Despite Sega announcing House of the Dead: Overkill yesterday at Leipzig, the game will not see a release in Germany. Shortly after revealing the new game, Sega delivered a brief press release stating that The House of the Dead: Overkill and Madworld (both Wii exclusive titles, published by Sega) would not be released in Germany.

This is not the first setback that has plagued Madworld. Mediawatch-UK has already called for the title to be banned in the UK, alleging that it will spoil the family fun image of the Wii.

Germany has strict censorship regulations and it seems that Sega has predicted that The House of the Dead: Overkill would be banned in any event. Sega Germany “deeply regrets this decision” but “based on the images shown so far, an ESRB release would be possible but very unlikely.”

It is doubtful that Sega will change the game play so the titles can be released in Germany. This is not the first title that German gamers will miss out on, Gears of War was also effectively banned in Germany in 2006. Microsoft did not release Gears of War in Germany after the game was refused a rating there.

Dead Rising suffered a similar fate in 2006. The game was denied a rating and since Microsoft does not allow unrated games to be published for the Xbox 360 in Germany, Dead Rising was effectively banned in Germany.

Source: Nintendo-Online