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Just a couple of interesting snippets that I thought I'd relate here.

I recently discovered that in an early version of Gobliiins (which I obtained via less than legal means), two nude women appear at two points in the game. In the CD version, however (which I legally own), the women have been modified to be wearing bikinis when they appear. However, I never could figure out which version this earlier version was, and this thread was the only other place where I saw this issue being discussed.

In the Gobliins 2 disk version, Winkle calls Abel the tree-man a f*ggot, which in this context obviously means "a bundle of sticks" rather than the more widely used derogatory meaning. In the Gobliins 2 CD version, however, Winkle just calls Abel a pile of sticks.

I don't recall anything in the Goblin's Quest 3 disk version that got censored in the later version, but this might have been because Coktel Vision was officially part of Sierra by that time, which made sure that they kept the game as free of naughtiness as possible as it was being developed.

I've never played Gobliiins or Goblins 2, but I've seen plenty of games that use censorship. Indigo Prophecy, for example, was censored in the North American release, whereas the same game (called Fahrenheit) in Europe was not.

The censorship in that case was concentrated on a shower scene and a couple having sex. While those two cutscenes were not important to the overall plot, it annoys me that someone decided that gamers in North America couldn't see it. I have a feeling it had to do with large chain stores, like Walmart.

Walmart has stated in the past that it will not sell games that include nudity and sexual content. Their reasoning is that they're a "family friendly" store and their customer base wouldn't tolerate gaming of such nature. Unfortunately, since Walmart is such a large company (and has millions of customers), game publishers are willing to listen and adjust to their demands.

What's odd is that Walmart has no problem selling movies with both nudity and sexual content (they carry the "unrated" DVD versions of many films too). To add to my confusion, stores like Walmart are against sex and nudity in games, but they have absolutely no problem with extreme violence and gore.

How are Call of Duty 4 or Diablo II considered "family friendly"? Indigo Prophecy itself is centered around a gruesome murder and contains a lot of violence and blood. That's apparently okay, however, since the game was never censored on that count.

Finitely Americans can't stop to astonish me!

Obviously I'm generalizing, but the point you brought up, DeadPoolX, is very good. Fahrenheit had two sex scenes, both handled very tastefully, and some gore scenes treated - at least in my opinion - grossly. But somehow all the fuzz was about one full frontal nudity. Incomprehensible.

Not to mention the Longest Journey affair, delayed for a Lesbian character (at least this is what I heard)

DeadPoolX wrote:How are Call of Duty 4 or Diablo II considered "family friendly"? Indigo Prophecy itself is centered around a gruesome murder and contains a lot of violence and blood. That's apparently okay, however, since the game was never censored on that count.

Yes, the hypocricy is so thick it could stop a speeding bullet. In this country, gallons of blood and nonstop violence and gore are just dandy, but heaven forbid our young minds are exposed to the evil horror of what an unclothed adult body looks like.

We can chop the human body into tiny bloody pieces, just as long as we don't see it naked.

Akril wrote:Yes, the hypocricy is so thick it could stop a speeding bullet. In this country, gallons of blood and nonstop violence and gore are just dandy, but heaven forbid our young minds are exposed to the evil horror of what an unclothed adult body looks like.

And it's the opposite in Germany isn't it? I know for Half-Life they replaced the soldiers you fight and kill with robots. lol

I am not going to censor this thread, as I have no problems at all with the subject, but I am a little uncomfortable with the direct link to the Underdogs' forum. I will let the link stand this time since it is to the forum, not the main site. I have no moral objections to the abandonware concept, but want to stay on the legal side with this site. Please see the 4th post in this thread for more on the stand I will take on the subject of abandonware here. I won't call it a rule, but more of a request to not link to such sites. Please don't let this request dampen this thread or make anyone uncomfortable with posting here.

MusicallyInspired wrote:And it's the opposite in Germany isn't it? I know for Half-Life they replaced the soldiers you fight and kill with robots. lol

I remember hearing that Germany did the same with Soldier of Fortune 1 and 2. They replaced the human enemies with robots. The blood was even changed from red to green.

While we're on this topic, does anyone remember the differences between the Sega Genesis and SNES versions of the original Mortal Kombat? The Genesis cartridge displayed blood, while the SNES copy turned the blood white, so it resembled sweat more than anything. Interestingly enough, the fatalities remained on SNES.

Collector wrote:I am not going to censor this thread, as I have no problems at all with the subject, but I am a little uncomfortable with the direct link to the Underdogs' forum. I will let the link stand this time since it is to the forum, not the main site. I have no moral objections to the abandonware concept, but want to stay on the legal side with this site. Please see the 4th post in this thread for more on the stand I will take on the subject of abandonware here. I won't call it a rule, but more of a request to not link to such sites. Please don't let this request dampen this thread or make anyone uncomfortable with posting here.

While I agree with you, I'd have to say that The Underdogs usually disallows downloading games if they are currently for sale. I realize that copyright laws don't care if a product is selling or not. But the point is that The Underdogs isn't offering games for free that one could still purchase in stores or online.

All I ask is that there is no direct linking. Underdogs is one of the best of the abandonware sites. If such a site is mentioned, most should be able to find it if they choose. Remember, Google is your friend.

Collector wrote:I am not going to censor this thread, as I have no problems at all with the subject, but I am a little uncomfortable with the direct link to the Underdogs' forum. I will let the link stand this time since it is to the forum, not the main site. I have no moral objections to the abandonware concept, but want to stay on the legal side with this site. Please see the 4th post in this thread for more on the stand I will take on the subject of abandonware here. I won't call it a rule, but more of a request to not link to such sites. Please don't let this request dampen this thread or make anyone uncomfortable with posting here.

Okay, sorry about that.

NP. No need to let this thread die.

I've got the US disk version of Gobliiins but I don't recall seeing any nudity as a kid.. though maybe I just didn't make it that far in the game?

As far as censorship goes, I think it's pretty ridiculous, but I did grow up in a very conservative home (Southern Baptist.. they can be pretty hardcore). As a kid, my parents never talked about anything sexual at all. It's like that subject was voodoo. I never had "the talk" with my dad or my mom. Now I'm in my 30's, and while my parents are still pretty conservative, they've loosened up quite a bit, though sexual references are still considered to be poor conversation. I have a feeling it's that exact mindset that is the reason for such censorship. Up until a year ago, my dad would mute the tv whenever someone started cursing, but now he lets it go... only sometimes turning the volume down.

The internet in general is broadening minds and openness.