Freedom isn’t free, unless you’re willing for fight for it…and wait…a long time. After nearly two decades Doom and Doom 2 have been approved by Germany sensors and made publicly available in the country. The Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (Bundesprufstelle) obviously had a bone to pick with Wolfenstein 3D but their reasoning for Doom had long been, “drastic portrayals of violence directed against human or human-like beings”.
BBC reports the lift on the ban came after the ban’s expiration on August 31 and a majority vote to drop it. That’s right, some members of the board STILL wanted to uphold the ban and although this is a notable event in gaming history, according to Gamespot the North American version of the game is still unaccepted as it recycles levels from Wolfenstein featuring swastikas (so developer laziness is partially to blame). But the majority in favor vote felt the title had become “mainly of historical interest” as there are more bigger fish to fry with more detailed “portrayals of violence”.
Some of these modern targets include: Condemned 1 and 2, Dead Rising, Left 4 Dead 2, and Mortal Kombat 1, 2 and 3. While these games do depict more realistic violence it is unfortunate that gamers are outright denied quality titles in an age of unambitious titles.
When Doom does go on sale it will still only be sold to those over 16. It’s worth mentioning the GBA version of the game was approved long ago. Meanwhile in the land of the free the games are available on PC, PSX, SNES, SEGA SATURN, 3DO, JAGUAR, GBA, 32X, and Xbox Live Arcade. The game became a revolutionary step for first-person-shooters with it’s visual prowess, ludicrous violence, and lightning speed gameplay. Hey Bundesprufstelle! Welcome to the year 1993!
