Posts Tagged ‘ban’

+Arabic, News, Playstation 3

Only in Dubai: God of War III banned and leaked فقط في دبي: لعبة “غود أوف وور” تُمنع وتتسرب بنفس الوقت

The God of War series has traditionally been banned in the UAE by the National Media Council, as it contradicts the country’s cultural beliefs and values. A direct result of such banhammers is that nobody actually cares except high street retailers, so people who actually want to play these games can get it from smaller shops or just import them directly from US or UK.

One of our readers in Dubai has shown his recently acquired copy of the game, a full week before official release date. A full week before the NMC even has a chance to ban the game.

Gamers 1 : Authorities 0

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+Arabic, News, Playstation 3, XBox 360

FFXIII leaked in Dubai تسرب ‘فاينل فانتسي 13’ في أسواق دبي

Update @March 4: Hours after our post below, Souq.com took down the listed FFXIII posts we’ve shown in the screen capture , but rest assured that other “similar” posts are back up again today! As for Dubizzle, they just removed the page we referred to  (Good thing we had the screen capture) but again, sharp eyes will always find other ways – or rather listings! Meanwhile, may small shops in Dubai are still selling the game in packs of 5 and 10 copies! We had an update from Kuwait that the shops over there did not import those leaked PAL copies because Kuwait is dominated by NTSC / American consoles, and this version did not leak yet!

Seems no one sticks to official global release dates nowadays, with many highly anticipated titles going on sale before the street date in various places around the world. Dubai is one such place, where online classifieds ads posted by various users, claim to have limited copies of original European Region 2 Final Fantasy XIII, with prices starting from $65.

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+Arabic, News, Playstation 3

Mass Effect 2 & Heavy Rain down the drain منع لعبتي ماس إفكت الثانية وهيفي رين

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s becoming a disturbing trend lately, that recent games are either getting banned outright, or are left out of this region completely. The decision to ban a game takes some time, so much so that some games are banned after they hit retail. A recent example of this was Mass Effect 2, which officially got the ‘Banhammer’ from the National Media Council yesterday! Yes, the game has already been out in stores since last month, and only now is it getting the ban. As usual, no official reasoning was given but I’ll go out on a limb and say it was the sex scenes that a player could reach, while pursuing romantic interests pretty late in the game.

Unfortunately the nude scene in Heavy Rain comes in fairly early on, so the NMC was quick to catch it and ban the game today. So, Darksiders, Dante’s Inferno, Mass Effect 2 and Heavy Rain; that’s 4 of the toppest tier games of this year that won’t be available in this region.

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+Arabic, News, Playstation 3, XBox 360

Darksiders gets the Ban Hammer in UAE لعبة داركسايدرز ممنوعة في الإمارات

Videogamers in the UAE will have to let go any hopes of playing THQ’s upcoming title Darksiders, as it was given the BANNED stamp and shall therefore not go on sale in the UAE. Although such games do not get an official explanation for being banning, they all fall under the clause “contradicts with UAE’s customs and traditions”. This ban increases the possibility of Darksiders being banned in the remaining Gulf countries as well. You can read our hands-on experience with Darksiders here.

لعبة داركسايدرز تتعرض للمنع في الإمارات

على اللاعبين في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة أن يبددوا عن أنفسهم أية أحلام بلعب Darksiders من شركة THQ، فقد حصلت على ختم منع التداول عليها، ولذلك سيحظر بيعها في دولة الإمارات. بالعادة لا يتم إعطاء أي تفسير من قبل سلطات الرقابة على المصنفات عن سبب منع كل لعبة على حدة، لكنه من المعتاد أن يندرج تحت بند واحد هو (التعارض مع القيم والعادات في دولة الإمارات العربية). هذا القرار يزيد من فرص منع اللعبة في بقية دول الخليج كذلك. يمكنكم الإطلاع على تجربتنا للعبة من هذا الرابط.

+Arabic, News, PC, Playstation 3, XBox 360

Modern Warfare 2 banned in Russia لعبة ‘مودرن وور فير’ ممنوعة في روسيا

The console version of Modern Warfare 2 has been banned, with all copies being recalled, in Russia due to the controversial ‘No Russian’ mission which depicts players as an undercover agent, helping out Russian terrorists in a airport lobby. Without spoiling the game, the Russian military is then shown as invading the US later on in the game.

To be fair, the first Modern Warfare was banned in most Middle Eastern countries as well since local terrorism was implied. While Infinity Ward has issued a patch for the Steam version of the game, which completely takes out the ‘No Russian’ mission, the console game will be re-released with that mission taken out within a month.

[Source: Hellforge]

‘مودرن وور فير 2 ’ ممنوعة في روسيا

تم حظر بيع وتداول لعبة ‘مودرن وور فير 2’ في روسيا وسحب جميع نسخها بسبب مهمة ‘No Russian’ أي (بدون روس) المثيرة للجدل التي يلعب فيها اللاعب بشخصية عميل سري يساعد إرهابيين روس في أحد المطارات، وبدون أن أطيل عليكم وأفسد اللعبة يظهر العسكريين الروس لاحقاً في اللعبة وهم يغزون الولايات المتحدة. احقاقاً للحق، منعت ‘مودرن ووفير الأولى’ أيضاً من دخول بلدان الشرق الأوسط لأنها كانت تلمح للأرهاب المحلي.

اصدرت شركة ‘إنفينيتي’ تعديل لإصدارة ‘ستيم’ يلغي مهمة ‘No Russian’ برمتها، ومن المتوقع إعادة إصدار اللعبة بدون تلك المهمة المسيئة خلال شهر.

+Arabic, News, XBox 360, Xbox Live

[Banhammer] Xbox Live ban from Forza 3 ’الحرمان من ‘اكس بوكس لايف’ بسبب ‘فورزا 3

News has been coming in since last night that people who’ve been playing illegal copies of Forza 3 (which was leaked on the net last week) are getting permanent bans from Xbox Live. Some people were getting emails from Microsoft of a one day or one week ban, but now it seems like the ban is permanent. The Xbox Live Ban Wave (as I like to call it) is sort of an annual ritual by Microsoft where they weed out the modders. If memory serves correct, the first wave happened when Halo 3 beta rolled out, the second wave happened around this time last year if Gears of War 2 was played before release. The ban, however, only affects the machine and not the account. So if you do get banned (you dirty little pirate you!) purchasing another Xbox (Arcade) is the quickest and most legit way to get back on Live.

[Pic source: GamersReports]

الحرمان من اكس بوكس لايف بسبب فورزا 3

تتوالى الأخبار منذ ليلة أمس عن تلقي كل من يلعب الإصدارة المقرصنة من ‘فورزا 3’ (التي تسربت لشبكة النت الأسبوع الماضي) بريداً الكترونياً من ميكروسوفت يخطره بحرمانه من دخول خدمة ‘اكس بوكس لايف ليوم أو أسبوع ولكن يبدو أن الموقف تدهور وصار المنع نهائي ودائم.

إعتادت ميكروسوفت إتخاذ هذا الإجراء -الذي اسميه ‘موجة حظر اكس بوكس’-سنوياً وعلى ما أذكر، فقد اتخذته لأول مرة عند إصدارة البيتا التجريبية من ‘هالو 3’ وتكررت مرة أخرى في نفس هذا التوقيت العام الماضي قبل إصدار ‘جيرز أوف وور2’ مع كل من لعب اللعبة قبل صدورها رسمياً.