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[Pot Meet Kettle]

So:

• There are a couple of sources (including one from Niche Gamer, which was privy to some exclusive details on this subject before) talking about how Sony's recent censorship policy is the way it is now because of "a pair of SJWs [who] are now part of [Sony's] standards and practices office." The refusal to write the guidelines is intentional, and the justification is because it "might trigger someone" and be a "micro-aggression." Forget about Nintendo of America comparisons, this is reaching Victorian puritanism degrees of ridicule when even the censorship policy isn't allowed to be discussed in private with the censors in clear terms with enough information given to the publishers.

• The really interesting part is that this rumor indicates Western games too have started to get affected by this censorship policy. There was before some speculation about how strange the fades to black in sex scenes for Red Dead Redemption 2 felt, but the incident this rumor refers to is far more tame content. According to this Ubisoft was denied cert for Assassins Creed Origins (October 2017) over background female civilian NPCs, so they had to do content cuts. This might be about killable female characters in sandbox games. This one incident if true would take one of Feminist Frequency's videos and use that as a guideline to deny an AAA Western game a release on Sony systems, and would explain the interesting trend of invulnerable NPCs as of late on AAA games for some special story events, the absolute lack of consequence for Nadine (supposed a villain) in Uncharted 4, among many other things.

In other news, comes Persona 5, which datamining already uncovered Sony forced Atlus to remove scenes from its Japanese version (Late 2016) from the Kaneshiro arc, the "problematic content" being text lines that were used just fine on normal TV stations in Japan for the anime adaptation.
Persona 5 is receiving an expansion so far exclusive to the PS4, and resetera is already asking not only for Ryuji's harassment scene to be removed, but for even more scenes like Ann to be purged, and asking whether Atlus "cleared up the new girl phantom thief costume with Sony USA."
Some say Atlus was among a few veteran Japanese big publishers to throw their weight around and push back against Sony's censorship, but it remains to be seen how for sure is that as the situation evolves.

The Mortal Kombat 11 developers are adjusting their creative vision to appease their own political sensitivities, and they think this means the middle finger is less offensive than the OK sign because supposedly it was "coopted by 4chan as a white supremacy sign", initially an internet hoax to breed conspiracy theories against celebrities for fun, but something some parties want really hard to make a reality.
About that, I'm sorry but this doesn't count as censorship since they fully embrace this and weren't forced by Sony, or blackmailed by game journalists into doing. Neither does the Wakanda ending. More interestingly, these things aside, they are doing a damn good job shooting themselves in the foot with really hostile comments aimed against the audience unrelated to the over-political elements of their vision, and mind-boggling esport tournament rules where you can be banned for pretty much anything. MK12 will be really interesting in an increasingly niche gaming genre, how will they outdo themselves with that one? Food for thought.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Nazis, Fascists, Communists, Spanish, Catholics all censored material to push their own agenda and In every single example, it backfired on them and held back the progress of a society.

Censorship online regardless of reason, is no different from the censorship of science during the mad eras of Christianity.

Censorship is never a solution.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Nintendo removed pro-trans stages in Smash Ultimate to make a statement that they want to keep the game non-political.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

In other news, comes Persona 5, which datamining already uncovered Sony forced Atlus to remove scenes from its Japanese version (Late 2016) from the Kaneshiro arc, the "problematic content" being text lines that were used just fine on normal TV stations in Japan for the anime adaptation.
Persona 5 is receiving an expansion so far exclusive to the PS4, and resetera is already asking not only for Ryuji's harassment scene to be removed, but for even more scenes like Ann to be purged, and asking whether Atlus "cleared up the new girl phantom thief costume with Sony USA."

Does the Western release of Persona 5 remains intact or it has been censored now? I need to know.

 

[JunkerWoland]

Not really censorship, but the latest patch to DoA6 stealth added an Exposure Minimization toggle, which poorly obscures female characters' cleavage and thighs with a black wrapping. On the other hand, US & EU customers on PS4 and everyone on Steam aren't allowed to purchase individual costumes, only expensive costume packs and season passes. But hey, at least now players can use the sexier outfits at tournaments, while also making the game look absolutely ridiculous. (source: One Angry Gamer).

Does the Western release of Persona 5 remains intact or it has been censored now? I need to know.

The existing Japanese & Western releases of Persona 5 have content parity, nothing's been altered in the international version.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Does the Western release of Persona 5 remains intact or it has been censored now? I need to know.

If this is about the PS3 version, the censorship happened for the JP version (late 2016) for segments in the first and third acts of the story (found out after datamining). To Kotaku's great dismay, the NA version of that hardly removed anything, aside from rewriting the dialog of a foreigner learning Japanese to be less broken. A main reason behind Atlus' hands-on no translation changes policy was an earlier mess up with Tokyo Mirage Sessions caused by Nintendo Treehouse's interference in the localization process, which Atlus didn't want to associate with.
A South Korean version did include some visual edits like Ryuji's shoes and misc Japanese imagery. No idea about the Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong, Taiwan) version.

This is a different release, released in a different time where Sony's censors got even bolder, so there's no telling what could happen.
Some significant cuts already happened in the trailer compared to the original game:

• Cognitive Ann in Kamoshida's boss fight, a version of Ann with a bikini, was replaced with a cognitive Mishima (that would then be reused from his actual introduction). This might mean Ann's entire introduction at Kamoshida's palace might be heavily censored, or even the sexual harassment plot altogether in favor of an abusive sport teacher plot
• No female legs in Kamoshida's goblet

Not content with the cuts, Resetera is calling directly for Sony to intervene and force Atlus to change the new character's design, and remove the scenes Kotaku and Resetera wanted removed the first time and then some more "problematic tropes" and add various of their requests in the name of "making amends for the series and the director's sins" (the Tomodachi Collection tactic of getting offended at the absence of content they want to see, but more toned down)

New would-be Sony localizers tried as usual giving their unsollicited character designs to Atlus... or rather Sony USA in this case. Thankfully, it backfired big time as the resetera censorship brigade is getting instead mocked on twitter, and it's becoming a meme of its own.

Some of the original outrage tweets, trying the Pyra coverup method:


Since there's still too much skin shown and exposed neck skin might be sexual, someone suggested an even more complete coverup.

Spoiler

Choice reactions:

 

[JunkerWoland]

And on the lighter of side of insanity, a Sony representative in Japan spoke to the site Game Spark and denied the new content restriction rules, while then stating executives now check games against an unspecified global standard (source: Game Spark). Just so everyone is clear, Sony doesn't maintain guidelines on sexual content, they just maintain guidelines on the global standard. Glad they cleared that up.

Takashi Mochizuki, who wrote the Wall Street Journal article about Sony's crackdown on sexual content, summarized the Game Spark article in the following tweets.

Tweet 1:


Tweet 2:


Tweet 3:

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Pot Meet Kettle

Wait a minute? Robaato lambasted the SJW freaks? Robaato?

The same Robaato that his average picture on DeviantArt amasses 3000 favourites?

https://www.deviantart.com/robaato An example:

 

[Claus Grimhildyr]

Pot Meet Kettle

Wait a minute? Robaato lambasted the SJW freaks? Robaato?

The same Robaato that his average picture on DeviantArt amasses 3000 favourites?

https://www.deviantart.com/robaato An example:

Who are the two girls in the back?

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Some Randoms I think.

 

[Claus Grimhildyr]

Some Randoms I think.

Ah, okay. Thought they may be fighters that I forgot about.

 

[JunkerWoland]

Who are the two girls in the back?

While they aren't fighters, the two are sisters Hoimei and Shaomei, childhood friends of Yun and Yang.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

SJW's are getting all outraged over Kasumi Yoshizawa's phantom thief outfit in Persona 5 Royal and demand that Atlus should cover her up MK11 style.

 

[Endless Fluff]

It was to be expected that they're trying to sink their teeth into P5R. They mostly failed hard to do any harm to the original game back then, they hate it and now with the different climate at Sony I see them succeed and I wouldn't be surprised if Ann's bewb window (among other things) is getting removed as well.

That right there are the "social actions" the WSJ mentioned Sony is afraid of.

 

[Majukun]

Some of the original outrage tweets, trying the Pyra coverup method:


Since there's still too much skin shown and exposed neck skin might be sexual, someone suggested an even more complete coverup.

Spoiler

to be honest i prefer the right version..the left one looks like she forgot to put her pants on XD

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

And on the lighter of side of insanity, a Sony representative in Japan spoke to the site Game Spark and denied the new content restriction rules, while then stating executives now check games against an unspecified global standard (source: Game Spark). Just so everyone is clear, Sony doesn't maintain guidelines on sexual content, they just maintain guidelines on the global standard. Glad they cleared that up.

Takashi Mochizuki, who wrote the Wall Street Journal article about Sony's crackdown on sexual content, summarized the Game Spark article in the following tweets.

What a "denial". This is basically a confirmation.

That right there are the "social actions" the WSJ mentioned Sony is afraid of.

Afraid? Sony San Mateo folk are hanging out at resetera (their older cozy relationship with mods is no secret) and retweeting their bullshit on twitter. They are hoping for these cuts and going out of their way to do them, even for games without sexual content.

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

In no way does California represent a "global standard" unless it is a "global standard" of self absorbed post-feminism hysteria.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

to be honest i prefer the right version..the left one looks like she forgot to put her pants on XD

She's a gymnast though, so those leggings will likely just rip apart

 

[JunkerWoland]

What a "denial". This is basically a confirmation.

 

[Majukun]

my 2 cents about the "issue"

I never cared much for fanservice,but at the same point i've always found it inoffensive,and i don't agree with those people that say it has all those negative repercussions on society,women treatment etc..
the only people that bae their behavior around women on how they are depicted in fictional stories are the kind of people that are probably not gonna be around women that much in the first place and have most likely other kinds of issue.

this being said, fanservice has always been about marketability and very little to do with freedom of expression or anything of the like...they jusst wanted to attract a certain demographic and the design reflected that.

given that, the change of direction of games like mortal kombat is not a matter of censorship,of freedom of expression "denied by sjw" or "people taking away our games"..it's just that they are now just catering to another demographic, and that's a completely fair thing to do.

the customer will analyse the value proposition of the game and decide if he wants the prouct or not, simple as that

so much like my answer to people complaining about skin being shown is "leave them alone"...same is my answer is the opposite direction...if now women are more coveredm deal with it, look at the game and see if it's worth playing even with the appearance of some characters not being what it was in the past.

 

[Claus Grimhildyr]

While they aren't fighters, the two are sisters Hoimei and Shaomei, childhood friends of Yun and Yang.

Awesome, thanks for lettin' me know!

to be honest i prefer the right version..the left one looks like she forgot to put her pants on XD

...you do know what a leotard is, right?

 

[spandexmonkey]

A fix I can support

 

[brap]

Awesome, thanks for lettin' me know!



...you do know what a leotard is, right?

Wait wtf??? Is that another slur? I'm telling kotaku!!!

 

[ruvikx]

Nazis, Fascists, Communists, Spanish, Catholics all censored material to push their own agenda and In every single example, it backfired on them and held back the progress of a society.

Censorship online regardless of reason, is no different from the censorship of science during the mad eras of Christianity.

Censorship is never a solution.

The issue here isn't the concept of censorship or infringing freedom of speech, i.e. there have always been social rules & codes in every society. Would anyone sane allow the spread of sexually degenerate material under the guise of "freedoms" for example? (paedophilia, bestiality etc.) No. Pre 1960's USA was a case in point. The issue is the fact normal content & normal opinions which existed for decades/centuries are now being attacked & banned by groups which themselves support an aggressive far-left political revolutionary agenda.

Do you like hot chicks in your entertainment? You're a mysoginsitic woman hating piece of shit. Do you want gender neutral bathrooms where men pretending to be women can share a restroom with girls? You're a progressive hero. That's the problem almost everyone has with the modern SJW censorship crusade. It's a one way street in which their degeneracy is enforced as "moral" whilst social norms which endured for centuries are declared evil.

 

[petran79]

It is funny how all of those activists rally behind Sony out of all places. Sony got them fooled for good

 

[CatCouch]

Pot Meet Kettle

Wait a minute? Robaato lambasted the SJW freaks? Robaato?

The same Robaato that his average picture on DeviantArt amasses 3000 favourites?

https://www.deviantart.com/robaato An example:

Robaato is great to follow on Twitter. I enjoy reading his thoughts on art and society in general.

 

[Pot Meet Kettle]

Here's one few here will care about, but in the interest of the discussion...

Kotaku is demanding the removal of all voice acting, model data and mo-cap data associated with the character Sonya Blades in Mortal Kombat 11, because the performer was Ronda Rousey. Mrs. Rousey is a WWE star who's not as ugly in real life as the ingame model suggests, but the main crime Kotaku found with her was dangerous political opinions, such as:

• Believing in conspiracy theories (government inside jobs), in the wake of a 2012 shooting. Her association had her apologize online, but this wasn't a proportionate enough sanction in the eyes of Kotaku
• Said about a MtF transgender pro wrestler competing in the women's league that she thought "she has the same bone structure of a man" no matter how much physical surgery or hormone therapy happens, and that it's an "unfair advantage" in competitions against women.

The article is urging "allies" as fast as possible to attack the game in its current form.

Now of course this may be courting the subset of gamers turned off political games by woke developers who try too hard to virtue signal that wokeness not to impact the game's quality negatively in the process, as we are starting to see Days Gone (Sony first party game) attacked for shows of heterosexual affection, either in a scene with a biker wedding, or any instances of it in the game at all.

• The company is already branded by their past alignment with the politically active game design philosophy in the eyes of the general consumer,
• Some game journalism controlled opposition articles appear how a small detail is offensive, as they assert their core principles that wokeness is impossible to attain but a continuous struggle to always be horribly lacking and in need to be fixed (those sensitivity departments need a job after all),
• Some herd mentality gamers who are politically active go and support that game regardless of its merits on the basis it angered game journalists (an effect exploited to great success by the likes of Hatred)
• The game developer gets a financial boost without doing any true direction changes, and go on to do more of the same thing to the surprise of no one.

Weaponizing outrage to serve the game is an interesting tactic, and not unheard of. EA and Sony paid before fake "Christian protestors" against their games in the 2004-2009 period which is still remembered as an embarrassment since the play was too obvious and unorganic, there's no reason why they can't just do the same with their proven trusty paid shill army.

Whether the developers do this major patch or not just as they did for the "offensive okay sign" remains to be seen, and ultimately for a game as compromised as MK11 for many other reasons with the enthusiasm and approval of the developers, it's what they wanted after all.

But an interesting takeaway from this is how emboldened Kotaku is right now to demand the removal of an entire character from a fighter game over a background check for a real actor they mildly disagree with politically , in the same way that caused Judgement to be pulled from sale for several months. Which other game will they actually use this on?

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Here's one few here will care about, but in the interest of the discussion...

Kotaku is demanding the removal of all voice acting, model data and mo-cap data associated with the character Sonya Blades in Mortal Kombat 11, because the performer was Ronda Rousey. Mrs. Rousey is a WWE star who's not as ugly in real life as the ingame model suggests, but the main crime Kotaku found with her was dangerous political opinions, such as:

• Believing in conspiracy theories (government inside jobs), in the wake of a 2012 shooting. Her association had her apologize online, but this wasn't a proportionate enough sanction in the eyes of Kotaku
• Said about a MtF transgender pro wrestler competing in the women's league that she thought "she has the same bone structure of a man" no matter how much physical surgery or hormone therapy happens, and that it's an "unfair advantage" in competitions against women.

The article is urging "allies" as fast as possible to attack the game in its current form.

So those Retards at Gaytaku are trying to defame and erase from history a woman for speaking the truth? A that has also embarrassed feminist journalists because she did not used the loaded questions she was asked to rally over their SJW proaganda? Like when she was asked twice how much she earns and why she earns less than Mayweather, and she replied in both instances with the fact that you get paid for as much as you bring in the Federation and that she had 12 fights not close to 50 Mayweather had so she was not going to be paid the same as him.

Yes, Gaytaku is fighting a lost fight, because, as much as cucks Ed Boon and NRS are now, they won't dare to touch a dudebro icon that is Ronda Rousey. Now if the other cuck, SonicFox rallies up against her, this might be a different issue, the normie sheep army this guy has is enormous.

 

[Ten_Fold]

My only problem with censorship is that why is it ok for kids to watch someone’s heart get snatched or for them to be split in half but oh no tits is all bad? Also they need to cover up guy characters make sure they keep a shirt on.

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

My only problem with censorship is that why is it ok for kids to watch someone’s heart get snatched or for them to be split in half but oh no tits is all bad?

Because everybody has a heart, but only women have tits (and fat guys, I guess). I you ripped out someone’s ovaries, I’ll bet that would be problematic too. You are only allowed to do to woman things that you also do to men. So, like, a beach scene with women in bikinis is only okay if there are also men there in bathing suits too. Women are only allowed to dress sexy if the men dress sexy. However, you are allowed to dress men sexy and not women, because this shit was never actually about equality in the first place.

 

[spandexmonkey]

If it isn't more obvious, their goal was never to "respect" women and minorities. It's to get you/devs/anyone to do what they say.

 

[The Chairman]

Women's legs are haram guys.

 

[Endless Fluff]

It seems like Azur Lane Crosswave, which is coming to PS4 in 2020, is going to use the censored sprites from the chinese mobile version instead of the uncensored JP/Global ones.

Proof of that can be seen from this screenshot

Takao, on the left, is actually wearing a much shorter skirt with visible panties in the uncensored version, while the chinese one covers her up.

Spoiler: panties vs no panties

Since this is being developed by Compile Heart (Neptunia) it's safe to assume that they'll stick to the chinese sprites for the PS4 version. Which would mean no panty shots and no cleavage or at least heavily reduced cleavage if they decide to include certain ships like Taihou.

Spoiler: Taihou cleavage vs reduced cleavage

At least Yostar (the Azur Lane dev) is taking great care in not making it look like shit when they have to cover the girls up (mandated by some chinese law), but I'm still hoping for a PC version with uncensored sprites, like we have the global version of the mobile game.

 

[The Chairman]

Women's legs are haram guys.

 

[spandexmonkey]

The absolute state of Sony when the Chinese are dictating our games.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

That just silly and petulant now.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

This is just nauseating on every level.

Feminism is pure garbage and feminists can go fuck themselves.

 

[brap]

Women's legs are haram guys.

Sony needs to fucking die. This shit shouldn't be happening in japan.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

It's just utterly insane that they would go this damn far with it and be this absurdly prudish.

They're not going to be happy until every female character is in a full on burka I guess, because "feminism" = demanding women cover every inch of skin?

 

[Isa]

It seems like Azur Lane Crosswave, which is coming to PS4 in 2020, is going to use the censored sprites from the chinese mobile version instead of the uncensored JP/Global ones.

At least Yostar (the Azur Lane dev) is taking great care in not making it look like shit when they have to cover the girls up (mandated by some chinese law), but I'm still hoping for a PC version with uncensored sprites, like we have the global version of the mobile game.

Thanks for the heads up. I figured it'd be butchered, but I foolishly clung to some vain hope. I almost tried Destinys Child but I found out it was censored too. Is Azur Lane on PC?

I'm pretty worried for Atlus and Catherine + P5R. If they're getting mistranslated or altered I don't see it going over too well, at least with those in my local gaming circle. Thankfully I'm not alone in my dislike of censorship. And that Kotaku bit is insane, this doesn't bode well for civilization in general when so many can make absurd demands of silencing others' for their different opinions.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Sony is proving to be way too hypersensitive over something so trivial such as legs.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

That's what happens when Sony's best selling games are made and aimed at western audiences. What you get west coast SJW thinking in business meetings. Lots of censorship.

Oh wait, MS and Nintendo USA HQ are also on the west coast, their biggest gaming markets are also USA, and MS's games are aimed exclusively at western markets as the Xbox brand is dead in Japan. No censorship.

 

[Endless Fluff]

Thanks for the heads up. I figured it'd be butchered, but I foolishly clung to some vain hope. I almost tried Destinys Child but I found out it was censored too. Is Azur Lane on PC?

We don't know if Azur Lane Crosswave is coming to PC, chances are high because I believe almost all Compile Hearts/Idea Factory games have gotten a port. The original Azur Lane is only on mobile right now and it can't be compared to Crosswave, it's a different game.

Oh wait, MS and Nintendo USA HQ are also on the west coast, their biggest gaming markets are also USA, and MS's games are aimed exclusively at western markets as the Xbox brand is dead in Japan. No censorship.

The subtle difference between San Francisco, CA the hotbed of the social justice movement (Twitter and Facebook are also there and employ similar rules) and Redmont, WA. I'm pretty sure things would be different if Sony's gaming division had their HQ in Redmont.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

That's what happens when Sony's best selling games are made and aimed at western audiences. What you get west coast SJW thinking in business meetings. Lots of censorship.

Oh wait, MS and Nintendo USA HQ are also on the west coast, their biggest gaming markets are also USA, and MS's games are aimed exclusively at western markets as the Xbox brand is dead in Japan. No censorship.

It was thanks to Nintendo Japan that Treehouse's negative influence on western localizations was greatly reduced.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is pushing political correctness in its updated community standards and excluded Notch from Minecraft's 10th anniversary celebration because of his opinions.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

as we are starting to see Days Gone (Sony first party game) attacked for shows of heterosexual affection,

It's hilarious how openly bigoted against heterosexuality these people are, they are literal "heterophobes"

Sony is proving to be way too hypersensitive over something so trivial such as legs.

Right? it's one thing to tone down blatant sexual content, another to be covering up fucking legs, what is this, the 1800s?

 

[The Chairman]

Women's legs are.... ah fuck it.

At least Athena got a free yellow dress from Sony.

Xbox

 

[CatCouch]

Is Sony making game covers crop out legs? I can't tell if this is Sony preventing the art from being on their cover or if it's because the Switch boxes are easier to show the full art on. It does look unlikely to be unintentional.

Is there any confirmation that PS4 games are going to be using the Chinese censored versions of art? If that's what Sony is deciding then I really do hope they get a lot of push back for it and these games leave the platform for next gen.

This is kind of censorship is frightening to me. Sony seems to be opposed to even mild sex appeal. If this becomes the norm it could really hurt artists.

Sony is reminding me of Tumblr now. Tumblr didn't just ban porn, it banned nudity which meant that just about every other site you could post art on was more open. I wonder if Tumblr and Sony have even thought about the ramifications? What is the message they are sending? Mild sex appeal is bad? Do they think all the artists are bad?

At least the Xbox doesn't seem to be any different than the Switch for the SNK collection.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Sony removes a Pepe the frog head from Dreams.

 

[petran79]

Women's legs are.... ah fuck it.

In contrast to Blade Arcus above, I think in this case it is because of the silly PS4 banner. Without cropping her legs, the title would cover her head and face, so they opted for this. Or else they'd have to resize the cover making it smaller or reduce the title fonts or place the banner below. Or else they wouldnt show anything of her legs.

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

In contrast to Blade Arcus above, I think in this case it is because of the silly PS4 banner. Without cropping her legs, the title would cover her head and face, so they opted for this. Or else they'd have to resize the cover making it smaller or reduce the title fonts or place the banner below. Or else they wouldnt show anything of her legs.

You missed this.