German officials demand Darkness changes
Officials in Germany have demanded that 2K Games make changes to their game The Darkness before it can be released in their country.
Take-Two has been forced to reschedule the German launch of next-generation action game The Darkness after the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) requested changes in order to meet ratings requirements.
Nazi symbols, a finishing move and several mechanics relating to "Darklings" have had to be removed in order to satisfy the board's demands. The finishing move - a CGI sequence showing a human heart being ripped out - must be replaced by a yellowish-green-fog "soul absorption" instead.
The requested changes will affect both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, and Take-Two has rescheduled the game for release on July 27 in order to satisfy the USK's demands.
The Xbox 360 version of The Darkness was released in the UK today, June 29.
The game, based on the top-selling Top Cow comic book of the same name, has achieved high ratings in reviews from a number of single- and multi-format publications including GamesIndustry.biz' sister site Eurogamer.net.
Take-Two recently confirmed that the PS3 version would be released across Europe in July following an unrelated delay.