Dead Rising Ruled Too Violent in Germany

Dead Rising, the upcoming game for the Xbox 360 developed by Capcom has been deemed too violent and banned from sale in Germany by the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK), the country's equivalent of the ESRB.

In Dead Rising the player takes on the role of freelance photojournalist Frank West, who is trapped in a mall filled with flesh-eating zombies. The main character can use right about any items he comes across to kill zombies, from swords, CDs, bowling balls, to hockey sticks and potted plants, and the game is more humorous in tone compared to the Resident Evil series.

Germany is well known for having taken a tough line on violence in games throughout the years. Publishers are often required to change the blood's color to green so as to appear less gory, or even release modified versions of their games, as was the case with another controversial game, Carmageddon, which was approved for sale only after human pedestrians were changed to zombies in the German version.

However, despite the fact that Dead Rising will feature zombies as enemies, the game will not launch in Germany when it comes out in September... What would the poor Germans do without their overzealous self-appointed guardians?