Kotaku: Banned

Are China's Days of Cockblocking Console Makers Numbered?

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:30:00 EDT

Game consoles are made in China. But they cannot be legally sold in China. Game consoles are banned. This year, Lenovo is launching a game console in China. Funny, that. More »

A Compendium of Lame Excuses from the Banned

Owen Good — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 19:00:00 EDT

There's only so many ways you can blame your Xbox Live profile saying nasty or verboten things on someone else. The truly creative are able to depict it as something beneficial to society. Like breast cancer awareness. More »

Games Ban Might Encourage Somali Teens to Shoot Real Guns

Owen Good — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST

Somalia has a ton of problems, but at least it does have cybercafes where kids can enjoy playing games. But a fun-killing Islamist group has ordered them shut down in a ban on games in territories under its control. More »

Xbox Live Smashes Mass Banhammer on Pirates

Owen Good — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:30:00 EDT

"A small percentage" of Xbox Live users with modded consoles that allowed pirated games to play woke up to find an early treat in their Halloween bag: a banhammer. More »

Early Play on Illegit Forza, Borderlands Resulting in Permabans

Owen Good — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:00:00 EDT

Illegitimately obtained early copies of Forza Motorsport 3 or Borderlands, being played online over Xbox Live, have resulted in permabans for the accounts of offending players, Microsoft has confirmed. More »

Microsoft Swings Xbox Live Banhammer, Thousands Fall

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:40:57 EST

The forums trolled by Xbox Live subscribers are thick with accounts of bannings today, with what appears to be a broad sweeping set of Live accounts deleted, keeping thousands from accessing online gaming. At this point, we're not sure of the root cause — and neither, does it appear, do those affected — but there is rampant talk in the Xbox Scene forums, at least, about the abuse of pirated copies of games like Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty: World At War. It's all cleaned up "played early" and "back up copy" talk — thinly veiled "I pirated Game X before launch day" — amongst some users. More »

UAE State Enforces God Of War Ban

Mike Fahey — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:30:00 EDT

The Sharjah Municipality of the United Arab Emirates is having trouble keeping copies of God of War off the streets. The Sony game was banned for containing language and scenes that go against Islamic beliefs, notably the killing of gods, which I can understand, given the circumstance. Despite the bans, the game is still apparently easy to get hold of.

A UAE national said he was one of the people who was shocked to discover that the game was distributed in commercial areas, including the Central Souq, Al Rolla and sports shops in Nuammiya. "I knew that it was banned, but many of my friends were able to buy pirated copies from Dh5 to Dh10. I was shocked to see how much it contradicted Islamic values," said Khalid Bin Deemas, adding that it was dangerous as the video game was popular among children.

Manhunt 2 Continues Uphill Battle for UK Release

fdemarco — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:00:00 EST

Embattled Rockstar Games title Manhunt 2 got dealt another blow in the British Courts this week. As you know, the game was banned by the British Board of Film Classification for sale in the UK back in June, but Rockstar was able to revamp the game enough to get an appeal on the ban and convince the UK Video Appeals Committee to reclassify it with a new rating. But, it seems that the BBFC isn't ready to give up the fight just yet. More »

BBFC Manhunt 2 Judicial Review Is Go

Mike Fahey — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:20:12 EST

And the Manhunt 2 UK ban saga continues, as the British Board of Film Certification today announces that they have be granted permission for a judicial review of the appeal the Video Appeals Committee passed regarding the classification of the game. While I think we can all agree that no one cares about Manhunt 2 anymore, the unfolding drama could very well have an important effect on future, more interesting violent video games.

The BBFC was today given permission to judicially review the decision by the Video Appeals Committee to overturn the Board's rejection of the video game Manhunt 2. The Board has also been granted a stay on the classification of the game. It is expected that the case will be heard in January.

So even if the review does fail, the chance for UK gamers to pass by Manhunt 2 on the shelves is still at least a couple of months away. More »

Singapore Lifts Mass Effect Lesbian Ban

Mike Fahey — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:20:01 EST

It seems like only a couple days ago that Singapore's Media Development Authority announced a ban on BioWare's Mass Effect for the Xbox 360 due to hot, steamy, eye color-changing alien lesbian sex scenes. Perhaps between Monday and today they caught a glimpse at one of the clips of the scene online and realized it wasn't so bad. Perhaps the MDA got a little overexcited. Either way, today they've reversed said ban, allowing implied cross-species lovemaking to rain over Singapore like fairy dust, along with an M18 rating.

The Board of Film Censors (BFC) said in a statement on Friday evening that it will selectively use games ratings to 'enable highly anticipated games to be launched in Singapore' until it puts in place a games classification system in January.

Play Halo 3 Early, Get Banned

Mike Fahey — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:40:44 EDT

Barely an hour goes by without a tip popping into our magical Kotaku mailbox regarding broken street dates for Halo 3. Copies are appearing on eBay around the world, companies are shipping out their copies too early, and in some instances, people are just being asshats. UK gaming site Pro-G got their hands on a copy from high-street retailer Argos through their website, which this morning was allowing customers to order the game with an in-store pickup date of today. Before popping the game into their 360, however, they wisely contacted Microsoft. A rep for the company confirmed that anyone playing Halo 3 before the release date will have their Xbox Live accounts banned, going on to warn that simply playing offline will not work, as the moment you connect to live your play history will get you flagged for a ban. For those getting their hands on early copies, enjoy that new game smell...you've only got a week tops to wait!
More »

Banned in Singapore

Kim Phu — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:40:00 EDT

Not only was I born in Singapore, but I still hold my passport from there, so I think I'm allowed to say that they can be ~~retarded~~ overly-protective of their citizens sometimes. The Darkness is the newest game to be added to the list of games that have been banned in the country for excessive violence. This is another title from 2k that won't be seeing the light of day (at least legally) in Singapore since GTA IV has also been banned. Rumor also has it that Bioshock will be the next one on the Eurasian chopping block for the same reason. Like the slogan, "It's Uniquely Singapore". More »

Rule Of Rose Faces Opposition in Europe

fdemarco — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 13:12:03 EST

It seems that Rule of Rose is becoming Europe's version of Bully. Last week, the Mayor of Rome called for the game's ban and now it has escalated into a Europe wide issue. The controversy has even managed to make it to the front page of the UK Times right next to a story about prisoner abuse. The article comes with the shocking headline "Violent children's game investigated by Europe" More »

Canadian Teens Call for Bully Ban

Mike Fahey — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:17:12 EST

A couple of teenagers in Ontario Canada have started a petition to get Rockstar's Bully banned from store shelves. Katie Neu, 14, and 17 year old Robert Frenette met after he discovered the girl had written a book on bullying. Bonding over their personal experiences being picked on, the two decided to join forces against a common foe - a video game neither of them have played. More »

Major Nelson Banned From Xbox Live

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 07:22:39 EDT

Say it ain't so! One of the teams that handles tools for Xbox Live sits across the hall from Microsoft's Major "Larry" Nelson and banned the guy for funsies. Major Nelson writes: More »

Blizzard Revs up the Ban Wagon

kotaku.com — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 19:40:00 EDT

Blizzard has announced that they've banned over 5400 accounts and suspended 10700 others for gold farming, hacking, cheating, and other antisocial and unapproved behavior. In their announcement they specifically thank the informants who made it all possible: More »

Ecko Banned in Australia

lsmith — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 13:42:25 EST

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Atari's Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure was refused a rating from the Australian version of the U.S.'s ESRB. The Office of Film & Literature Classification granted Contents a 15+ rating back in November, but now that they've had time to think about it - they've decided the game promotes crime via graffiti. Sheesh, it's tough down under. More »

WoW Bans 18,000 Accounts

lsmith — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:40:40 EST

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On their site, Blizzard announced that they've "permanently closed" 18,000 accounts that were caught cheating, abusing game mechanics, botting for gold and generally breaking Blizzard's laws. By the numbers, that's a hundred or so people removed from each server — which isn't too bad. Too bad last night in Azshara I ran across the same gold farmer I've been seeing for months. More »

The "Real" Banned Xbox Ad

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 10:22:09 EST

There's a supposedly "banned" Xbox 360 ad doing the Internet rounds at the moment. Apparently, the edgy ad hasn't been banned by anyone, but instead hasn't been yet aired by gun-shy Microsoft due to possible controversy it could cause. The company has every reason to be weary. Three years ago, an Xbox advert was banned from British TV. The Independent Television Commission, having the power to ban unsuitable television spots, reported receiving a whopping 136-complaints (and what's the population of the UK again?) about the commercial. The ad portrayed a baby being born before fast-forwarding through adult life and slamming into the grave. In their ruling, the ITC said, "The man's screams throughout his life's journey suggested a traumatic experience, which, together with the remind that life is short, made the final scene more shocking." Msoft pulled the ad in Britain, but continued to play it in the country's cinemas. "The ad was supposed to symbolize that life is short and life is precious," replied a Microserf. Crecente just told me that this ad didn't offend him at all. And well, you know what they say, if it don't offend Crecente, then there's no need for British do-gooders to get their knickers in a bind. More »

Banned 360 Ad Rips Off College Skit

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:04:26 EST

A Bard College student just sent word that the banned Msoft ad currently making the internet rounds is a big ol' rip off of a year-old short film made by a Bard comedy troupe. Titled "Gym Class," the clip got tons of online play, and it looks like a Microserf has seen it (and copied the crap outta it). Jump in and judge fer yerself. More »