Rule Of Rose by Atlus had been making headlines around the media for its supposed "obscene cruelty" and being "profoundly shocking". These claims come despite the fact it has yet to be released so not many would have played it other than in the US and Japan, where it has already been released.

The UK's Video Standards Council had already given the game a PEGI-16 rating and was due for release several days ago (November 24). However, the publisher has now said the game will not be published in the UK and Europe with the exception of France and Italy. In a statement Atlus said "Following discussions with our retail and publishing partners, 505 Games has taken the decision not to publish Rule of Rose in the UK [and most European countries] at this time."

Soon after this Red Ant Enterprises, the distributor of Atlus' games in Australia, informed sources that the game will not be published at this time in Australia or New Zealand. The game was slated for a February 2007 release in those regions. The game had not been submitted for approval to the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC).

Last week both The Times and Daily Mail newspapers in the UK ran articles condemning the game and Rome's mayor had called for the game to be banned outright. European justice commissioner Franco Frattini wrote to European Union governments urging them to tighten controls on what he described as "dreadful" games.

Meantime, VSC secretary general Laurie Hall told industry trade magazine MCV that it was furious with the "grossly inaccurate" media coverage of the game, and called Frattini's claims "nonsense." She said, "I have no idea where the suggestion of in-game sadomasochism has come from, nor children being buried underground. These are things that have been completely made up."

All of this comes on the heels of the furor caused by Rockstar's recent release Bully, aka Canis Cadem Edit, which received discussion in the UK Parlaiment at one point. This all subsided when, after the game was released, just about all of the claims made against it were found to be false.