Nintendo has recalled all UK copies of Mario Party 8 because it contains an offensive word. But why is the gaming industry so accident prone?
The Nintendo Wii version of Mario Party 8 hit the shelves last week amid much hype. But then Nintendo realised that some copies of the game included the word: 'spastic'. Which is certainly offensive.
A Nintendo statement says: "Unfortunately we have discovered that a small number of games contain the wrong version of the disk due to an assembly error.
"We have therefore decided to recall all copies of the game from UK retailers so that this mistake can be corrected."
How does that happen then? I mean, I can understand the 'assembly error' (even PC Advisor makes msitakes), but at what point in a game's development do the creatives see fit to include such a deeply offensive term?
And it seems more than odd to me that a disk containing such a blunder would be lying around so late in the production process.
It's not the first time such a thing has occurred, of course. Indeed, only last month, Ubisoft was forced to pull all European copies of DS game Mind Quiz after it was found to contain offensive comments. Comments offensive to people with learning disabilities, as it goes. Spotting a theme here?
At the time Ubisoft said the game was developed in Japan, and that the phrases used had different connotations there. Which doesn't say a lot for quality control at Ubisoft (or Japanese humour).
In the old days I'd usually bet that any 'controversy' over a new game was manufactured for publicity purposes. (Title not getting enough attention? Include Jesus and a bazooka.) But the gaming community would balk at poking fun at people with learning disabilities, surely?
Nintendo will announce a new release date for the cleaned up Mario Party 8 soon.
Comments
Beromu said: A word that might mean learning disabled in the UK might not mean that elsewhere Another example fanny means butt in the USA In the UK it means vagina I sense a problem
Derk McGuie said: Ok are you a palsy victim and personally offended by the word spastastic Cause if you are Ill try to refrain but Im pretty sure most of you arent so quit getting so excited over words Man facisim seems to rear its ugly lil head everywhere In the name of everything that is unoffensive and pure I hereby condemn the use of these words Hah yea right It is all in the freakin context baby
Britany said: Yes Jameson But thisNintendo said Unfortunately we have discovered that a small number of games contain the wrong version of the disk due to an assembly error is not jargon It is English
Jameson said: Jargon is just a bunch of unnecessary technical terms like a lawyer using large legal terms to bolster his clients confidence in him or to confuse someone less knowledgeable
Jameson Zane said: In North America spaz means to be clumsy freak outget really mad or a title for someone who makes themselves look bad infront of their friendsIt just doesnt have the same meaning as it does in the UKSpaz being innocent slang and spastic being only a regular wordThe game was evidently being designed for non-UK destinations where the word is not offensive
JF said: Cause its spastic
Britany said: Why do the comments add your comments multiple times when you only click the button once
Britany said: Williamg please learn what a word means before you use it Jargon refers to a set of words used within a set profession such as sports jargon journalistic jargon etc that are typically understood by those in contact with said professionPersonally I dont believe that this is an attempt at extra publicity but merely shipshod work on the part of the translation crewThat being said as an American I also find American accents amusing I do not have one of my own but the accents in Texas are even better even if television programming does tend to exaggerate them a bit
Britany said: Williamg please learn what a word means before you use it Jargon refers to a set of words used within a set profession such as sports jargon journalistic jargon etc that are typically understood by those in contact with said professionPersonally I dont believe that this is an attempt at extra publicity but merely shipshod work on the part of the translation crewThat being said as an American I also find American accents amusing I do not have one of my own but the accents in Texas are even better even if television programming does tend to exaggerate them a bit
DaveB said: I guess the nearest US equivalent would be retarded
Jason S Lee said: Heres what I thinkWhen going from Japanese to English translations most developers have America not England in mind In that case words such as spastic have a much different and less offensive connotation and since there is probably only one set of english translators working on a given game it would make sense certain words that may be inoffensive in some cultures will end up in an UK version of a game and end up meaning something different
Britany said: Williamg please learn what a word means before you use it Jargon refers to a set of words used within a set profession such as sports jargon journalistic jargon etc that are typically understood by those in contact with said professionPersonally I dont believe that this is an attempt at extra publicity but merely shipshod work on the part of the translation crewThat being said as an American I also find American accents amusing I do not have one of my own but the accents in Texas are even better even if television programming does tend to exaggerate them a bit
Britany said: Williamg please learn what a word means before you use it Jargon refers to a set of words used within a set profession such as sports jargon journalistic jargon etc that are typically understood by those in contact with said professionPersonally I dont believe that this is an attempt at extra publicity but merely shipshod work on the part of the translation crewThat being said as an American I also find American accents amusing I do not have one of my own but the accents in Texas are even better even if television programming does tend to exaggerate them a bit
Michael from the US said: For all those who are wondering in the US the terms spastic and spaz is used almost exclusively as a general inoffensive term for people who are clumsy or over-excited Over here in the US the word is so innocuous it is even frequently used in childrens programming
Michael from the US said: For all those who are wondering in the US the terms spastic and spaz is used almost exclusively as a general inoffensive term for people who are clumsy or over-excited Over here in the US the word is so innocuous it is even frequently used in childrens programming
Michael from the US said: For all those who are wondering in the US the terms spastic and spaz is used almost exclusively as a general inoffensive term for people who are clumsy or over-excited Over here in the US the word is so innocuous it is even frequently used in childrens programming
Michael from the US said: For all those who are wondering in the US the terms spastic and spaz is used almost exclusively as a general inoffensive term for people who are clumsy or over-excited Over here in the US the word is so innocuous it is even frequently used in childrens programming
Matt Egan said: Im certain I speak for all citizens of the UK when I say that the American accent is simply lovely Funny yes but lovely nonetheless
Vic Flange said: America does has a different attitude to the S word from us At least they do on this site anywaywwwplanetmobilitycomstorew
Nate said: Everything is a matter of perspective really Its like our accents Most of us Americans think that you guys in the UK have really funny accents whereas from what I understand you guys think the same thing about us