Actually, that's a nice way of putting it. The fact is that a few short decades ago Germany thought it was perfectly fine to exterminate an entire race of people. They still think it's fine to show children having sex with donkeys on public television, yet one drop of blood in a video-game spells instant doom for our civilization so they make game developers create an entirely different version of every game that is released. We simply don't have the resources to support RETAIL, STEAM, D2D and GERMAN RETAIL, STEAM, D2D, etc with every single patch that is released.
German users can find and use an English no-cd fix for trainer compatibility.
I am german - and it is a lie that we "still think it's fine to show children having sex with donkeys on public television" ?? Don't know how somebody can really believe such a rumor.
In fact - Germany has a very hard child-welfare and Laws for the protection of minors. This does not only hit Computergames - it hits Drugs, Sex, Alcohol, Nicotin as well.
And it is not true that one drop of blood becomes only a 16+ Version available. There are also 18+ Uncut german Versions in Retail Stores available. But Steam does not sell them and the Developers of BlackOps decided to make a 16+ Version because for 18+ Games there is no public marketing allowed! Electronic Arts have a better Solution in their Shop. They sell the 18+ Versions of their Games online at german IP Ranges only between 10 PM and 6 AM.
BTW - Games getting 18+ certificate if Violence is showed just for Fun and not in a ficitve Scenario. Crysis for example is not cencsored in Germany and available in a 16+ and a 18+ Version. Hope this could explain the german handling a little bit.
[Edited by redlabour, 11/30/2010 11:18:44 AM]
And the blood shown in the german Version is not that much less then in the PEGI Edition. It is quiet enough to get a real gaming Feeling without useless violence.
[Edited by redlabour, 12/1/2010 7:18:02 AM]