In a move that's somehow less surprising than Fallout 3 actually coming out in Japan, some sensitive content has been removed from Bethesda's FPS/RPG hybrid for the sake of our Eastern friends. Kotaku reports:
Developer Bethesda has made changes to the Japanese Fallout 3. The side-quest The Power of the Atom has been changed. Non-playable-character Mr. Burke has been taken out of this side-quest, removing the option of detonating the nuclear bomb. That's not all, the name of a weapon was changed as it was deemed "inappropriate" for Japan. Smart money says the weapon is mini-nuke launcher "Fat Man" for obvious reasons. The online reaction from the Japanese users seems to be largely disappointment to these edits. Fallout 3 goes on sale in Japan this December.
It's easy to get up in arms about censorship, but there's some significant historical baggage that's a good justification for this cut content. While it's a bit odd that the very premise of the game--a nuclear war-torn future--would fly in light of certain events in Japanese history, people generally find it easier to get hung up on the more specific, immediate things. The overall reduction of violence in the Japanese version of Fallout 3 (mentioned in this news story) also makes me believe that Japan's days as a haven for fucked-up media have long since passed. There was once a time, in a decade not long before our own, when you could stumble into a dorm room, see something completely wicked on TV, and ask your marijuana-addled peer "What the hell are you watching?"
One answer would suffice: "It's from Japan."
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