But these facts raise an important questions: when does localization cross the line of censorship? Aren’t these changes killing some of the game’s fun?

In order to illustrate my thoughts, Yakuza 3 on PS3 shows well how thin the frontier between censorship and localization can be. A lot of gamers complained because some scenes and important elements of the games where changed when the game made it to US.

It was certainly a disappointment for gamers who expected to have the same game as the Japanese one after reading reviews and news in video game magazines or forums.

Now if you look at it, most gamers actually are adult and will absolutely not care to find certain elements. In fact, their absence may come as a huge disappointment for them and alter their gaming experience. So should developers think a little more about what public they are targetting, or just assume anyone may buy the game by accident, and thus edit it?.

Video game localization should be given more consideration, and before censoring, developers should rather listen to their gamers at first.

xoxo