There has been a bit of a bottleneck for gaming in China as the responsibility for games censorship moved from a government organisati to a Communist Party propaganda unit.
As the new organisations starts to work out its new remit it is hardly surprising that new censorship rules would appear. And now the new game censor has announced three new game themes that are now banned:
gambling games such as Mahjong and Poker
games that deal with the country's imperial history
games featuring corpses and blood--of any color.
Other initiatives include requesting publishers to change how their titles promote Chinese values and culture so that if they become popular around the world, they'll portray the country in a favorable light.
The new regulations also require developers and publishers to divulge more information about a given title including detailed scripts, screenshots, as well as what features are being included to help curb gameplay addiction and over-spending by
the country's younger population.
PlayerUnknown's Battleground is a 2017 South Korea Battle Royale by PUBG Corporation
Nepal Telecommunication Authority has directed all the country's ISPs to ban PlayerUnknown's Battleground, commonly known PUBG, a popular multiplayer internet game.
The Metropolitan Crime Division had filed a Public Interest Litigation at the Kathmandu District Court seeking permission to ban PUBG claiming that the game was having a negative effect on the behaviour and study of children and youths. The
district court gave permission to ban PUBG the same day.
Senior Superintendent of Police Dhiraj Pratap Singh, chief of the Metropolitan Crime Division said:
We received a number of complaints from parents, schools and school associations regarding the effect of the game on children. We also held discussions with psychiatrists before requesting the Kathmandu District Court for permission to ban the
game.
Iraq's cultural parliamentary committee has submitted a draft on April 13th, 2019 suggesting to ban PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The draft proposal would have to go through a draft review by parliamentary speaker Mohammed Al Halbousi.
The head of the culture committee, Sameaa Gullab, commented:
The committee is concerned about the obsession over these electronic games that ignite violence among children and youth. Its influence has spread rapidly among Iraq's society. We are proposing to parliament to block and ban all games that
threaten social security, morality, education and all segments of Iraqi society.
Iraqi media reported incidents of suicide and divorce related to the games during the last year. Local media reporting on the craze has claimed it has led to nearly 40,000 divorces worldwide and more than 20 cases in Iraq.
The parliamentary censorship call also cites the suicide game Blue Whale , which has been a problem for some regions for quite some time.
Iraq's parliament has voted to ban the popular battle royale games Fortnite and Playerunknown's Battlegrounds because of their supposed detrimental influence on the population.
A Reuters report says the ban was put into place due to the negative effects caused by some electronic games on the health, culture, and security of Iraqi society, including societal and moral threats to children and youth.
Reaction to the ban was widely negative, according to the report, but not because people are angry that they can't play Fortnite. They may be, but the real issue is that Iraqis apparently see the ban as a emblematic of the government's misplaced
priorities: While Iraq continues to struggle with sectarian violence, inadequate infrastructure, and political instability, the country's parliament has only managed to pass one piece of legislation since sitting in September 2018.
Sony has confirmed a new set of censorship rules toning down sexually themed games on the PlayStation 4.
A Sony spokeswoman confirmed the company has established its own guidelines 'so that gaming 'does not inhibit the sound growth and development' of young people. This is allegedly a result of executives at the company being afraid the sale of
sexually explicit games might hurt its global reputation.
According to the Wall Street Journal, One of their biggest concerns is software sold in the company's home market of Japan, which traditionally has had more tolerance for near-nudity and images of young women.
The Wall Street Journal points to two main reasons for the new policy based on its conversations with unnamed Sony officials. The first is the rise of the #MeToo movement. The second is the growing ubiquity of streaming platforms like Twitch and
YouTube where sexually explicit games coming out of Japan can find a global audience.
Sony is concerned the company could become a target of legal and social action, a Sony official in the U.S. told the Wall Street Journal.
The new guidelines are in contrast to Nintendo, which told the Wall Street Journal that sexually explicit games can be sold on the Switch as long they receive a rating from a national ratings agency.
An example of the news rules is the adult visual novel Nekopara Vol. 1 , which includes partial nudity and the option to pet female characters using a virtual cursor, released on Nintendo Switch last summer with a rating of Mature 17+
while the PS4 version was delayed until November. When it finally came out, fans reported several changes that made it less sexually explicit, including extra steam in bath scenes and the removal of a slider players could use in the other
versions to make characters' breasts jiggle more.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) is a Hunger Games -style competition where 100 players face off with machine guns and assault rifles until only one is left standing. It has become the most popular smartphone game in the world,
with enthusiasts from the U.S. to Russia to Malaysia.
And nowhere has resistance to the game been quite like India. Multiple cities have banned PUBG, and police in Western India arrested 10 university students for playing. The national child rights commission has recommended barring the game for its
violent nature.
One of India's largest Hindi newspapers declared PUBG an epidemic that turned children into manorogi , or psychopaths . There are dangerous consequences to this game, the Navbharat Times warned in a editorial, Many
children have lost their mental balance.
Local politicians, parents and teachers have expressed outrage over PUBG, arguing the game will spur violence and divert students from their academics. They've blamed the game for bullying, stealing and, in one Mumbai case, a teenager's suicide.
A local minister went so far as to characterize it as the demon in every house.
At a public meeting last month, a concerned mother complained to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about her son's addiction to mobile games. Is that the PUBG one? Modi shot back.
Iraq's cultural parliamentary committee has submitted a draft on April 13th, 2019 suggesting to ban PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The draft proposal would have to go through a draft review by parliamentary speaker Mohammed Al Halbousi.
Iraq's parliament has voted to ban the popular battle royale games Fortnite and Playerunknown's Battlegrounds because of their supposed detrimental influence on the population.
