17 Video Games Banned For Absurd Reasons

1.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow--This game was banned in Indonesia because it includes a fictional terrorist group that the country's president considered a direct threat to him and his people.

2.

In Homefront the gamer has to fight against a fictional North Korean military occupation of the US. The reason this game was banned in South Korea might sound crazy to most of us in the West, but we all have to admit that living below North Korea is no joke, and allowing such a game on the market might upset Kim Jong-un.

3.

What we have learned from Saints Row 4 is how incredibly conservative Australia can be, at least when it comes to video games. The game was banned because it features a weapon with the name "alien anal probe," which Australian authorities believe promotes sexual violence.

4.

Far Cry 3 is by far the best game of the series, but if you live in Indonesia, don't go looking for it because you won't find it. The game portrays life in Indonesia as unpleasant, and so it is banned there.

5.

God of War--Saudi Arabia holds its theocracy in extremely high regard, and this state-religion will not stand for competition, which apparently includes any game with the word, "God" in the title. This is why God of War is banned for blasphemy in Saudi Arabia and why the game's developers are permanently prohibited from ever entering the country.

6.

Mass Effect--Oddly, the fact that an alien was having sex with a human wasn't the reason for its ban in Singapore, but rather that the sex participants were both female and were therefore engaging in hot lesbian action, which Singapore hates. Singapore has no laws against intergalactic bestiality.

7.

Counter Strike--In 2008 the Brazilian federal court ordered the prohibition of all sales of the game because, in their opinion, the game brings imminent stimulus to the subversion of the social order, attempting against the democratic and rightful state and against the public safety. Basically, they consider Counter Strike a rebellious threat to the country.

8.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas--Ironically, the fact that this game is filled with graphic violence, drugs, and guns didn't bother the Indonesian authorities at all, but the protagonist CJ's no pants dance with his girlfriend did, and that is why the game was banned there.

9.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift--Let's get things straight here, 'BlazBlue: Continuum Shift' is just another fighting game (a la Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat), but its copies were pulled off store shelves in the United Arab Emirates and several other Middle Eastern countries because the local authorities felt that the game's characters were too raunchy and that their costumes revealed too much flesh.

10.

The Guy Game made history when it became one of the very few games in American history to get banned. The reason? Much of the game involves watching live-action video footage of sexy women in bikinis, and--as the player succeeds in the game--the women eventually expose their breasts, which is strangely against existing pornography laws in the US.

11.

Football Manager 2005--You're probably wondering how soccer, in video game form no less, could ever be banned. Well, in China, recognizing Tibet as an independent nation--even in a sporting event--is a very bad thing, so the game was banned as soon as the Chinese authorities found out about it. An edited version was later released worldwide where Tibet wasn't included as an independent nation, and China rescinded the ban.

12.

The Pokemon Trading Card Game was banned in Saudi Arabia because they believe Pokemon cards include hidden Stars of David and support Zionism.

13.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2--Well this game wasn't technically banned, but it was edited to the point that the original version doesn't look much like the Russian version. See, there's a Russian mission in the original game that was removed from the Russian version because Putin doesn't want Russian gamers shooting other Russians, even in a fictional, digital reality.

14.

Command Conquer: Generals--This is one of the weirdest cases... It's still unknown why China banned this game. The official excuse was that 'Command Conquer: Generals' portrayed the country in a negative light which, to be honest, is even more confusing since anyone who has played the game knows that China is portrayed as the good guys and one of the world's great superpowers. Maybe the Chinese interpreter couldn't get past the first level and then he lied to the Chinese Government about? We may never know.

15.

The Darkness--The Xbox 360 version of this game was originally banned in Singapore because it was thought to be excessively violent. There's mysteriously no ban on PlayStation 3 version of the game.

16.

EA Sports MMA--Scandinavian countries are known for being really progressive and socially open-minded, but they showed no tolerance for this game and banned it for the most ridiculous reason you could imagine--NOT for excessive, bloody violence, but for marketing specific energy drinks.

17.

In November 2009, the government of Venezuela announced that it would ban all video games in which the objective was to shoot people, and they made sure to keep their promise a few months later. The ban was due to widespread violence in the country, and Venezuela is the first country to ban all violent video games. Too bad for Venezuelan gamers.