Germany is up there with Australia when it comes to countries that are hard on violent games. However, both have recently been making strides to become a little more accepting. Apparently starting with the backlog, yesterday Germany re-rated Doom and Doom 2, giving both a 16+ rating where before they had been indexed by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons, which put them in the same restrictive category as pornography.
It turns out that 10 years after something is indexed, an appeal can be entertained and Bethesda, who aquired id back in 2009, figured they might as well try. Well, it worked. It seems that this isn’t just a lark either. The third Gears of War title has been granted a rating as well instead of being relegated to the index like the two previous games, and Microsoft is pushing Germany to reconsider the rest of the series. It seems that Germany might finally be lightening up on depictions of gratuitous violence, although when you put it that way, it seems a little bit weird to be celebrating it. Still, the Doom games are the historical foundation of the most popular video game genre today, so regardless of how much gibbing there is, there is certainly something to be appreciated there.
(via Joystiq)
