October 19, 2006
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The notoriously strict german Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) has decided not to age rate Epic’s highly-anticipated Gears of War for Xbox 360, Microsoft reports. The lack of an official USK rating means that Microsoft is not allowed to advertise the game, and shops are not allowed to display it openly.
The game will, however, be available “under the counter;” by now, committed German gamers are used to importing uncensored versions of games from cooler European countries. The USK has refused to give Gears an age rating (after several submissions from Microsoft) because of what it claims to be extreme violence.
Microsoft, after consulting Epic and the USK, says that a watered-down version of the shooter game is “not possible” without fundamentally changing the core gameplay. Such changes also would not have been compatible with other international versions on Xbox Live. Gears of War is the second major Xbox 360 exclusive to be denied a rating in Germany this year, after Capcom’s Dead Rising.
