You’re out of luck if you live in the U.A.E. and you like killing zombies because Capcom’s Dead Rising 2 will not be legally sold in the Middle Eastern nation.
Dead Rising 2 joins a laundry list of popular titles from the last year including Mafia II, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins, and Red Dead Redemption that cannot be purchased in the United Arab Emirates. There is no specific word on why DR2 was banned, but ME Gamers reports that an official from Capcom’s distributor in the area, Pluto Games, claimed that it was because of the game’s violence, gambling, nudity, and use of alcohol. The official also said that he was working on getting the game released somehow, possibly through censoring the offending content, but he did say that such a scenario “looks unlikely.”
The Entertainment Software Ratings Board gave Dead Rising 2 an M for Mature rating. “Large sprays of blood frequently occur and zombies frequently get dismembered and decapitated; for example, players are able to ride a motorcycle through mobs of zombies, sawing off multiple body parts,” reads the ESRB’s summary. Sounds like a good time!
Perhaps more problematic for the game’s release in the United Arab Emirates is its depiction of women. As the ESRB says, “Some female characters are dressed in revealing outfits (e.g., skin-tight leather, lingerie, showgirl costumes), and players can enter a ‘Peep Show’ or receive a ‘Peeping Tom’ bonus.”
Also, the religion of Islam prohibits the consumption of alcohol, so the officials in the U.A.E. might have taken umbrage with the fact that your character needs to do so in order to complete the game. “Some missions involve making, serving, and drinking alcoholic beverages (e.g., wine, vodka, and whiskey); if players drink too much alcohol, their movements may become erratic and they may vomit.”
While I would prefer that the U.A.E. adopt some kind of rating system similar to that in the U.S., it’s not hard to see why Dead Rising 2 was banned. It just sucks for the gamers in that country who have no objections to such content.
Source: MEgamers
