No Capcom At GamesCom Following Dead Rising Ban

Capcom Europe decided that it's pointless to promote a game to consumers in a country where that game will probably be banned anyway. The company said this week that it will not be showing game fans the upcoming Blue Castle Games-developed zombie-slaying game Dead Rising 2 at Germany's GamesCom consumer gaming show in August. That's because in 2006, Germany's USK software review board denied a rating for the original Xbox 360 game Dead Rising, effectively banning the title from the country, due to the game's violent zombie-killing gameplay. Dead Rising 2's gameplay is similarly violent, gory and over-the-top. "As you are probably aware the first Dead Rising was banned in Germany and as we are still awaiting a verdict from the USK for Dead Rising 2 it would be remiss of us to promote the sequel to consumers in Germany," Capcom Europe said in an official blog post. Capcom said that it will still be meeting with media during GamesCom week for previews of upcoming games, but it will not display software on the Koln Messe show floor. The company has confirmed two titles for release between August and the end of the year in Europe: Dead Rising 2 and the action game Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes. "While Sengoku Basara is a great title we cannot justify solely exhibiting this one game," the blog reads. "...GamesCom allows publishers and developers an excellent opportunity to promote their titles to both consumers and media. Therefore when taking the decision to exhibit we must weigh up what we can offer both of these groups at that time." Earlier this month, Sega confirmed that it would be skipping GamesCom for "commercial" reasons.