Smuggle, er, Snuggle Truck (PC/Mac/iOS)

This is some very disappointing censorship on Apple's part:

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Originally Posted by Joystiq

Content trumped context after Smuggle Truck was rejected by Apple for distribution on the company's iOS App Store, but Owlchemy Labs reworked some art to launch Snuggle Truck for iPhone and iPad.

"The changes made to the game consist only of minor art changes and some swapped sound effects. Gameplay remains exactly the same," Owlchemy's Alex Schwartz told Joystiq. "Essentially, instead of smuggling immigrants over the border, you're now bringing animals from the wilderness into the comfort of a zoo, where they are provided plenty of food, water, shelter, and state of the art health care."

Schwartz explained that Snuggle Truck was the developer's way of still bringing "the fun and silliness" of its original game to the iOS platform. Due to contractual reasons, he couldn't tell us the details of Apple's rejection.

Mac and PC players don't have to compromise, as they'll be able to switch between Smuggle Truck and its cuddlier counterpart with the press of a button (as shown in the video after the break). Snuggle Truck is available now on the App Store for iPhone ($2) and iPad ($3). Smuggle Truck (with Snuggle Truck) is $5 from SmuggleTruck.com.

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Link

Here is the original trailer:

I prefer the theme of the revised version myself.

I don't disagree, but that shouldn't be Apple's call.

Apple doesn't want their service flooded with "drug wars" type of shit and I can see where they are coming from. It's their service.

There's nothing even remotely drug related about the original concept though. I guess you could argue that it promotes human trafficking, even though there's a pretty big difference between people who want to sneak over the border versus people who are kidnapped and sold.

I think the original theme is cute. I don't have a problem with Apple making some calls about what they want on their distribution service in theory but I think they made the wrong all in this particular case.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

that shouldn't be Apple's call.

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A store can not choose what products it will sell? Who gets to make that decision?

Maybe Yoshi thinks the government should.

I think he's just an idiot who doesn't think before he types.

Oh, fuck off. There needs to be some kind of a consistent standard, e.g. they don't want the equivalent of M-Rated games or something. Yet they allow plenty of blood, including worms eating babies in Super Mega Worm, but we can't have cute looking Mexicans in a truck? The case-by-case inconsistency is what they shouldn't be able to do. I understand that their control is the trade off we get for not having it be the wild west like on Android though.

It's fucking impossible to actually discuss video games on this forum anymore. Every God damned thread turns into a contest to see who can latch onto the most minute piece of bullshit and destroy the discussion.

There are guidelines for approval. Every developer gets them.

I don't know, man. A "Mexican smuggling sim" is rather offensive. If this got through, what would be next? Nigger Jim's Soft Shoe Banjo Dance sim?

I bet that's already for sale on the Android store.

To whom is it offensive? The people pay to be smuggled. No one would be offended by Jackass: The Game, where white people do stupid shit of questionable legality.

Granted, none of us has played it, so I guess we don't know what the story is, if any, but it seems pretty harmless. I guess I'm just curious as to what the guidelines diff mentioned say and which part this violates that other games don't.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

Oh, fuck off. There needs to be some kind of a consistent standard, e.g. they don't want the equivalent of M-Rated games or something. Yet they allow plenty of blood, including worms eating babies in Super Mega Worm, but we can't have cute looking Mexicans in a truck? The case-by-case inconsistency is what they shouldn't be able to do. I understand that their control is the trade off we get for not having it be the wild west like on Android though.

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This is a fair point. No one likes working on a game that seems to be well within the guidelines only to have it shot down in the end. There does have to be a clear, well-defined standard.

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It's fucking impossible to actually discuss video games on this forum anymore. Every God damned thread turns into a contest to see who can latch onto the most minute piece of bullshit and destroy the discussion.

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You do tend to oversimplify a bit in your posts and then are forced to clarify later. Which you seem perfectly capable of doing and might be better advised to do from the get-go.

Or you could just, you know, ignore reactionary posts to yours and talk to the other people.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

To whom is it offensive? The people pay to be smuggled. No one would be offended by Jackass: The Game, where white people do stupid shit of questionable legality.

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White people aren't a minority (yet). Like it or not, this changes the perception of things.

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Originally Posted by Josh

I don't know, man. A "Mexican smuggling sim" is rather offensive. If this got through, what would be next? Nigger Jim's Soft Shoe Banjo Dance sim?

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This is probably the logic they used, but I don't think this is really negative toward Mexicans at all. I guess it makes light of a kind of serious plight for immigrants, but dark humor shouldn't be prohibited in and of itself if it's not wrongheaded.

They should have made them Canadian.

Then no one would want to help them.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

You do tend to oversimplify a bit in your posts and then are forced to clarify later. Which you seem perfectly capable of doing and might be better advised to do from the get-go.

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True. Conference calls and good posts don't mix. :cry:

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Or you could just, you know, ignore reactionary posts to yours and talk to the other people.

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I could theoretically, but I can't in practice.

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Originally Posted by Josh

White people aren't a minority (yet). Like it or not, this changes the perception of things.

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ok. And I suppose adding "Japanese" to the front of every photo app would be somewhat offensive, despite also being totally true.