Previously reported several months ago, when future plans were first
unveiled.
Distribution of 'Mafia' is now imminent.
I applaud the efforts of the Italian police. Hope the ban becomes a
reality,
and would love to see Italy attempt to enforce such a ban throughout
the EU.
The big question is, what can we in the US do to prepare for something
that
could rival the evil effects of 'The Sopranos'??
[This is reported in the Prague Business Journal because Illusion Softworks
is
based in Brno, in the Czech Republic.]
==============================================
ITALIAN POLICE POISED TO SHOOT DOWN COMPUTER GAME "MAFIA"
by Mr. Vladimir Kuchar
Prague Business Journal
18th Mar 2002
A computer game Mafia: City of Lost Heaven, developed by Brno-based
Illusion
Softworks, has raised the ire of the Italian police who say that it's
nothing
less than a manual for becoming a criminal.
Italian police are trying to ban the game, which Illusion Softworks
is
preparing for worldwide launch by the end of this month. President
of the
national anti-mafia police section Roberto Centaro told the national
newspaper Il Giornale: "I'll do anything I can to ban the sale of the
game in
Italy. This is a proper instruction book for wannabe Mafiosi."
Former interior minister Carlo Taormina said: "When it comes to Mafia,
one
simply cannot take it as a game. There's really nothing to joke about
here."
The game, set in the 1930s takes place in Lost Heaven, a fictional American
city loosely based on New York. It tells the story of a taxi driver
who
becomes a member of a mafia family. The cabbie enters the world of
bootlegging, racketeering and bloody mafia infighting as depicted in
the
series of screenshots.
Although only the game's developers have had a chance to play the game
so
far, the problem in Italy arose from the headline on the packaging
for the
Italian market, which says: "The instruction manual for wannabe Mafiosi."
But the distributor of the game in Italy, the company Cidiverte, says
that
police are simply taking the game too seriously. "The video game is
aimed at
adults, who should be capable of distinguishing between reality and
fiction,"
said Pietro Vago, head of the company. "We think that there has been
an
overreaction from the politicians."
Mafia will hit U.K. stores at the end of March. "We are unaware of any
problems internationally with the game, and we've got no issues with
it
whatsoever," said spokesman for Mafia's U.K. distributor Take 2.
Illusion Softworks expect the game to be an even bigger seller than
its
previous hit, Hidden & Dangerous, which sold over 400,000 copies.
As for the controversy, Illusion Softworks representatives in Brno shrugged
it off.
"Only someone who hasn't seen the game yet and doesn't know what it's
all
about can say that. Mafia isn't promotion or a manual—this is absolutely
outlandish," said Daniel Vavra, the game's lead designer. Vavra also
confirmed, that the slogan on the box that has drawn so much criticism
was
created by the local Italian distributor and that the international
slogan
for the game's packaging hadn't been decided upon.
"I admit that the title of our game could be problematic in Italy. There
is a
strict embargo on the word 'Mafia.' We can easily rename the game,
for
example, to Cosa Nostra," said Petr Vochozka, CEO and co-owner of Illusion
Softworks.
But, he admitted, "Italian politicians are providing us with excellent
advertising, surely worth millions of crowns."
It's not the first time computer game developers have run into problems
related to their products.
The game Return to Castle Wolfenstein, for example, faced a ban in Germany
because it included Nazi symbols. The ban was avoided when the game
developer, Activision, altered the symbols.
Czech game developer Bohemia Interactive Studios sold over a million
copies
of Operation Flashpoint, which depicts armed conflict at the end of
the Cold
War. It had to change the game for the German market because of tough
regulations governing the depiction of violence, specifically blood,
which
had to be shown as green.
