China bans 50 video games

If you believe the western press, Beijing manderines have decided to ban 50 computer games on the grounds that they provide a negative influence on youth. The list given includes such enemies to the communist state as FIFA Soccer 2005 and Microsoft's Age of Mythology which sounds absurd.

However if you have a look at the Chinese reports of the same crackdown, you discover that the whole business is an attack on pirated software and has nothing to do with yoof degeneration.

China has been trying to do something about the massive amount of pirated software in the wake of it joining the international trade community.

There are some 'illegally distributed foreign games' on the list including Conflict Vietnam, Vietcong: Fist Alpha and Devastation, but these are by far the minority and are not the big titles mentioned in the western press.

The Chinese administration has called for relevant departments across the country to clean up the electronic publications and software markets, confiscate any of the 50 games found and hold the publishers, producers and distributors of these games accountable. µ