Wolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game Castle Wolfenstein, and is the third installment in the Wolfenstein series. In Wolfenstein 3D, the player assumes the role of Allied spy William "B.J." Blazkowicz during World War II as he escapes from the Nazi German prison Castle Wolfenstein and carries out a series of crucial missions against the Nazis. The player traverses each of the game's levels to find an elevator to the next level or kill a final boss, fighting Nazi soldiers, dogs, and other enemies with a knife and a variety of guns.
In video games, censorship are efforts by an authority to limit access, censor content, or regulate video games or specific video games due to the nature of their content. Some countries will do this to protect younger audiences from inappropriate content using rating systems such as the ESRB rating system. Others will do this to censor any negative outlook on a nation's government.
PEGI, short for Pan-European Game Information, is a European video game content rating system established to help European consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content descriptors. It was developed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and came into use in April 2003, replacing many national age rating systems with a single European system. The PEGI system is now used in 41 countries and is based on a code of conduct, a set of rules to which every publisher using the PEGI system is contractually committed. PEGI self-regulation is composed by five age categories and nine content descriptors that advise the suitability of a game for a certain age range based on the game's content. The age rating is not intended to indicate the difficulty of the game or the skill required to play it.
The Brazilian Advisory Rating is a content rating system for the classification of movies, games and television programs. The ClassInd rating system is controlled by the Advisory Rating Coordination of the Department of Justice Policies. It is established on the National Secretariat of Justice of the Ministry of Justice.
The Federal Department for the Protection of Children and Young People in the Media (German: Bundeszentrale für Kinder- und Jugendmedienschutz or BzKJ), until 2021 "Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons", is an upper-level German federal agency subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It is responsible for examining media works suspected to be harmful to young people. These works are added to an official list – a process known as Indizierung (indexing) in German - as part of child protection efforts. The decision to index a work has a variety of legal implications; chiefly, restrictions on sale and advertisement.
The 20th-century German Nazi Party made extensive use of graphic symbols, especially the swastika, notably in the form of the swastika flag, which became the co-national flag of Nazi Germany in 1933, and the sole national flag in 1935. A very similar flag had represented the Party beginning in 1920.
Germany has taken many forms throughout the history of censorship in the country. Various regimes have restricted the press, cinema, literature, and other entertainment venues. In contemporary Germany, the Grundgesetz generally guarantees freedom of press, speech, and opinion.
Germany has the second-largest video games player base in Europe, with 44.3 million gamers in 2018, after Russia. Consumers in Germany spent €5.87 billion on video games over the course of 2021, a 3 percent year-on-year increase from 2020. The video game market in Germany grew by 6 percent to €6.2 billion in 2019.
Video game localization, is the process of preparing a video game for a market outside of where it was originally published. The game's name, art assets, packaging, manuals, and cultural and legal differences are typically altered.
A video game content rating system is a system used for the classification of video games based on suitability for target audiences. Most of these systems are associated with and/or sponsored by a government, and are sometimes part of the local motion picture rating system. The utility of such ratings has been called into question by studies that publish findings such as 90% of teenagers claim that their parents "never" check the ratings before allowing them to rent or buy video games, and as such, calls have been made to "fix" the existing rating systems. Video game content rating systems can be used as the basis for laws that cover the sales of video games to minors, such as in Australia. Rating checking and approval is part of the game localization when they are being prepared for their distribution in other countries or locales. These rating systems have also been used to voluntarily restrict sales of certain video games by stores, such as the German retailer Galeria Kaufhof's removal of all video games rated 18+ by the USK following the Winnenden school shooting.
The Game Rating and Administration Committee, formerly the Game Rating Board until December 23, 2013, is the South Korean video game content rating board. A governmental organization, the GRAC rates video games to inform customers of the nature of game contents.
The German Strafgesetzbuch in section § 86a outlaws "use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations" outside the contexts of "art or science, research or teaching". The law does not name the individual symbols to be outlawed, and there is no official exhaustive list. However, the law has primarily been used to outlaw fascist, Nazi, communist, Islamic extremist and Russian militarist symbols. The law, adopted during the Cold War, most notably affected the Communist Party of Germany, which was banned as unconstitutional in 1956; the Socialist Reich Party, which was banned in 1952; and several small far-right parties.
Wolfenstein: The New Order is a 2014 action-adventure first-person shooter video game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released on 20 May 2014 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game is the seventh main entry in the Wolfenstein series, set in an alternate history 1960s Europe where the Nazis won the Second World War. The story follows war veteran William "B.J." Blazkowicz and his efforts to stop the Nazis from ruling over the world.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is an action-adventure first-person shooter video game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released on 5 May 2015 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. The game is a stand-alone title in the Wolfenstein series and a prequel expansion to 2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order, set in an alternate-history 1946. The single-player story follows war veteran William "B.J." Blazkowicz and his efforts to discover the locations of a Nazi compound. Development began in 2014, soon after the release of The New Order.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a 2019 first-person shooter developed by MachineGames and Arkane Lyon and published by Bethesda Softworks. A spin-off of the Wolfenstein series, the game was released for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in July 2019 and Stadia in November 2019 as a launch title. The game received mixed reviews from critics who felt it was a step down from previous installments, although some reviewers praised the combat.
Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot is a first-person shooter video game developed by Arkane Lyon in conjunction with MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. A spin-off in the Wolfenstein series, Cyberpilot is a virtual reality experience. The game was released for Windows PC and PlayStation 4 in July 2019. It received mixed or average reviews upon release.
Attentat 1942 is a Czech point-and-click adventure game, in which players take the role of Jindřich Jelínek's grandchild. Jelínek was arrested by the Gestapo shortly after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, ruler of the Nazi-occupied Czech lands and the leading architect of The Holocaust. The objective of the game is to establish what role he played in the attack, as well as the reason for his arrest. Throughout the investigation, players interview eyewitnesses, discover the family's back story and learn more about life in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
The Protection of Young Persons Act is a federal law in Germany to enforce youth protection in public spaces and regulate media consumption by minors. The act does not apply to minors who are married.
Through the Darkest of Times is a strategy video game developed by Paintbucket Games and published by HandyGames. It was released on Microsoft Windows and macOS through Steam on 30 January 2020 after three years of development and was later released on other platforms. The game follows a resistance group in Nazi Germany from Adolf Hitler's rise in power in 1933 to the end of World War II and manages each member through weekly missions and acts of sabotage.
Bundesfighter II Turbo is a parody fighting game, developed by Austrian studio Colour Colliders on behalf of German satire format Browser Ballet and published by funk in 2017. While drawing inspiration from Capcom's Street Fighter II Turbo, it features stages and characters based on caricatures of the leading candidates of the 2017 German federal election.
