Is Madworld too violent for Japan?

By Spencer . May 16, 2008 . 1:06pm

Madworld is getting quite a bit of positive feedback in North America, but the bloody Wii game may not see a release in Japan where it is being developed. Sega got around to announcing their Platinum Games partnership in Japan and the official article states Madworld is only confirmed for Europe/North America. Regarding Japan, Madworld’s release is unconfirmed as seen in the parentheses. Furthermore, Madworld doesn’t have an official page while Sega has teaser sites for Bayonetta and Infinite Line (now with actual screenshots!).

The obvious reason why Madworld may only be released in the West is the level of violence in the game. While Japan has a number of CERO Z (AO equivalent) games these are typically censored. Decapitations were taken out of Resident Evil 4 and Dead Rising. Grasshopper Manufacture’s No More Heroes went a step further and removed all of the gore from their Wii game. It still got a CERO D (M equivalent) with floating black orbs instead of blood.

Yeah, Japan isn’t big on the “ultraviolence”.

If Madworld were to come out in Japan it would have to be censored on some level. Even then it would probably be rated CERO Z (unless Sega pulls a "No More Heroes") and to date Sega has not released a CERO Z game in Japan.

Images courtesy of Sega.

TAGS: Madworld, Platinum Games, Sega, Wii

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RoboSheep

Too bad for Japan I guess. It's weird though because a lot of Japanese movies are ultra violent.

Spencer

@Robosheep - Yeah, that's true, but for games not as much. It's an interesting dichotomy!

Guest

"too violent for Japan"
DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Aoshi00

Yeah, it's really weird, while anime and movies have much more graphic stuff, they cut out the Resident Evil 4 decapitation.. Actually it's seeping into anime too, w/ Bleach's lame black blood. I just tried out the DBZ Burst Limit demo on the PS3 last night, when Goku and Raditz were skewered by Piccolo's blast, only a puff of smoke (major lame), so much for believability..

EvilAkito

Too violent for the country that gave us Elfen Lied... Gotta love the way video games are always singled out like this.

meikiyou

when u play u interact more than qhen u only watch an anime or movie maybe that's the reasn why violent games which doesn't use cartoon mischief are seen with doubt and bad eyes by japanese people