Mass Effect banned in Singapore - News

by VGChartz Staff , posted on 14 November 2007 / 1,825 Views

Yet another game has had it's turn on the international chopping block and was out right banned. This game comes with an even greater surprise and has made quite a few gamers question their local representation even more.

The game that was banned was Mass Effect, a exclusive RPG for the Xbox 360; The place, Singapore; Why? alien-on-alien lesbian sex.

Here is an excerpt from GameAxis Online:

"If you were expecting a raunchy Lust Caution movie-inspired sex scene, then you’re going to come away disappointed. Of course, when a video like the one shown in Kotaku makes its round do you really expect our censorship board to let the game pass through its net? Of course they don’t!

So here’s the sad news coming from official sources. Mass Effect, the wonderfully crafted RPG from Bioware is now officially BANNED! The irony though, is that the ban probably only serve to intensify the game’s demand here."

The ultimate question is if this will have any negative effects like ManHunt 2 did. If the worlds governments start looking at more games as "sex crazed murder simulators," thank you Jack Thompson for that, the game industry might have a slight problem.

Update: The game has been unbanned but the game may only be purchased by gamers 18 years or older. Now the only question is why can't Americans buy and play games rated AO which is meant for ages 18+ yet evey other country can.

34 Comments

princess (on 19 February 2009)

FishyJoe (on 16 November 2007)

Mass Effect has been cleared.

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/singapore-embraces-hot-lesbian-makeout-scene/18577/

pntsurf1 (on 16 November 2007)

You received a very liberal education. I don't want to keep repeating what I just said...But again respect those who are different from you.

Apostrovich (on 16 November 2007)

I did not compare Lee Kuan Yew to Stalin. I compared the actions his government is taking to the actions taken by Stalin's government. BOTH of them give (gave) you EXTREMELY HARSH penalties for minor transgressions. I am against the death penalty for ANYONE. Let alone some guy who gets caught with a baggie of weed. I am also against censorship. Therefore I disagree with this crap about banning this game. NO game should be banned. EVER. Anywhere. Nobody has to buy anything they don't want to. So I am at odds with their government on several key issues. And any urge I might have developed in the future to visit Singapore has been appropriately quashed by this crap.

I never said I agreed with this government either, especially about guns. But at least we don't make examples out of small time dealers.

pntsurf1 (on 15 November 2007)

My Singaporean friends cannot understand how in my country you can obtain handguns and assault rifles with such ease. They don’t understand why our government and citizens allow it when so many crimes are committed with these firearms. I respect these culture differences and so should you.

pntsurf1 (on 15 November 2007)

I don’t even know where to begin. You just compared Lee Kuan Yew to Stalin. Um, its hard to have an educated debate when your so ignorant. And I really don’t mean to sound harsh. But you really don’t have a firm grasp on this. This is not the United Kingdom or Russia.

I have many friends who live in Singapore. One is a gay. All of them agree with the system they live in. If the Island wasn’t stable, international businesses wouldn’t flock to Singapore and they wouldn’t have the prosperity that they have. So there is a correlation between these laws and their robust GDP growth. This makes my argument about stability in the region relevant. (Even if you don’t care)

The fact is drugs do kill people. It’s a fact that drugs are a huge problem in SE Asia. It’s a fact that drugs do spur organised crime which leads to other problems. Singapore recognizes this. And they hold drug dealers accountable to the highest degree.

Apostrovich (on 15 November 2007)

No thank you. If I wanted to get killed for partaking in one of my favorite pasttimes, I'd have gone to Singapore already. You get stability with a government like that, but when you kill or sentence to hard labor anyone who threatens your "stable" government, you end up with a bunch of assholes controlling it and passing arbitrary laws.

Also, it is not part of their culture to hang drug users/dealers or censor/ban video games. Stalin did the same thing, he decided what he considered stable, and then he purged everyone who he considered harmful/unnecessary. That was not part of Russian culture. That was a douchebag doing what he thought was good for HIS country. Tell some Singaporean guy who sold an ounce of weed to his friend and got hanged for it how well his government works.

My entire point was that by my measure Singapore is far too strict, I don't care how much anarchy other countries have, banning this game because of some crappy sexual innuendo or killing a small time weed dealer is overkill. By a lot.

pntsurf1 (on 15 November 2007)

Also I recommend that you should travel around SE Asia to see that there is a lot of chaos and anarchy in the region. In Southern Thailand, there are daily bombings by Muslim separatist that the media doesn’t even pay attention to because of how common they are. In Indonesia they have some same problem but less frequent. Drugs are a huge problem in the region. I’m not saying Singapore doesn’t have absolutely no drugs on the Island but virtually there are none. And the drugs that ARE on the island are so expensive, and you take such personal risk in using them, that most Singaporians would just go across the border is Malaysia, or Indonesia if they wanted them. The system in Singapore works very well, even if I don’t agree with everything. The Singapore government and there citizens to not suck. You should visit the region to achieve a greater understanding of the rich Singaporean culture.

pntsurf1 (on 15 November 2007)

I don’t understand the reason for that link. Of course there are laws against drug trafficking. Why wouldn’t there be? This is the same philosophy that Mayor Giuliani used in New York City in the 1990’s. That you must go after the small petty offences so that they don’t turn into larger problems. The PAP believes homosexuality is a problem…I don’t agree with this. But they believe it and to avoid larger offences from happening they are tackling these minor issues. You should respect the differences in their culture.

Apostrovich (on 15 November 2007)

@pntsurf1

Yeah, imaginary alien lesbian sex is going to totally destabilize their whole country and they'll end up with anarchy. I personally just think they suck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misuse_of_Drugs_Act_%28Singapore%29

Apostrovich (on 15 November 2007)

For gods sake.....THEY DIDN'T EVEN KISS. They kind of leaned toward each other, then you see one of them with a blank expression on her face, then you see a hand. WHOOPEE.

I didn't really have too much of an opinion on Singapore before, but this alone makes it suck.

Punisher (on 15 November 2007)

Lol, for the banning the game because of this :D

choirsoftheeye (on 15 November 2007)

re: That video: PEOPLE DO NOT WOBBLE THAT MUCH!

A recent trend in annoying video game animation.

pntsurf1 (on 14 November 2007)

lol, and thats pretty funny danny355

pntsurf1 (on 14 November 2007)

I’m sure you would care if you were from Singapore. Here is a developed country with virtually no crime, no drugs, and an economy that is growing at 8-12% per year. You don’t have to travel far to see that their model works better than most in the region.(Look at Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and to a smaller extent Malaysia) They don’t have as much personal freedom as others, but they traded freedom for a far more stable environment, which attracts international businesses and talent from all over the world. Singapore citizens are extremely intelligent and worldly individuals. The PAP don’t see their citizens as children. They are merely trying to keep out the chaos that surrounds the island. (No offence to Malaysia)

takeru51 (on 14 November 2007)

Danny355, you just gave me an awesome idea...

Keeper Garrett (on 14 November 2007)

Singapore treats its citizens as pathetic children who need the utmost care and must have no exposure to the real world. The country might be an economic "miracle" but really who cares?

HONG KONG FOR LIFE!

Danny355 (on 14 November 2007)

What the hell? I don tknow what is more ridiculous, the scene or the law. If ive bought a videogame its probably cos I want to play a videogame, I dont want to watch blue women kissing. Call me old fashioned but personally I dont want any sex in video games. I dont want to see Mario sticking one up toadstood while Luigi holds the camera and yoshi gets his tounge in there. Videogames with sex are lame beyond words.

takeru51 (on 14 November 2007)

If I were the Singapore review board, I would let it through. Just give it a rating of "WTF?" For Everyone.

Baff2 (on 14 November 2007)

Here is the "lively scene": http://kotaku.com/gaming/nsfw/mass-effect-lesbian-love-scene-321340.php

It hints a lot, but still doesn't show anything.

360Rocks (on 14 November 2007)

Well that's just unfortunate.

shams (on 14 November 2007)

Priceless :)

I might end up living in Singapore next year - could be fun...

BrainBoxLtd (on 14 November 2007)

Trust me on this one, that's not the scene that would have got it banned. That's just a werid scene for picking a Renegade answer after helping the Consort or whatever her name is. Real thing a lot more "lively" if you will.

Explosivo (on 14 November 2007)

I wonder if alien girls have any naughty genitalia :$

pntsurf1 (on 14 November 2007)

Opps, was supposed to say not hurt the publisher

pntsurf1 (on 14 November 2007)

I had an internship in Singapore before and the fact that they banned this game doesn’t surprise me in the least. This is a country where chewing gum, picking flowers, or not flushing a public toilet is illegal. Also the Singapore, the penal code criminalizes homosexual acts with 10 years to life imprisonment. But does that include alien babes? I guess so

I’m not sure how many gamers are in Singapore. I know that there are just over four million people in the city-state but, I think this will hurt the publisher much. Though Asian cultures love RPG’s more than the Anglo Saxon markets

elnino334 (on 14 November 2007)

Sucks to be them.

NeoRatt (on 14 November 2007)

This ban will only help sales... This is a far cry from the brutal and explicit violence in something like Manhunt 2...

It seems to be simply a cultural issue. It is not like there is nudity or any real provocative dialogue there. The banning board there just felt it necessary to do a power trip...

This can only help world wide sales... LOL. Except for maybe some extreme extremists that can't amagine alien, lesbian sex and are probably not the target audience for the game anyhow.

mesoteto (on 14 November 2007)

thats not that bad...but then again they are really tight about that sorta thing compared to over here where we get disapointed that we doint see...well the points

hunter_alien (on 14 November 2007)

So what ... its a pirate -ruled country anyways ....

sienster (on 14 November 2007)

Yeah, they didn't even show them kissing. Hell, they didn't even show the bed, they fell out of the scene before they hit the sheets. Unbelievable that this got banned based on that scene. My guess is that whoever banned it never even saw the scene.

tk1989 (on 14 November 2007)

man, that was the worst sex scene, ever! it was barely a sex scene! how can a game be banned for something like that?

Dodece (on 14 November 2007)

Wow a game being banned for being totally tasteful. Seriously what a crying shame that scene was not offensive in the least, and was artfully done. I am just glad I do not live over there it must be a painfully repressed culture.

Garcian Smith (on 14 November 2007)

Please. This is Singapore we're talking about: a country that jails people for chewing gum and deals out life sentences for smoking a joint. They're an anomaly, and this isn't part of a larger trend.

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