Mafia II banned in UAE

2K Games have come in for some heavy criticism this past month, first with UNICO, the United States largest Italian-American heritage foundation, asking them and their parent company, Take-Two Interactive, not to release the game.

Andre DiMino, the organisations president spoke of the "inappropriate and insulting perpetuation of the pervasive and denigrating stereotype of organized crime being the exclusive domain of Italians and Italian-Americans." Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two’s chairman hit back at these accusations, "Mafia II tells a compelling story about organized crime in America - a subject that for decades has been featured in movies, television shows and novels."

      

 

Now it’s the turn of an entire country, with the United Arab Emirates banning the game entirely from retail sale, this follows the ban of other recent gaming titles such as: Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption and Heavy Rain.

The National Media Council has not given any reasons for the ban, but with the game being rated Mature (18) by the ESRB and other such governing bodies, the likelihood is due to the game featuring heavy doses of some or all of the following: blood, intense violence, nudity, sexual content, strong language and uses of drugs or alcohol. 2K Games and Take-Two have yet to respond to the announcement.

Mafia II is currently out for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and OnLive.
 

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed