View Full Version : Mario Party 8 game pulled from UK store shelves
Xevious
07-16-2007, 07:57 PM
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3161342
Mario Party 8 Pulled in UK for Offensive Term
Term that derailed Mind Quiz strikes again.
By Andrew Hayward (http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=5738964), 07/16/2007
In an odd and rather familiar bit of news, Nintendo has recalled all copies of the just-released Mario Party 8 (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3154883) in the United Kingdom due to the games use of a term considered offensive to disabled persons.
According to CVG (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=168149), Kamek the blue wizard utters the following phrase during the game: "Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!" Intrepid observers will notice that this is the same term (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3160708) that forced Ubisoft to pull Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3157149) off of UK store shelves just weeks ago.
A statement posted on the official Nintendo Europe (http://www.nintendo-europe.com/NOE/en/GB/news/article.do?elementId=_jR0wKfS2CwpY0y7n8lt4K8-wPFfex7l) website on Friday reads: "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."
Mario Party 8 for the Wii had just hit the UK on Friday, but now is being retooled to remove the offending phrase. A new release date is expected to be announced in the near future.
Rocko
07-16-2007, 08:38 PM
The fuck is offensive about that?
integralsmatic
07-16-2007, 08:46 PM
dunno but i guess its offensive to disabled people in England............
flizmo007
07-16-2007, 08:53 PM
Wiki: Spastic
A sufferer of spasticity. This usage is generally believed to have been popularized from its use in the name of The Spastics Society, a charity for people with cerebral palsy. As a result of the next listed usage, this usage has become offensive to many.
A politically incorrect term of abuse for an ungainly or physically inept person, as in "You're such a spastic" (also colloquially abbreviated to "spa", "spaz", "spag", "spack", "spacko" and "spacker"), derived from a popular misconception that those with any physical disability resulting in spasticity would necessarily also have a mental or developmental disability.
HotShotX
07-16-2007, 08:57 PM
For the love of God, suck it up or don't buy the damned game. I hate this politically correct bullshit.
~HotShotX
AshesofWake
07-16-2007, 09:11 PM
i don't get it?
Rocko
07-16-2007, 09:28 PM
Well that's some stupid shit.
hohez
07-16-2007, 09:38 PM
Those damn spackers strike again.
the offensive screenshot
http://www.aussie-nintendo.com/images/NEWS/marioparty8_recall.jpg
Rocko
07-16-2007, 09:42 PM
the offensive screenshot
http://www.aussie-nintendo.com/images/NEWS/marioparty8_recall.jpg
MY EYES! THEY BURN!
ZEE GOGGLES! ZEY DO NAHSINK!
argyle
07-16-2007, 09:43 PM
"Nintendo later announced that the offending term would be replaced with 'fucking retarded'.
anyway this is not the first time something from US is offensive in UK or other countries. The second Austin Power movie The Spy who shagged Me had to cut out the word "shag" in the UK.
dinovelvet
07-16-2007, 09:51 PM
anyway this is not the first time something from US is offensive in UK or other countries. The second Austin Power movie The Spy who shagged Me had to cut out the word "shag" in the UK.
No, it/they didn't. Where did you get that from?
No, it/they didn't. Where did you get that from?
from wikipedia
In the UK, two sets of TV adverts for the film existed, pre- and post-watershed. The former was designed to air during daytime hours and only gave part of the title, ("Austin Powers: The Spy Who—"), before cutting off with one of a range of slightly suggestive scenes from the film, such as Austin squeezing out the contents of a sunscreen bottle. The post watershed adverts, aired later in the evening, gave the full title. There were also two variations of the movie posters; one of them asterisked out the middle of the offending word or had named the film as "Austin Powers 2".
Singapore briefly forced a title change to "The Spy Who Shioked Me" ("shioked" means "treated nicely").
Stoneage
07-16-2007, 10:09 PM
I went to www.spaz.org and I have no idea what it is. I bet the word "stupid" will be taken offense to next by....well.....stupid people.
help1
07-16-2007, 10:14 PM
Ugh.
PyroGamer
07-16-2007, 10:19 PM
I'm all for being politically correct, this was obviously a mistake on Nintendo's part, while it may be a bit much to recall all the units, I would be pretty pissed if they released a game that was so blithe in its attitude toward those so unfortunately disabled.
eugaet
07-16-2007, 10:40 PM
I'm pretty sure they meant to go with the other, non-slang definition, as in spastic colon.
You can thank me later for bringing 'spastic colon' into the discussion.
Sorry to be an irritable arsehole.
OK, I'm done now.
Friend of Sonic
07-16-2007, 11:00 PM
I think the most offensive thing about Mario Party is the lack of 16:9 support.
Sofa King Kool
07-17-2007, 12:28 AM
That's rediculous.
SimplyBlue
07-17-2007, 12:39 AM
Being that this was my first Mario Party game, I enjoyed most of the gameplay but pressing the A button through dialogues is getting to me. I can't imagine playing this game with 3 other people and waiting for them to get through their dialogue!! And yeah those borders are irritating too. Good thing I bought this for $30 so I could most probably recoup that money on Ebay easily.
Demolition Man
07-17-2007, 12:56 AM
:rolleyes:
Seriously.... political correctness is going overboard.
defiance_17
07-17-2007, 01:50 AM
I guess it's pretty offensive over there--worse than "retard" to us, I've been lead to believe. Understandable that they'd pull it, in my opinion--not that it would necessarily bother me personally, but I don't know if I'd appreciate Nintendo characters chanting "retard." Call me old-fashioned.
maigoyume
07-17-2007, 01:52 AM
i thought the reason was because of a glitch that didn't allow you to boot up the game
dinovelvet
07-17-2007, 02:03 AM
from wikipedia
In the UK, two sets of TV adverts for the film existed, pre- and post-watershed. The former was designed to air during daytime hours and only gave part of the title, ("Austin Powers: The Spy Who—"), before cutting off with one of a range of slightly suggestive scenes from the film, such as Austin squeezing out the contents of a sunscreen bottle. The post watershed adverts, aired later in the evening, gave the full title. There were also two variations of the movie posters; one of them asterisked out the middle of the offending word or had named the film as "Austin Powers 2".
Singapore briefly forced a title change to "The Spy Who Shioked Me" ("shioked" means "treated nicely").
I see, well that's the tv ads, I thought you were implying the word was cut out of the film altogether. That'd make for a slightly surreal Austin Powers experience...
benjamouth
07-17-2007, 08:59 AM
Well anyone who got the game will be able to make some bank on Ebay selling their "Mario Party 8: Super Spastic Edition".
I think the word has been taken out of context a bit, I think it means "to go crazy" in this context.
I'm from the UK and I don't find the word particularly offensive. But then again I'm not disabled so I don't know how offensive it is.
pete5883
07-17-2007, 09:16 AM
I guess the UK actually has some standards. Oh wait, it was because of a word? Never mind.
Cyb3-rr
07-18-2007, 05:45 PM
Pulled from dictionary.com for the word spasm:
2. any sudden, brief spell of great energy, activity, feeling, etc.
Also, regarding the origin of "spastic": lit. "drawing, pulling," from span "draw up" (see spasm).
Which is where they pulled the word 'spastic' from. After the dialog, they pull a car up from the middle of the train and move it to the back, via that koopa wizards magic. It makes perfect sense in this context.
Quite simply, this whole ordeal is incredibly stupid.