Mario Party 8 has been pulled from sales and recalled for containing the word ’spastic’. It comes soon after a similar case in which Ubi’s Mind Quiz was pulled for using the same word when the player scores zero.
“[Mario Party 8] was launched in the UK today. Unfortunately we have discovered that a small number of games contain the wrong version of the disk due to an assembly error. We have therefore decided to recall all copies of the game from UK retailers so that this mistake can be corrected,” is the official word from Ninty.
The American response seems to be generally one of bewilderment, since ’spastic’ isn’t really that much of an offensive word in the States. The general feeling is that it’s ‘political correctness gone mad’, but for obvious reasons, we can’t have a kids game calling the player a spastic.
Now, I’ll join the rush to go and play the crap out of my copy (bought on release day) to see if it contains the word – who knows, some fanboy or other might pay me a small fortune for it in a few months. I implore you, dear gamers, to do the same. And leave any feedback as a comment, of course. ;o)
Give that politically-incorrect plumber a stern telling off for the full story.
