No Fallout 3 for India, mutant cows might be to blame

While gamers await the highly anticipated launch of Fallout 3 in their home territory later this month – October 28, 2008, in North America, October 30, 2008, in Europe and Australia, and October 31, 2008, in the UK – Microsoft has confirmed that India will not be receiving the game at all.

A recent press release issued by Microsoft India and re-posted by GamingIndians explains that “in light of cultural sensitivities in India, we [Microsoft] have made the business decision to not bring Fallout 3 into the country.”

No further reasons were given but some have begun to speculate about the true cause of the game’s cancellation.

Blend Games’ Pete Haas suggests that the Microsoft’s decision could be due to the Fallout series’ use of “brahmin” which are mutated cows that serve as pack animals. As Haas points out, not only are cows sacred animals within the Hindu religion but “Brahman” is also the name given to a class of highly respected scholars within Brahminical Hinduism.

Of course, Fallout 3 also features a fair amount of violence, gore, drug use – which the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) cited as the primary reason for their original refusal to classify the game for release in Australia – and other post-apocalyptic happenings but so does BioShock and that was released in India without a problem.

Read [GamingIndians] Also Read [Blend Games] Via [Kotaku]