Shenmue 3 Changes for China

I usually think game "censorship" is taken out of proportion, but it's super weird to hear him say "oh no people will make a big deal out of this" about literally censoring Ryo's country of origin and the region of China he's in. That kind of is a big deal? I don't fault the game companies for having to do it, but it's still messed up.
 
it doesnt really surprise me, i mean China has a review board, a game ethics committee,
to make sure that every single game corresponds to the standards of the country.
no violence, no religious content, no drugs, no obscenity, no gambling, no content about the national security and so on.
with these kind of restrictions its almost impossible to release any imported game uncensored
even if its a game for teens in the rest of the world.
 
Don’t forget games aren’t officially allowed to show any form of death in China, including corpses, coffins, or skeletons. You’re also not allowed to do political stuff or historical themed seige themes, I believe. All types of blood, including fake purple, or green blood is also officially banned for games in China.

I dunno how they’re gonna censor the fortified castle portion of the game...
 
sporkaganza said:
I usually think game "censorship" is taken out of proportion, but it's super weird to hear him say "oh no people will make a big deal out of this" about literally censoring Ryo's country of origin and the region of China he's in. That kind of is a big deal? I don't fault the game companies for having to do it, but it's still messed up.
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Yep. As much as I like China, it's okay to admit some of this shit is ridiculous.
 
Usually the Chinese wouldn't sensor something like Shenmue, but I think they may be worried that this takes place in such a modern era, so I guess this would alleviate any worries/need to go through the game with a fine tooth comb. Otherwise the review process would take a lot longer.

To anyone reading this thread, don't misunderstand, this Isn't the case of the government censoring it, this is definitely a case of the publisher taking pre-emptive action so it can be released in china this decade without any holdups.

Chinese censorship usually only targets modern day era political statements/social commentary, and sexual content(sometimes extreme violence as well, but rarely so). With this game set in such a modern time, It doesn't count/it Isn't protected as a historical drama, so they're clearly worried about setting off alarms due to any possible political/social implications in the game.
 
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Shenmue 1 & 2 have never been released in Mainland China. As far as I know the Hong Kong version has not been changed.

Although it seems only the Chinese subtitles have been changed but you can still hear them say "Ke-Rin" or whatever Guilin is called in Japanese. It's the same word they constantly use in S2. Also the old dude talks to Ryo and says something with "Nihon" and believe me, 9 out of 10 Chinese people understand that word.

Also I wonder if they will change the word "Yokosuka" in the subtitles if it is said as that is an actual town in Japan. Also Ryo's name is clearly identifiable as Japanese to Chinese people. Will they drop his family name in the subtitles?

Anyway, I guess the Mainland Chinese version will be interesting in its own right.
:D
 
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hyo_razuki said:
Shenmue 1 & 2 have never been released in Mainland China. As far as I know the Hong Kong version has not been changed.

Although it seems only the Chinese subtitles have been changed but you can still hear them say "Ke-Rin" or whatever Guilin is called in Japanese. It's the same word they constantly use in S2. Also the old dude talks to Ryo and says something with "Nihon" and believe me, 9 out of 10 Chinese people understand that word.

Also I wonder if they will change the word "Yokosuka" in the subtitles if it is said as that is an actual town in Japan. Also Ryo's name is clearly identifiable as Japanese to Chinese people. Will they drop his family name in the subtitles?

Anyway, I guess the Mainland Chinese version will be interesting in its own right.
:D
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No they wont, people's names in of its self don't set off alarms at all. It's the setting that matters when it comes to that kind of thing, which thankfully they've been contempt with just changing the names of places in these types of situations, even though the scenes them selves are very uniquely Chinese.
 
Remember that Shenmue is about a Japanese man taking revenge on a Chinese man and he goes there to beat up some thugs, it can be quite offensive. You might think that's acting sensitive but China are very strict and a proud nation, they wouldn't allow the game to be published in their country if there weren't changes made.
 
Shenmue 1 and 2 weren't released in China, correct? But the series is fairly popular there, from what I've heard.

Shenmue Online was to be set in Hong Kong, so I guess that's a new rule.

Shame about the censorship, but I like the possibility of Shenmue 3 really taking off in China. Imagine the sales numbers that are possible in that market.
 
Lan Di-sama said:
Shenmue 1 and 2 weren't released in China, correct? But the series is fairly popular there, from what I've heard.

Shenmue Online was to be set in Hong Kong, so I guess that's a new rule.

Shame about the censorship, but I like the possibility of Shenmue 3 really taking off in China. Imagine the sales numbers that are possible in that market.
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Well Hong Kong was fairly recently just returned to China when the 1st Shenmue released, and despite having one of(probally was thee) biggest port in the world, Hong Kong is a mess(It's like a modern version of the wild west), and was more so back then.

Needless to say, the Chinese had more important things to do first.
 
Lan Di-sama said:
Shenmue 1 and 2 weren't released in China, correct? But the series is fairly popular there, from what I've heard.

Shenmue Online was to be set in Hong Kong, so I guess that's a new rule.

Shame about the censorship, but I like the possibility of Shenmue 3 really taking off in China. Imagine the sales numbers that are possible in that market.
Click to expand...
I have no idea if this is true, but I assume the amount of games taking place in rural China would probably number under 10.
 
For those who don’t care for the censorship apologism going around, here’s some articles about (the latest rules (as far as I’m aware)

www.eurogamer.net

China bans blood, poker and imperial history in latest video game crackdown

As anyone following the weird and wacky world of video game regulation will know, the games industry hasn't been having…
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

gizmodo.com

China's New Video Game Rules Officially Ban Blood, Corpses, Mahjong, and Poker

In late-December, the Chinese government ended a nine-month freeze on approving new video games after a major government re-organization shifted the approval process to the propaganda-focused State Administration of Press and Publication. We now have official details on the new restrictions and...
gizmodo.com gizmodo.com
 
R.I.P, Mr Bones.

y2mate.com-iiitgs_201cgkat.png
 
mjqjazzbar said:
I have no idea if this is true, but I assume the amount of games taking place in rural China would probably number under 10.
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Actually It's p
ShenmueTree said:
For those who don’t care for the censorship apologism going around, here’s some articles about (the latest rules (as far as I’m aware)

www.eurogamer.net

China bans blood, poker and imperial history in latest video game crackdown

As anyone following the weird and wacky world of video game regulation will know, the games industry hasn't been having…
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

gizmodo.com

China's New Video Game Rules Officially Ban Blood, Corpses, Mahjong, and Poker

In late-December, the Chinese government ended a nine-month freeze on approving new video games after a major government re-organization shifted the approval process to the propaganda-focused State Administration of Press and Publication. We now have official details on the new restrictions and...
gizmodo.com gizmodo.com
Click to expand...


I really question that. For blood, in extreme cases, like Doom, and Mortal Kombat would be instant banned, but I don't see them banning blood across the board.

As har as Mahjong goes, I'll believe it when I see it China. For those that don't know, Mahjong is basically in 60# of all movies china has ever produced in the history of movie making lol. As long as there's no real money option, I don't see that happening.

As far as Imperial rule goes, clearly that's not across the board, it must be referring maybe to the last emperor. Movies, Chinese anime, and yes games, especially the ones released in the orient(which because they are PC games, yes they weren't effected by the console ban, thus were released in china) are full of imperial based politics.

I mean we're talking about China, they literally created a genre, specifically full with such settings/scenarios(called Wuxia)
 
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