Remember the recent news that Dead Space has been banned in China, Japan, and Germany? Well, GamePolitics isn't buying it, saying the news doesn't pass the 'smell test' for a variety of reasons. Dead Space cleared both Australia's 'notoriously censorious' OFLC and the UK's BBFC (the same commission that banned Manhunt 2); Germany perhaps makes sense, but "Japan? The home of Resident Evil?"; and, oh yeah, the lack of any word from EA on the issue:
GP immediately contacted EA, with distinctly unsatisfactory results. The top PR dog didn't respond to our e-mail. Later in the day we tracked down the EA guy who is handling Dead Space PR, and put the question to him in two e-mails and a live phone call. Never got an answer one way or the other. EA doesn't know if one of their high profile titles managed to get banned in three countries? Sorry, not buying that. Or, they know but aren't saying? Unacceptable.
GP seems suspicious about the China news, too, asking "does EA even distribute console games in China?" (they do in theory) — but considering the government made Blizzard and The9 change the look of skeletons and dead bodies in WoW, it's not a huge logical leap to nixing sales of a game like Dead Space. Still, GP seems most disturbed EA's lack of knowledge — or unwillingness to share it — when it comes to the status of their game in at least three locales: "It's time for EA to put an end to this nonsense. If there is a multi-country ban, gamers deserve to know about it. If there's not, gamers deserve to stop having their chains yanked..." Dead Space Ban in Three Countries? We're Not Buying It [GamePolitics]