Video Games in Your Nation

[The Northern Kingdoms]

What is the status of video games in your nation?

Are they rated? Are certain games censored or banned?

Is the gaming industry (sales of video games, sales by tournaments, festivals, etc) popular here?

How about consoles/handhelds? What kind of consoles/handhelds are available in your nation?

In the Northern Kingdoms, video games are not censored or banned, but they are rated, although study shows that only 30-40% of Northern Kingdomers follow ratings. The gaming industry is the 3rd most popular industry here.

As for consoles, here is the top 3 consoles for the Northern Kingdoms:
1. PC
2. Xbox One/PS4 (tied)
3. Nintendo 3DS

[Czardom Republic]

As my country developes, so does the video game industry. It is a booming industry, filled with strategy games akin to the civilisation series, FPS games etc. etc.
There is no rating system, however before a game is made public domain, a group of video game experts must make sure the game is competitive, balanced etc. which means games such as CoD would not be approved, whereas games like halo would be.
Consoles available are the same as the ones in real life.

[Penguin Union Nation]

As I had previously said in a Weekly Fact thread:

The Penguin Union Nation now has one of the most thriving video game industries in the world, boasting 2.3 million different titles a year in just the main console and PC market alone. Most of them are sequels to Grand Theft Blotto, a game about bar fights, but there you are.

We have all the popular home gaming consoles, like the WiiU, XBox, Playstations, what have you, but also have a market for dedicated custom home gaming machines and a thriving independent market. And we lack the grinding misogyny of most of gaming culture, so there's a lot of variety in both the gaming and gamers.

[Desdenea]

We don't have games because... we don't play.

[The New Dog Nation]

Yes, we have plenty of video games.

We even have this online political simulator game that everyone seems to play.

I'm amazed just how much time people waste on it.

[Corunia and Mironor]

Video games are very popular, with PC being the most popular platform. Also, Nationstates has somewhat of a cult following in Corunia and Mironor that makes itself well-known enough that way more people know about it than the number of Corunian and Mironorese NS players would merit

[Aikoland]

Our country consists of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, what do you think the status of video games are in Aikoland?

But in all seriousness, video games are one of the most popular industries in Aikoland, with handheld games being the most popular, followed by arcades, home consoles, and PC's.

All video games released in Aikoland are required by law to be rated by the Game Rating Bureau, which utilizes the following ratings:
ALL - A game rated ALL is suitable for all ages.
12 - A game rated 12 is suitable for ages 12 and up.
15 - A game rated 15 is suitable for ages 15 and up
R18 - A game rated R18 is restricted to ages 18 and up and it is a criminal offense to sell or give an R18 rated game to a minor.

Other than the rating requirement, there is no censorship of video games in Aikoland.

[Zhouran]

Video games are quite popular in Zhouran. In fact, we have the second largest video game industry in Asia, just behind Japan. Although, unlike Japanese games, Zhouranese video games are more like Western video games.

The top 3 video game genres are: Role-Playing Game (including MMORPG), Shooters (both FPS and TPS), and Racing.

PC games are the most popular, followed by console games and arcade games.

[Westercourt]

In Westercourt, video gaming is quite a popular thing. It is the fifth most popular industry in the nation.

Ratings are required on all commercially sold video games. The rating system goes:
GA - General audiences. The game is deemed suitable for everybody to play.
E10+ - Everyone ten and up. The game may have frequent but mild use of objectionable content.
T13+ - Teenagers and older. The game frequently uses moderate use of objectionable content.
M16+ - 16 and older. Game has frequently uses strong objectionable content but not to an inappropriate extent.
M19+ - 19 and older. Same as above to an extent not appropriate.
Z21+ - 21 and older. Game contains pornographic or notably excessively violent content. Illegal to sell to anyone younger than the recommendation.

Aside from the restrictions on Z21+ games, there is no censorship of video games.

The five most popular consoles are:
PC
Wii U
Dreamcast
PS4
SNES

[Aswenia]

Video Games is a thriving industry in Aswenia as its very popular in the more developed areas of the country.

There is a simple rating system, Although Video Games can be bought regardless of age most traditional parents only allow simulators etc which is the most popular among games in Aswenia

1 ) PC Gaming
2 ) XBOX
3 ) JBoard (Aswenian - Made Tablet)

[Welskerland]

Since the Internet has not quite caught on in Welskerland, videogames are the preferred past time of geeks.

The most popular consoles are the Wii, Xbox 360, and the PS4. Among handhelds are the DS and Wii U.

Ratings: GA (General Audience), T (Teen), T16 (16 or older), and MA (Mature Audience)

[Polar Svalbard]

The only game that is and ever will be censored is manhunt, thats it though Video games do have ratings but anyone can buy them, we just make sure that parents know what is in games before hand.

Top five platforms in Polar Svalbard
Xbox One
PC
Xbox 360
PS3
PS4

Microsoft is huge in Polar Svalbard as are videogames. Nintendo is regulated as they are a threat to the industry in Svalbard which has been growing exponentially.

[Imperium Sidhicum]

Virtual simulations aren't really that popular as a form of entertainment in the Imperium. When you literally grow up in a virtual world, it kind of takes all the fun out of gaming.

Highly-realistic neuro-interactive sims are used mainly for training purposes, from military to construction engineering. Being cyborgs, Sidhae can directly interface their nervous systems with computers and run simulations in their own minds. Hybrid sims which have both virtual and physical components are also widely used - even while a neural simulation can let the user to master the principles of the skill being taught (such as correct shooting stances or urban tactics), real life practice is still necessary to acquire muscle memory for the task. In other words, neural simulations do not replace practical exercises, they merely enable Sidhae to master new skills considerably faster.

The entertainment section of virtual simulations revolves mainly around wargaming, recreation of famous battles of Imperial history. Sidhae prefer highly-realistic and historically accurate games to fiction. An underrated but important aspect of the small but thriving gaming industry is the study and preservation of history, maps, blueprints, eyewitness accounts and such being gathered and digitally recreated with meticulous precision.

A niche market also exists for antique games, which have survived through centuries as part of Terran digital legacy. Such digital artefacts are valued by historians as well as gamers, there existing an entire discipline of history specializing in studying digital records of old. A functional copy of a mid-21st century computer game commands a fortune in the eyes of collectors and is deemed worthwhile organizing an interstellar scientific expedition to retrieve. Even more prized are antique operating systems, because many otherwise intact copies of antique software cannot be run simply because no extant computer supports them or recognizes their programming language. In one particular instance, an original copy of Windows 7 stored on a data disc resulted in a small battle between the armed escort of Sidh researhcers and mercenaries hired by a wealthy human collector to retrieve it, demonstrating how valuable such antique digital artifacts are deemed.

[Aktosha]

Imagine call of duty but reversed.

[Thompson island]

our nation allows people to play any games they want, only types of censorship are out right banning, which happens rarely, with games such as super columbine massacre RPG (someone did make a game like this, when i heard about it i nearly threw up) and a 17+ rating, which is in place for games such as GTA 5 and COD. however the 17+ rating is more of a suggestion, and no laws exist enforcing it. we trust our parents

[Novum Alexandria]

We've got virtual reality so well done that nearly anyone can use it, our people have achieved immortality through technology, and nearly anything that doesn't spite the government is legal. Video games are pretty unnecessary.

[United Russian Soviet States]

Video games are quite popular here. They are not rated. Only anti-government video games are banned.

[Gweke]

What is the status of video games in your nation?
Legal

Are they rated? Are certain games censored or banned?
They are not rated within Gweke nor are they censored or banned unless there is a special circumstance like high correlation to seizures

Is the gaming industry (sales of video games, sales by tournaments, festivals, etc) popular here?
Yes

How about consoles/handhelds? What kind of consoles/handhelds are available in your nation?
Most of the popular brands like Sony Playstation, Nintendo, and Microsoft Xbox

[Tolmakia]

Of course, video games are popular in Tolmakia. The range of players range from 7 to 50 years old. Most of these games are imported though, and games from Tolmakia's young gaming industry fare well enough.

Video games are rated, and a few are censored or banned. The reasons for censorship or banning is usually the content (too graphic, extremist, etc). Anti-government video games are allowed, to an extent.

Compared to Tolmakia's larger industries, the gaming industry is small in comparison. Despite this, gaming events and festivals are common and are the norm in the capital city, with events ranging from sales promotions to cosplays and fan-fiction contests.

The most popular video games consoles in Tolmakia include is the PC, followed by the PS4.

[Gandoor]

Video games are extremely popular in Gandoor, both domestic and foreign games. The most popular systems in Gandoor are systems made by Gandoor's own GameKon, established in 1976 and Nintendo. Sony is also fairly popular among gamers, as is PC gaming. The Xbox system is virtually irrelevant in Gandoor.

Video games in Gandoor are rated using the same rating system as TV series, which consists of a number that is the minimum age the game is recommended to:
5
10
12
15
20

The only difference from the ratings for TV and video games is that the 20 rating for video games, like the R20 rating for movies, is legally enforced and it is illegal to sell a 20 rated game to anyone under the age of 20.

There is no legal requirement for a video game (or TV show or movie, for that matter) to be rated, but the vast majority choose to do so, as all platform manufacturers in Gandoor refuse to license games that don't get rated and almost all retail stores refuse to stock non-rated games. The few games that don't have ratings are usually PC-only download games, which don't have to worry about "retail space".

[The Allied Society of Reblia]

Any outside companies are banned in the Reblian Video Game Market, and of course, all other markets in our glorious nation.

However, since Dictator Matiz is so generous and kind, the Government-Created "ASR Box o' Enjoyment" (The ABE) was made, being the only video game console. It features such games as "ASR Hero vs. Evil Zodosa", "Reign of The Evil Democracy King" and "Stomp On Capitalists 3!!". All funds go directly to the ASR Government, so it's a win-win, no?

[Legokiller]

Video games in the United Pony States is a largely multi-billion industry, that influenced the the culture of the nation with the unofficial national video game festival, tons of gaming cons, and popular esports of varieties kinds (noticeably RTS strategy games). There isn't really much censorship, or banning games by the Legokilleran government, so there's many genres with hopefully fair rating system. There is many genres, which the most popular are sandboxes, simulators, mmorpgs, and rpgs. There is many types of handheld and consoles available in the Legokilleran market, but the PC is the most popular.

[Torisakia]

Video games are popular in Torisakia; however, due to government restrictions on foreign entertainment imports only games made in Torisakia are widely available. The most popular systems are the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. PC gaming is popular but it is rapidly deteriorating due to a low market of domestic games available. The Nintendo 3DS and Wii U have seen a surge in popularity in the past few years.

Video games are rated by the Torisakia Entertainment Ratings Association (TERA), whom also provide ratings for movies and television shows. TERA rates games based on what target audience the game is for, as the list below shows:
A3 - Ages 3 and older; contain mild cartoon violence and crude humor.
A10 - Ages 10 or older; contain moderate cartoon violence and suggestive themes.
A13 - Ages 13 or older; contain mild violence, mild explicit language, sexual suggestive themes, and partial nudity.
A18 - Age 18; contain heavy violence, very explicit language, and may contain full nudity and brief scenes of sexual activity.
A18+ - Ages 19 or older; contain realistic violence, offensive and explicit language, and scenes of sexual activity.

Developers can choose not to have their game rated, but if they do then the game is not allowed to be sold in public stores or game marketplaces (PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, Nintendo eShop, etc.) and must be sold via private means such as a digital download from the developer's website. Games that may be subject to the A18+ rating must undergo the ratings process, regardless of the developer's wishes.

[Liberty and Alderney]

What is the status of video games in your nation?
Legal, infact they make up a huge mass media industry.
Are they rated? Are certain games censored or banned?
They follow the same rating system of the real life ESRB.
Is the gaming industry (sales of video games, sales by tournaments, festivals, etc) popular here?
We as a US State have the highest amount of time spent on games on average. We are also the home to two large development/publisher firms and the host of GaemzExpo event, the largest gathering of game makers and players in the world!
How about consoles/handhelds? What kind of consoles/handhelds are available in your nation?
Popular consoles sold here include:

• The Degenatron system (current version: 4)
• EXsorbeo system (current version: 720)
• Facade Badger phone
• iFruit Phone

[Kenzinia]

What is the status of video games in your nation?
It is very popular among the youngsters. We have lots of adult gaming YouTubers as well.

Are they rated? Are certain games censored or banned?
Yes, they are. The ratings go from E (everyone), T (teen, 13+), M (mature, 17+), and A (adults, 19+).

No games are banned here, though there are some inappropriate actions in the games which are censored.

Is the gaming industry (sales of video games, sales by tournaments, festivals, etc) popular here?
Very popular. Lots of people play games and upload to YouTube as a real job. Gaming tournaments, mostly sports and racing games, are often held and attracts tons of gamers nation-wide.

How about consoles/handhelds? What kind of consoles/handhelds are available in your nation?
Every legit consoles (Xbox series, PS series) and handhelds (PSPs and Nintendo DSs) are available here.