA has stated they will pull the game off shelves as early as Feb. if possible (read: necessary), but people that already own the game cannot legally be stopped from playing. They could force brazilian servers to shut down, but Steam would still work normally. Also, a ban from LANs is possible because the players don't actually "own" the products, since it's an entertainment center.

EDIT: I'm actually a little depressed knowing how quick people are to speak their uneducated minds on subjects they don't know about. At that Inquirer link, this comment:

Ridiculous
This is really really stupid. Brazil's favellas are among the most dangerous places of the world. People get killed over there everyday, for no particular reason or sometimes to steal their organs. You can get your hands on drugs just as easily as on sugar, and those people probably never even saw a video game.
posted by : Alexko, 21 January 2008

Made me cringe. Organ theft? "Getting drugs as easy as getting sugar?" People must think Brazil really looks like it was depicted on that Simpsons episode. :rolleyes: The favelas in Rio are indeed in a state of constant armed feud, but this doesn't apply to the entire country at all.

[CommanderZx2]

I'm from Brazil, a lot of misinformation going on around the net regarding this one. There's nothing really confirmed nationwide, as far as we're concerned this only applies to a single state so far. EA has stated they will pull the game off shelves as early as Feb. if possible (read: necessary), but people that already own the game cannot legally be stopped from playing. They could force brazilian servers to shut down, but Steam would still work normally. Also, a ban from LANs is possible because the players don't actually "own" the products, since it's an entertainment center.

EDIT: I'm actually a little depressed knowing how quick people are to speak their uneducated minds on subjects they don't know about. At that Inquirer link, this comment:



Made me cringe. Organ theft? "Getting drugs as easy as getting sugar?" People must think Brazil really looks like it was depicted on that Simpsons episode. :rolleyes: The favelas in Rio are indeed in a state of constant armed feud, but this doesn't apply to the entire country at all.

Awww, don't go painting pretty pictures of Brazil. We need nasty countries to exist to make our own look better.

[Echo Black]

Awww, don't go painting pretty pictures of Brazil. We need nasty countries to exist to make our own look better.

I don't understand what you mean. Are you implying I'm lying?

[Hudson]

I believe it was an attempt at humor.

[CommanderZx2]

I don't understand what you mean. Are you implying I'm lying?

I was agreeing with you.

[Wooloomooloo]

Not a big deal at all considering most people just buy that game from Steam anyway. It's Brazil we're talking about, so you should replace "buy from Steam" with "pirating". :P It's one of the reasons such measures never work here*: the only thing more difficult than controlling legal game sales is controlling illegal game sales.

*I'm brazilian.

[Marcos_Edson]

Hey, nice to see some fellows here! :D

the only thing more difficult than controlling legal game sales is controlling illegal game sales.

Specially if it's for PS2... :dopefish:

On the matter of hand, it seems that Jack T... whoops, I mean that sooooo smart Brazilian judge based his decision on a custom made old map, depicting police vs. bandits, not even the game's original content... :doh:
Funny enough, a game based on BOPE (a local police elite squad) seems to be in the making... :p
But his bit on "EverQuest" is the "best": "(the game) leads the player to total disparagement (probably bad translation here...) and "heavy" psychologic conflicts, because the tasks he gets can be either good or evil."
Oh, boy... :cool:

Edit: Oh, yes, a visit to the nearest newstand revealed some nice educative games untouched by bans: Guard Shield (some America's Army like title), America's Army itself, Terrorist Takedown (how many of these there are, anyway?), Soldiner (sp?), some arcade game where you can recreate Pearl Harbor and so on... :D

[Destroyer]

i dont get why CS is considered to be so violent?
its not nearly as violent as many other games.

[Echo Black]

PC games are actually priced very competitively here (they're manufactured inside the country and have actual publishers). I got my Crysis for 90R$, not all that higher than its price in US$ (and the Real is a much weaker currency). Console games, however, are priced absurdly (import only as far as I know), and tend to be pirated like crazy. Not saying PC games aren't, it's just that consoles are much more pirated around these parts.

[Karthik]

Curious but are your locally pressed games censored Echo? Cause in my country EA actually removed all the profanity and reduced gore/blood level for Crysis.

[ShadeEX]

Yay for censorship /sarcasm

sigh :doh:

[Echo Black]

Curious but are your locally pressed games censored Echo? Cause in my country EA actually removed all the profanity and reduced gore/blood level for Crysis.

Nah, they're identical to the NTSC version. Packaging and everything (Though manual and the text in the back of the case are in Portuguese).

[Wooloomooloo]

PC games are actually priced very competitively hereThat may be true for newer games, but take GTA San Andreas and Vice City, for instance. Both are old games but their PC versions still cost the same as Crysis over here. You can buy the whole GTA package on Steam a little more than half the price of GTA: SA or VC. :p

[Echo Black]

That may be true for newer games, but take GTA San Andreas and Vice City, for instance. Both are old games but their PC versions still cost the same as Crysis over here. You can buy the whole GTA package on Steam a little more than half the price of GTA: SA or VC. :p

Indeed. But good stores lower their prices accordingly, after release.

[The Red Slaughter]

either good or evil.

That judge better stay THE HELL AWAY from Fallout, or I'm going to embark on a one-man war that will result into the death of the presidents and a entire country aflame!!! :mad::mad:

That judge should, honestly, be shot. Repeteadly. Ad infinitum. We already have enough idiots in the world, we don't need a idiot as a judge.

[Blue Lightning]

Correct me if I'm wrong Echo, but Brazil banned Duke Nukem 3D back in '97 because some guy went on a shooting spree in a movie theatre, and it was found that he played Duke...and of course the very first level of Duke 3D "Hollywood Holocaust" takes place in a movie theater.

[Dave-ros]

Ah yes, I remember reading a news report about that -- they said he put a single bullet in the toilet mirror, because "in the game, mirrors can be broken to reveal ammunition and bonuses" or words to that effect. Er, WTF?!?!? Do your research first, hacks! :doh:

[Blue Lightning]

Yeah, it was 1999 though. And it happend in Brazil's capital, Sao Paulo.

Here is a quote I found on google from a Sao Paulo news source:

Local news reports on Thursday quoted police as saying Mateus da Costa Meira, 24, a computer devotee, may have copied a scene from a popular three-dimensional game "Duke Nukem," when he killed three people and left eight wounded in the theater at a posh shopping mall in Brazil's biggest city.

Obviously, video games do not make people do such things. I have found out through reserching that most of these people use anti-deppresents (or other drugs) and go nuts. Then of course the video game gets the blame.

[Wooloomooloo]

Brazil's capital is Brasília.

[8IronBob]

Plumb straight... I'd expect bans on more violent games than that, like Postal 2, GTA San Andreas, or Manhunt, or something, but Counter-Strike? Wonder what makes CS that much more violent than those...

[Karthik]

Yay for censorship /sarcasm

sigh :doh:
Actually, Malaysia itself doesn't have a board of censorship for games. EA took it upon themselves to edit the game. Other games from other publishers which are locally pressed are uncut. And also we tend to get the US version as the UK/International version has sex scenes(ie. Fahrenheit and The Witcher).

[Blue Lightning]

I'm just glad America has not banned any games yet because of content. Mabey there is a little freedom left here.

[Komb.at]

I'm just glad America has not banned any games yet because of content. Mabey there is a little freedom left here.

That's because noone had the balls yet to produce a game with excessive amounts of bare titties :D

[Dave-ros]

You guys didn't get the unedited version of Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, did you? Okay, bad example, as even with boobies it still sucked :o

[Reaper]

Also, Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit) was censored in the States.

[Dave-ros]

Not Fahrenheit 911, that was a Michael Moore film -- but point taken :p

You ought to see the final sex scene, it's actually got bare boobies, and not just writhing bodies where you can't see anything explicit like the other one :eek:

As an aside, it's odd that the game is called Fahrenheit when, due to it being a European game, all the plummeting temperatures are given in Celsius :doh:

[Karthik]

Yeah, I mean they could have named it Kelvin in the US.

[Malgon]

Not Fahrenheit 911, that was a Michael Moore film -- but point taken :p

You ought to see the final sex scene, it's actually got bare boobies, and not just writhing bodies where you can't see anything explicit like the other one :eek:

As an aside, it's odd that the game is called Fahrenheit when, due to it being a European game, all the plummeting temperatures are given in Celsius :doh:

Celsius just doesn't have the same ring to it. ;) :p

[Dopefish7590]

No games banned here yet. :D

I feel sorry for a few brazillians. =\