Activision's X360 / PS3 / PC FPS Wolfenstein (our review) is getting pulled from the shelves in Germany, according to German site PC Games. While it has not been confirmed, all indications appear that it is the appearance of in-game swastikas that have lead to the recall.
Any showing of the swastika is a big no-no in Germany. As you are probably aware, the swastika was an ancient Indian spiritual symbol denoting good luck -- until the Nazi's co-opted it, and made it their own.
Activision and the studios involved in making Wolfenstein certainly must have known how controversial the symbol is, so the appearance of the swastika in the game must be a relatively minor one. Even in the third Wolfenstein game, way back in the 640KB-of-RAM days of 1992, Wolfenstein 3D, the appearance of the swastika caused some trouble and had to be removed for future ports. Germany also banned the game in 1994. Now a days, generally in games, instead of the swastika, the German World War II Iron Cross symbol is used.
It should again be noted that Activision is doing the recall, they have not been set-upon by the German authorities. "Although it is not a conspicuous element that also in the normal game can at best be seen in the short term, we have decided to take this game immediately from the German market," read a Google-translated German press release.
Perhaps the offending images are in files that are not used by the game, so Activision is taking the safe bet by recalling the title, to head off any possibility of a sort of Nazi-twinged Hot Coffee fiasco for the publisher.
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