Metroid Prime Trilogy Lost Its ‘Damn’

@topraman517:
Yes, I am in New Delhi. I must confess that I don't watch much Indian TV, and have mostly been watching Star World, Star Movies, HBO, AXN, and VH1.

DAMN...NO!

Nintendo: Definitely not the kiddie konsole

ProdigalMoon

@Torokun: damn doesn't even qualify as a swear word.

Swearing is a fact of life. It's done everywhere. It isn't out of place to have swearing in a video game any more than it is out of place to have blood and gore.

ghost4

If "damn" is to be considered as profanity, that doesn't leave many synonyms to utter in video games.

Is "gosh" acceptable? I fear "blimey" might sound too offensive.

@LedRush: Strange...are you in North India? Sun TV is a South Indian channel, so maybe there is a difference there.

Also, I think we're talking about different things. You seem to be talking about western movies brought over to Indian channels. I'm talking about Indian TV shows/movies where "Damn it" is said with a thick Indian accent.

topraman517

Game, over man! It's game over! Now what the fuck are we supposed to do!?

Lt. Archer

@Outkastprince: lmao

Ampere

honestly, who cares?

drivebyinsult

@LedRush: Odd, I've been in Goa for the past month, and every American movie I watched dubbed over profanity with something more mild, yet they all had CC which preserved the original word.

@Torokun: Yes, but a military admiral whose ship was under attack would likely not think to restrict himself to "No!". However, I agree fully with your point as it applies to Killzone 2.

@idofriar1313: I am serious. The Metroid games are terribly forgiving in their difficulty. I would easily argue that games like Super Mario Bros. 3, Mario Sunshine, etc. are far more difficult than any of the Metroid games. Including Echoes.

MARl0

@dreamparacite: haha

PugOfDoom

The also replaced the pirate's rifles with walkie-takies.

@Torokun: Except the game was rated Teen both before and after the edit, so... What exactly was accomplished?

MechaTama31

weird

@GriefTroll:

Oh dear, it was supposed to be a joke about censorship and the adverts telling people that they shouldn't use gay as an insult, hence the substitution to gaga.

Damn? Really? He could have said crap and kept the 12 rating.

It's not like any little kids I know will play Metroid Prime :|

SpySapper

Wow, me thinks we need to ease up. This wasn't censorship from the gov't, it was simply an effort by Nintendo to beat off the raving parental mobs. Nothing crucial was changed, so just treat it as if they removed an "and" from dialogue. Is it really so important to us for cusswords to become normalized that we get in a hissy-fit when they are removed from a game? The gameplay is the same, the dialogue is nearly the same, the story is the same. Nothing to see here, move along.

Giggers

@topraman517: Damnit. I was this close to posting a comment about how I wasn't sure that I believed the South Park movie's assertion that Americans are okay with violence, but not dirty language, but maybe I was wrong, and now you guys go and point out that American culture has little-to-nothing to do with it

BtownDesignGuy

@Torokun: When it comes to games that simply lay on profanities like a thick coat of icing on a cake, I can understand why you think it's ridiculous.

HOWEVER, maintaining that mindset against ALL games with profanities is equally ridiculous. People use profanities in real life every day; to say that all profanities in games feel out of place is an oxymoron. Case and point: The Longest Journey.

This game only had several points where profanity was used, but in each of those instances the profanity's use made sense in regard to both the conversational context in which it was used and the situation at the time. Not only that, but it helped make the characters' personalities seem that much more believable.

MPgmr

@Torokun: But "Damn"?!

@Torokun: I suppose they're in a conundrum. A real marine would use language you can't place in a T-rated game, so to have any profanity at all would just seem watered down and out of place.

I'm mostly kidding. This whole thing seems kind of ridiculous.

BtownDesignGuy

oohhhh!!! my ears!!!! I heard the word "damn"" oooooooohh, children are lost!!

stupid, very stupid decision......

Pathetic.

Censorship is one of the worst things in this world and any company who takes part in it should be shop.

Viz, and now seemingly Nintendo.

Fools!

melonpans

@akif24: Well played.

MPgmr

Hehe trilogy virgin. :P

@BarfHappy: It's fun to say, though. It doesn't hurt it sounds silly to us, too. We will continue to use it and enjoy doing so.

Ha ha ha ha.

GTA: The Lost & Noed. Doesn't have the same ring to it.

akif24

Damn nintendo and its foolishness

I mean NO Nintendo and its foolishness

ddarkly

putain de merde they should start considering that even 6 yo children swear worse things than "damn". Sure people should restrain in strict work environment, but in private, a good old swear helps release the pressure.
By the way, the french word "sacrebleu" ("blue crowning") that americans love to use to depict a french swearing is obsolete since at least 2 centuries.

BarfHappy

Boycotting Shadow Complex because of disagreement with Card: "You're a moron!"

Boycotting Metroid Prime Trilogy because of the removal of the word Damn: "Boo censorship!"

NB: I am boycotting neither.

@Torokun: bullshit, Profanities are a part of life. People swear, it is part of realism. Ofcourse filling a game up with profanities isn't realistic. But if you just lost 100's of people, do you think your generals will go " Ooh fiddlesticks"?

Dehnus

I think this is a good thing. Creators who think having profanities automatically make your product more "real" are sadly mistaken. Most of times, it just ends up being very silly and out of place. Especially in video games. Unnecessarily bumping up the rating for that product for a no good reason.

@RockyRan: Any form of censorship gives me a kicked in the dick vibe.

Rajolae

@LedRush: "In america, you don't hear "damn" on the TV"

What America are you living in? It sure ain't the one the rest of us are because damn sure gets said a lot on TV.

Rajolae

@GrimCW:
You are absolutely correct, and I apologize to Owen and everyone else.

I was thinking of "God Damn" in the US. I should heed my own advice and thoroughly do my research.

However, I stand by my India statement...I just saw it removed again (from a B movie about a Loch Ness like monster) since my first post. Also, I saw it removed from the CC in Evolution on HBO.

this is why we can't have nice things.

@doughboyx: Obviously the word "damn" made the game bad. Without it, Metroid Prime 3 is everything.
Wow, logic is easy!

Dragon_Warrior

@LedRush:
startrek... nuff said, not on cable, damns a lot, and not at certain times :) namely doc McCoy.
Simpsons, also not cable, and damns a lot... may wanna double check that cable only and certain times thing :)
i don't have cable or sat, and i can get a lot of damning on my TV flipping the channels.

@robpe36: Yeah, truth. It's the reaction to this change that's bugging me more than the change itself.

@Boom-Chicka-Ah, needs to stop using colons in his name ;D: Well variations of "Damn" are in the Bible, Damnation, Damned and Damnable. I consider that to mean "Damn", but much like the Bible, that's up to interpretation.

TaylorEatWorld

@noteDhero: You can sometimes find it in commercials too. Not even on cable.

@ostartero:
I noticed that, too. You're right...it doesn't quite fit in to the story now.

@topraman517:
I am in India now. It is (mostly) cecnsored. They also delete it from CC when they do allow it (like on HBO or similar "foreign" channels).

@noteDhero: It can only be said at certain times or on cable. Do your research.

@Weirdwolf Englands Ashes!: are you trying to say Smeg Head?

@LedRush: You are quite mistaken, as others have said.

@HELLSRIDER is doing stuff: Are you implying that it wasn't?

@jamesjohnson01: Everyone says damn, I mean damn wy would you worry about such a word, damn.¬¬

Im more intrigued by the super awesome theme song...its awesome.

@bakagaijin: You win

@Crunch King: Well I remember once in ECS or Kindergarten when we had to take turns selecting toys during free hour, some girl picked the Sesame Street phone before me and I blurted out "DAMN IT" (not like I knew it was a swear or anything) and the teacher gots reeealz pissed off and didn't let me pick until everyone else did. Suffice to say, I got stuck with wooden blocks. :(

@Mark Aaron Beeson: DAMN IT MARK I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS. TELL ME THE NAME OF THE SHOW

*shoots you in the knee*

QualityJeverage

Because you want your little kids saying damn.

So nintendo is now becoming the 4kids of videogames?

@PSWii2008: I wonder if Nintendo will bother to change it to heck for a Virtual Console release.

robpe36

@Wilky_McBadass: Yeah I noticed that comment as well.

Nice to hear that 15 yo's with Movie Maker are able to chime in with such wonderful ignorance.

ah shit, what are we gonna do now?

LetItRane

truth

Crash__Man

@LedRush: Damn is not censored in India, or at least it sure isn't censored on Sun TV (a.k.a. the shittiest channel in the world).

topraman517

@SonicTheMonkey: Yes, this is 2-year old news. Now if only Kotaku would approve your account so that your comment may better enlighten others.

As to why they changed the word back in 07 for the U.K. release, maybe they have different standards for teen-appropriate games there?

topraman517

@LedRush:
What country do you live in? You can find damn on TV a lot. Not in commercials, but damn is pretty commonplace.

@robpe36:
Robpe36 1
Ping5000 IS 0

The deal is that Nintendo changed something for no reason.

Hey, this reminds me of the Swear Word scene from Transformers: The Movie.

amarney

@LedRush: You don't hear Damn on TV?

The only words you don't hear on network TV in the US are f-bombs and the lady parts words. You hear everything else.

Unless you only watch the hallmark channel.

This whole thing is reminding me of "I love bees"

"He's just so... cocky."
"Interesting choice of words."

If I remember correctly, this edit happened with the later releases (PAL release?) of Metroid Prime 3, not for Trilogy. It could simply be coincidence that this was the version of MP3 that made it into the trilogy.

Interestingly enough, the narration from the intro and outro of Prime 1 that were added in the PAL release of the game are notably missing from Trilogy.

In america, you don't hear "damn" on the TV, and it is censored in other countries, like India, as well.

I still don't like the idea of taking it out (seems pointless), but the reporting should try to be more accurate.

I'm against it purely for the fact that they are promoting censorship.

NOOOOOOOO

Exciting stuff!
Not like it's a completely minor thing, that 99.9% of the fans will care about.
I mean I'm glad this was bought up, as it changes the entire experience for me. I now feel like I need to play both Metroid Prime 3 and the Trilogy, so as I get to experience the dramatic difference.

damn, damn hasn't been a bad word since 1985.

cihx

It's not like anyone will notice, or care.

@MARl0: I was simply speaking from my experiences. The Metroid games are some of the hardest I've ever experienced.

@MARl0: You can't be serious...

@ostartero: The edit now makes it seem like the commander is contradicting the report.

He's telling him they're headed for the home base and he responds with a "No, they're targeting the planetary-defense system".

Interesting, though I doubt it would change anything in the story anyways.

Noooooo..

@Gemini-Phoenix: To this day, I mourn Mei Ling's original accent. ;_;

@(Zombie) Goldwings: although that was long I watched it all and laughed. thankyou for the lulz.

excaleranth

I don't care so long as there are tubes.

@Gouki4u: Right. Christians, for example, never use electricity.

'360 Fanboy

It's all very petty to be honest. In my opinion, if a game is rereleased as part of a collection or bundle, it should remain in its original form, unless there are known bugs or glitches which plagued the original release.

Too many game these days are getting rereleases which are edited from their original source material. If it was good enough to have been released once, then it should still be good enough for release

@GameBuddy - Doesn't like tomatoes on his sandvich.: Difficulty curve? In Metroid? Metroid has never been any more difficult than Nintendo's other big franchises like Mario and Zelda. Hell, in most cases the Metroid series is probably easier than the average Mario and Zelda game.

MARl0

@AnOkayLumberjack: you are so right.

excaleranth

@IamNinja: There are a lot of sensitive idiots out there. Just looking out for my ass.

@excaleranth: or remove even

excaleranth

@Outkastprince: could they have thought of a shittier word to include?

excaleranth

@darktrooper2112: Hey! I have that Oblivion too!

excaleranth

@doughboyx: I'm glad somebody said it. I've already got my receipt out.

Ornithopterx

@Outkastprince: ENOUGH OF THE FUCKING LANGUAGE NINTENDO!

yanipheonu

@PSWii2008: And for comparison's sake, here's the original rap from DK64, with moving pictures!

Shucks.

Edit: Wow. That (sort of) works on multiple levels.

Seriously............ That's just ridiculous...... Why? It's not like it hurt any one or anyone cringed when they heard it..... are you stupid or something Nintendo?

@Mister 32: Here's the DK Rap remixed for Brawl! "Heck" replaces "Hell" around 2:58.

@(Zombie) Goldwings: That's exactly how I feel! Smart you are.

@(Zombie) Goldwings: Does there really need to be a warning on a George Carlin video? :p It's to be expected.

Nintendo is so retardedly paranoid. I wish Nintendo would loosen up and listen to some of their customers.

kirstpo

@(Zombie) Goldwings: I've actually been saying this for years. Who the Hell decided what words were swears and how potent they were?

It's a good thing I kept my copy of Prime 3...it's now a collector's edition!

It can sit on the shelf next to my 'hot coffee' San Andreas and my 'T' rated Oblivion.

Isn't it rated T anyway? It's not like taking it out would make it automatically E...

NeonLight

How odd. Almost as odd as when the DK Rap lost its "Hell" in SSBB...
Anyone else catch that?

The only place where 'damn' is actually considered offensive is hell.

Obviously the word "damn" made the game fun. Without it, Metroid Prime 3 is nothing.

doughboyx

@SiegWarheit: No! I hope that was sarcasm!

dreamparacite

@Crunch King: Yeah, we're pretty damn happy with the way we say our damned swears, dammit.

wox42

@Ping5000 IS OUTRAGED BY BLIZZARD'S VOICE CAST: It's so trivial and irrelevant that I can't believe Nintendo bothered to change it.

robpe36

It's ok Nintendo, really. I think we've already discussed this "naughty word" before.

"they made a real bone headed move there". I dont see how it is that big of a change

This is so trivial and irrelevant that I'm not surprised some people are making such a big fucking deal out of this.

@'360 Fanboy: Yeah, but those religious groups aren't allowed to use electricity.

I really don't get it. Metroid has never been aimed at youngins (at least, I never picked one up until my teens due to the difficulty curve) and the entire serious just reeks of maturity.

What's one damn?

@rorkimaru: They changed the "Damn" to a "No" didn't they?

He sounds alot less pissed in Trilogy.

"nooo"

Sounds like a "noo" that would be said answering this question "Do you think censoring is good?"..."nooo"

TheVegetarianBurgerKing

Anyone else remember Barkley Shut Up and Jam!?

I recall as a young lad renting that for the Sega Genesis and hearing Charles Barkley's voice say, "Go get the damn ball," and nearly dropping the controller in shock. I had never heard a videogame use that kind of language before, and it was rated GA for general audiences, which means "no profanity."

This story just reminded me of that.

@Outkastprince: dammit! so was i.

Good. I was offended by that fucking word.

Outkastprince

Oh no. The game's ruined now because a mild curse word has been taken out. My enjoyment of the game has been destroyed forever.

PlatformJunkie

@Blitzgrilo: ha ha ha ha ha. amazing

belsunce

@TaylorEatWorld: please tell me where...

@fronsac: No word should be offensive, only by the context it is used.
In fact swears are only swears because people have told us so since we were youngins.

When I first noticed this, I was extremely annoyed. Metroid Prime 3 never even got Mild Language as part of the age rating. I recall the word being used once in Me & My Katamari, an E-Rated title and countless times in Shadow the Hedgehog, an E10+-Rated title, so I doubt a mild presence in a T-Rated title would be a big deal. (I don't know about other rating systems, but I doubt it made a difference there anyway.)

Normally, I wouldn't make a big deal out of this sort of thing, but first of all, I doubt the zeitgeist has changed enough that the consensus would be that damn is more offensive than it was two years ago.

What's more, this sort of de facto censorship is killing the artistic merit of video games, as well as its immersion. If there's one thing we should know, it's that there's a time and place for everything, and I think most would agree that swearing (if "damn" can even be considered a word profane enough to describe as such) is an appropriate exclaimation under the condition that a fleet of alien pirates are fucking your shit up.

AnOkayLumberjack

This is getting ridiculous. Damn is not offensive at all, except to some extra right wing religious nut (after all, it does come from the word "damned").

Companies are going to have to realise that people speak this way at some point. I remember watching a cop drama on TV and it seemed allright until the MAFIA BOSS said "those effin cops". What??? Your show plays at 10 in the evening. Kids should be sleeping! If you can't have the boss of the mafia say "fucking cops", then move on to another network. Nobody is going to take this show seriously (it was cancelled after a few episodes and reviewers complained about how cheesy criminals sounded, this was on ABC if I recall correctly). Part of what made the Sopranos good is that the characters were't dilluted. It is exactly how people expect the mob boss to speak.

fronsac

With the amount of cursing in HOD OverKill does this really matters. The Wii is home to many violent, bad language games. Just not made by Nintendo. So!

Oh man, with such a smooth edit there's no way people will notice something's off! I could've sworn that was the original, it just sounds so natural.

Nobuyuki

Hmm. I guess I'm the only one here who thinks the original "damn" was kinda out of place to begin with?

anywho...

wonder6oy

@Weirdwolf England's Ashes are yummy with rabbits and coleslaw!: You trying to use the word XXXX because that word still needs patching :I

@(Zombie) Goldwings: agreed.

@togovero: Yeah, they didn't even change the speech sample, they just cut of the very end of it in hopes that somebody hears 'car' instead of 'god'.

Censorship like this is totally ga...ga!

This reminds me of the good ol' days: "OH, MY GOD" in Final Fight SNES NA+pal version became "OH, MY CAR"...

@SiegWarheit: Damn, I hope that was sarcasm!

That reminds me of when X says "damn" in the the Anniversary Collection version of Mega Man X. That was just so damn hilarious.

They couldn't take the time to write "No!" into the caption after removing the evil foulness that used to be there?

That's just lazy... if you're going to do something, follow through and complete the change, damn it.

Isentropic_Storm

@Crunch King: It's going to be considered "slightly offensive" to certain religious groups. It'll be that way in most places.

'360 Fanboy

For some reason this reminded me of this clip:
[www.youtube.com]

TheHeeyyy

This censorship is uncalled for I am never playing another nintendo game ever. They ruined the entire metroid franchise with that.

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS "NAUGHTY" LANGUAGE

Damn is just another word created by the human race and it just so happens to be a "bad word". Censoring fucking sucks.

Nintendo wanted to stay as far away from Damnation as possible.

@'360 Fanboy: that would require a voice actor, which means paying money. Something Ninty hoped to minimize on this venture

How...random...

Rebochan

Why not insert Fuck instead? Even NPCs have stress and fears some time...

Blitzgrilo

OMGsdjh TEH ORIGINAL VERSION IS SO MUCH BETTER!

postcards

The voice acting made me laugh heartily. Anyway, can't see what difference it makes one way or the other. Is it going to affect your enjoyment of the game at all? Damn... I mean No!

Thank God they took it off, my 22 year old sister saw this scene by chance when i first played this game and she lost her innocence.

Thanks Nintendo for doing the right thing.

And by right thing, i mean pointless.

@sazzrah: Sadly, you sometime have to do this because of the insane people that think there kids went crazy over that stuff. Little do they know, there kids were already insane.

Son of a biscuit, that is one dang stupid piece of censorship.

Tom Servo

Needs more Ron Simmons.
Damn, Nintendo. Why you gotta water it down?

Nintendo doesn't give a damn about what any of you think about this censorship.

@-Skyline-: Voted Crecente 12': No!

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: Here to Create a Star Commenter Empire: Don't use so many god-no swear words!

@Crunch King: My mom is as conservative as they come, and she says damn occasionally.

I don't think it's really an issue here, either.

@Crunch King: Shit man, it's even in the Bible.

TaylorEatWorld

Dayumn! It's crazy what is considered offensive and too obscene for children these days... Like hearing the word damn is gonna make them go out and massacre their friends and family with their school compass.

Damn (pun intended), this certainly takes me back to the SNES days when even the least offensive symbol or word was removed/changed because the POSSIBILITY of offending someone.

I dunno. Censorship like this gives me a good old-school vibe.

RockyRan

censorship is funny... especially when its stupid

LuppyLuptonium

damn thats wierd

Damn isn't even considered the slightest bit offensive here in England... don't know about the situation in the States, but this just seems petty and unnecessary.

In related news the games "Damnation" and "GTA4 Lost and Damned", have been renamed Darnation and "GTA4 Lost and Those Without Hope of Redemption".

The system works.

I was not aware you could castrate a female before this very post.

Thanks, Nintendo!

OMGLX

I remember playing the Megaman Anniversary Collection for the GameCube. The word Damn was censored in Megaman 7. Why, I don't know.

They should've just changed it to good ol' reliable "blast".

'360 Fanboy

SWEAT FOR BLOOD! SWEAT FOR BLOOD!

Good ol' Nintendo...

spiderweb1986

Damn, the damn word "damn" is put into damnation.

Hello stupid pointless censorship.

Cheater87

I wanna see the word Damnation removed form all the holy bibles as well. I feel that it's outrageous!

Man in the mirror

That was retarded...

Djungelurban

Damn....

-Skyline-: Voted Crecente 12'