Call of Duty 4 and Assassin's Creed has been banned over here. It seems that the religious police/ministry of information has finally caught up with the gaming scene.

The reason for this banning revolves around the game settings. In CoD 4, you fight a group of "Al Mujahedeen" somewhere in the Middle East (which, in the censor's eyes, is so wrong). Assassin's Creed is set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade... Enough said.

The reasons are, of course, strongly correlated with religious factors. God of War 2 (PS2) was banned as well. I suspect it got banned based on the name alone. On the other hand, violent games such as Grand Theft Auto 3 are sold in the open to everyone (children and adult).

Sometimes, things get out of hand. Back in 2001, everything related to Pokemon was banned. The reason, you ask? Some wacko came up with some insane stupidity claiming that the names of Pokemons are derived from Hebrew. Here are some examples from the claim:

Pokemon means "I'm a Jew"
Pikachu means "Become a Jew"
Charmander means "God is a miser"/"God is weak"

People here, in case you were wondering, have an aversion to Jews. Clear racism if you ask me. What many fail to realize is that Judaism is not merely a religion but more like an ethnicity/race/culture. You can have a Jew who is an atheist and so on. Ignorance is blind, I guess.

But I diverge, anyhoo.. back in the day, the Internet was relatively new and everyone just down believed it everything on it. The topic caught fire and it was only a matter of time before the religious authorities issued a statement of banning.

What's next in line? Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3) is a 'solid' candidate since there is a Middle Eastern-themed stage in the game. So, who knows?

If only these types of games were banned world wide... If you really want to play them, just eBay them. Done.

a.l.e.x59 said: If only these types of games were banned world wide... If you really want to play them, just eBay them. Done.

??? 

Wow! That is the dumbest thing I've heard all day.

 

I don't see what's so stupid about it.

MontanaHatchet said: I don't see what's so stupid about it.

 You think its ok to ban art?

 You think its rational to absurdly ban something based on paranoia and rabid anti-semitism?

 Please, I would like to hear why you think this is ok.

 

Games are art?

That's news to me!

MontanaHatchet said: Games are art? That's news to me!

Uhm.. Of course they are. Why wouldn't they be? That's like saying music and movies are not art.

Eye of the beholder, I guess.. but its surprising that someone who obviously like games enough to become a moderator on this web site doesn't think they are art.

 

IYADH (Reuters) - A Saudi court has increased the sentence given to a gang rape victim to 200 lashes of the whip and six months in prison and ordered disciplinary action against her lawyer for talking to the media, the lawyer said on Friday.

A series of erratic verdicts have focused attention on the Saudi legal system, much of which remains uncodified and which does not recognize the concept of precedent.

The 19-year-old Shi'ite woman from the town of Qatif in the Eastern Province was raped by seven men in 2006. A court had originally sentenced the woman to 90 lashes and the rapists to jail terms of between 10 months and five years.

The victim's lawyer Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem told Reuters another court had increased her sentence on Wednesday to 200 lashes and six months in prison. It ordered the rapists to serve between two and nine years in jail.

"The court blamed the girl for being alone with unrelated men, but it should have taken the humane view that it cannot be considered her fault," Lahem said, adding the case still has an appeal stage before the verdict becomes final.

He said the judges had also taken the unusual step of suspending Lahem from the case and initiating a disciplinary procedure that could see him barred from practicing law.

Lahem said the case highlighted deep problems in the Saudi justice system which rights activists hope judicial reforms announced this year by King Abdullah will help to solve.

"The aim of the reforms is to create a new judicial reality," he said.

Clerics who adhere to Saudi Arabia's austere Sunni form of Islamic sharia law dominate the legal system, with Shi'ite Muslims also judged according to Sunni Islamic law.

The state-affiliated Human Rights Commission says current efforts to codify the penal code will limit the chances of arbitrary sentencing by judges.


Yeah, I don't think some banned video games are Saudi Arabia's Biggest problem right now

*Laughs*

Well, how do you define art?

Can you define Rock, Pornography, or Beauty?

I can only think of one game developer who has ever been called an artist.