Hey Guys,

Good news, just heard that Quake can finally be sold in Germany.
So, my good friends of Germany go asap to the store to buy this fantastic game of 15 yrs old.

quick before it sells out.

but so uhm wolfenstein 3d was okay?

Wolfenstein 3D cannot be okay, because of the swastikas.

It's still a good thing that Bethesda is actively working on making those old shooter classics freely available around here. So far it's Ultimate Doom, Doom 2 (without the secret levels!), Final Doom and now Quake with its two add-ons.

Damn.....maybe you'll get Quake 2 soon then eh?

Yet you can't buy any of the id classics on Steam in Russia. Go figure.

I hope so. It's not impossible, I guess. We'll have to wait and see what happens over the next few months. Bethesda Zenimax's German branch recently announced plans to re-release the games I mentioned. No word as of yet if there's going to be a digital or a physical release, or maybe both.

I was being half serious actually, making a bit of light on the slow as hell time table of certain releases over there. It sucks if you've never played those games though, and I hope you someday get to experience them.

Well, it's not like those games are completely unknown over here. If you wanted them, even back in the 90s, there was usually a way to get them. Even the ones that are truly banned (i.e. Manhunt, Postal, just to name a few).

"Banned", for the most part, just means that the game can not be sold or adverstized to minors. You could buy Quake in Germany since its release. same for Doom, etc.

It's more a marketing thing, like a M or PG rating in the US.

"Illegal" games, like "Wolfenstein" can and never will be sold in Germany. Several things can make a game illegal (extreme violence e.g.), but showing symbols of the Nazi reign are pretty much the safest way to make a game illegal. In some extreme cases, even private ownership is considered a crime, but "normally" online disrtebution is punishabel by criminal law.

Wolfenstein 3d is illegal because it "glorifies" Nazis. By killing them, don't ask me ...

"Banned" games get reevaluated at regular interwalls. River Raid was once banned. And Desert Strike was banned for glorifying the Gulf War. Rather tame titles today...

IMO the German gov't should be kicked in the nuts for trying to sweep their past under the rug via banning Nazi games/references. I get trying to discourage neo-nazism and all, but banning Nazi themed games is imo a step too far.

The German gov't is doing quite the opposite. They are banning those games, so there can be no gloryfication of Nazis what so ever.

Todays Germany is in no way trying to sweep anyhting under the rug. We have a memorial of the Holocaust right next to the Reichstag. Name one other country that takes it's greatest shame and carries it openly like that. It was somewhat different in the 60s and 70s here. And there are still some issues to be resolved (the rehabilitation of deserters).

Honestly, if there is anything I would be proud of with my country (a term I usually don't use, as it is often confused with integral nationalism) it is how much we are trying to learn from our past. Not only in building memorials but also shaping legislature on current topics.

Edit: There is still room for improvement, of course, but considering the nature of man, we're doing good.

Wolf3d doesn't glorify Nazis though.

Generally every depiction of nazi symbolism is illegal. And even the bad guy can be gloryfied, if Star Wars ever showed us anything.

Edit: Every depiction without a "commentated context" that is.

That's just it. Making something or some opinion or viewpoint illegal even a vile one such as this(and the acts associated with it) is so anti-freespeech I don't know where to begin. And this is ironic given how Germany is trying to be(I believe) close to the U.S. in terms of freedom for it's people.

It does include outlawed material such as insignias and Horst Wessel Lied.