Dead Island: Riptide - Might Not be Released in Germany and a Poster

At Gamescom I got to see a demo of Dead Island: Riptide, a game with some RPG elements in the character development, however there is an embargo on what was shown until the end of the month. Still here is some info by Joystiq on why it might not be released in Germany:

Dead Island: Riptide, like its predecessor, is unlikely to be released in Germany. The situation is awkwardly laughable, since the game is being shown at behind-closed-door sessions at Gamescom in Germany, but the audience in attendance won't likely get to legally play the game. Pouring lemon juice on the paper cut, publisher Deep Silver is a German company.

Click to expand...

And a poster at Gamepur which is about as much as you will see in the next two weeks (unless someone breaks the embargo).
More information.

Nothing says freedom like a good oldfashioned censorship.

I have no feel for what is going on with this kind of censorship in Germany. For those living in Germany or otherwise have a 'feel' for what goes on there as it relates to gaming - does Germany evenly and consistently censor games with certain types of content or does it seem more that their ratings bureau is picking winners and losers? Or maybe something else?

A friend of mine living in Austrailia is convinced their ratings bureau is all about payoffs and if you don't pay someone off you'll be one of the losers who can't sell in that country. That's all hearsay though - not saying that he's right.

If it's the same as the first game, Germans won't be missing much.

Strange.

Censorship isn't really the right term. Certain media (games, books, songs, movies, etc.) which supposedly contain youth endangering content can be put on a special list. Being on that list doesn't mean the product can't be sold, but it means it can't be sold to or made accessible to minors. It's also not possible to advertise those products, and you can't sell them via mail order, unless you can verify the customer is at least 18.

So while it's not really censorship per se, the restrictions are severe enough that some companies don't bother to then sell their uncut versions.