Nintendo pulls game for derogatory remark
Published: July 17, 2007 at 11:23 AM
LONDON, July 17 (UPI) -- Video games giant Nintendo has removed a game from sale in Britain because the game uses the word "spastic" in its script.
It is the second time in a month Nintendo has had to remove a game from stores for using an offensive word, the Times of London reported Tuesday.
"Mario Party 8," a multi-player game for Wii console, went on sale in Britain Friday but was recalled after the mistake was found. In the game, a character says, "Magikoopa Magic! Turn the train, spastic! Make this ticket tragic!"
"Unfortunately we have discovered that a small number of games contain the wrong version of the disk due to an assembly error," Nintendo said in a statement. "We have therefore decided to recall all copies of the game from U.K. retailers so that this mistake can be corrected."
Earlier this month, Nintendo DS' "MindQuiz" was pulled because it branded players who achieved low scores "spastics" and "super-spastics."
Games experts said computer game translation, like film dubbing, was prone to errors because translation services often did not consider how the meaning of a word can change from culture to culture.
It is the second time in a month Nintendo has had to remove a game from stores for using an offensive word, the Times of London reported Tuesday.
"Mario Party 8," a multi-player game for Wii console, went on sale in Britain Friday but was recalled after the mistake was found. In the game, a character says, "Magikoopa Magic! Turn the train, spastic! Make this ticket tragic!"
"Unfortunately we have discovered that a small number of games contain the wrong version of the disk due to an assembly error," Nintendo said in a statement. "We have therefore decided to recall all copies of the game from U.K. retailers so that this mistake can be corrected."
Earlier this month, Nintendo DS' "MindQuiz" was pulled because it branded players who achieved low scores "spastics" and "super-spastics."
Games experts said computer game translation, like film dubbing, was prone to errors because translation services often did not consider how the meaning of a word can change from culture to culture.
© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
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This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
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