The Sharjah municipality in the UAE has banned Sony’s God of War, according to a report in Gulf News.
Government officials apparently felt that the game, rated M in the U.S. market, violated local norms. From the Gulf News report:
A UAE national said he was one of the people who was shocked to discover that the game was distributed in commercial areas…
“I knew that it was banned, but many of my friends were able to buy pirated copies from Dh5 to Dh10. I was shocked to see how much it contradicted Islamic values,” said Khalid Bin Deemas, adding that it was dangerous as the video game was popular among children.
The permanent fatwa committee has instructed all concerned government departments to forbid the sale of such games and to confiscate them.
