Metal Gear Solid... tickling?

[Sorcerer Lance]

I've no idea if it was discussed here or not, but I just felt utterly compelled to share this...

I recently beat Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and read up some character info on the Metal Gear Wikia, then came across an interesting tidbit that the electric torture scene was censored in the Japanese version of the game and made into... tickling rods.

Of course, I just had to look it up on Youtube to see if that was true, considering anybody can edit a wiki article and make up stuff... and oh my God, it's true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud7YhYnTQHg


I have absolutely no idea what to think about this... I thought it was just so bizarre to the point it's hilarious.

 

[Critical Kai]

What. The. Fuuuuck!? XD

 

[tehalienfetus]

.....Serious?

 

[Violetta]

Japan, I know I ask a lot of questions, but... you do know this is a Metal Gear game, right?

 

[stork]

*facepalm*

 

[DaDebble]

Kind of ruins the game for me and I'm a MGS fan. Very lame.

 

[Violetta]

So remember everyone, think of this whenever you encounter one of those people who insists that the Japanese version of any game or whatever is the "true" version.

 

[Rockerzord]

So remember everyone, think of this whenever you encounter one of those people who insists that the Japanese version of any game or whatever is the "true" version.

Actually I was thinking the same thing.. If the game was made in Japan shound't this supposed to be what really happens in Metal Gear Solid?

 

[Sorcerer Lance]

Actually I was thinking the same thing.. If the game was made in Japan shound't this supposed to be what really happens in Metal Gear Solid?

the reason for the censorship was to keep the game teen-rated since the game was originally for the PSP... I guess Japan's censorship is a bit stricter than ours when it comes to what's acceptable for teen-rated games.

 

[reinforcments]

I am greatly disturbed.

 

[Cosmo_ac1]

doesn't bother me one bit. More tickling out there, the better, IMO.

 

[Tom Tickle]

I remember one of the games featuring a character called Eva. She'd get it.

 

[Sir Bombers]

Heh... good concept...but totally ruins the emotions of the scene and kills the dire nature of the torture altogether... it just doesn't fit with the seriousness...


With as brilliant as Kojima is, I'm sure he could have found another way to censor this for the Japanese buyers...

Apparently though after doing some reading on this, Kojima isn't happy that he had to do censoring for this game in general. If I were to go on a whim, I would say he purposefully made the Japanese version of the torture scene ridiculous as a way to show his displeasure with the Japanese video game rating system forcing him to do this.

However on the flip side, he could have just kept the game on the mature rating instead of trying to broaden the scope with a "Teen" rating. Almost every MGS game has been rated mature, so with that in mind, it seems silly that he would consider shooting for a lower age rating when the majority of fans are in the mature age range anyway....

 

[DaDebble]

Remember people. This was done because the Playstation Portable is more of a console aimed toward younger audiences in Japan, while in the West it's more of an 'adult console' too. They did it so they could get the game have a T-rating so the sales would increase. Personally I find it a lot more perverse than electroshock torture as was the initial intent. Don't you agree? Terrible!

 

[DarthGrinn]

I would have just removed the torture all together, and made it more of an intellectual/psychological interrogation session. While I haven't played this specific game, generally speaking, I dislike torture scenes. I find that they almost never really add nothing sophisticated to the plot.

Anybody remember Spycraft: The Great game? In one scene you have to interrogate Ying, and you have the option to go the legitimate route, and use your tools and wits, or take her down to the "bullpen" to administer some shock treatment. The interrogation route was so much fun, and the dialogue revealed a lot about the character. I'd like to see more games with intelligent interrogation scenes. I've never tried the bullpen route, because I always tend to roleplay as the "lawful-good" archetype.

 

[OSUchamps]

I would have just removed the torture all together, and made it more of an intellectual/psychological interrogation session.

I agree. While almost every Solid game seems to have a torture scene, the only one what was done with any sort of real finesse IMO was Snake Eater's--which, oddly enough, was also the most brutal. But it was a scene that worked really well within the context of the story and gave the player a deeper connection with Naked Snake.

the Japanese Peacewalker's is just silly, and they're a bit overdone by now, anyway. A psychological interrogation would have been a nice change of pace at the very least, and I'm surprised Kojima went this route.