I have to ask you darkreaper, how popular is the whole u boat sim thing (and as a whole, the world wars games) in germany, while i'm not blinded by postwar propoganda nazifiing the underseeboot force, i cant imagine that it is something that people would want to glorify or revisit for entertainment on the scale the US gaming public, as it was pretty much our finest military hour of the century. Also, do you lot usually install the swastika mods as well like the rest of us, even against (apperantly) the local law?
I have no idea how popular WW2 sims are but I doubt that they are significantly less popular than in the US. The younger generation games are targeted at (and I include myself in that) don't really care about what happened in WW2. We happily play as Americans, British or Germans and aren't bothered by any historical issues. Because first of all it's just a game. Battlefield:1942 was just as popular here as it was in the US.
I don't know if the general gaming public even cares about the missing swastikas but I know that I always try to get them back into the game. Historical accuracy trumps all. Also I will never submit to censorship.
In general the foreign opinion that everyone is crying themselves to sleep over what we did in WW2 is blown far out of proportion. 99% of the general public doesn't really care anymore or just acknowledges our history but doesn't dwell on it.
As I am a war buff myself I generally enjoy having the chance to play as a german soldier. Individually, it was a war like any other. Soldier versus soldier, tank vs tank, ship vs ship, only the grand picture was horrific. Doesn't mean that I am not going to play as an allied soldier, but that side is already pretty over-represented.
Maybe this is an american thing, but for me steam is known for its amazing sales and deals, especially on weekends and holidays)
Current Example: I paid about 37? to get Mass Effect 2 delivered to my house from the UK, 50? to get it from Steam
Current Steam Spotlights: Spellforce 2: Gold for 7,50? (regular price
29,99?). You can get it for 14,50? from every single store in Germany.
Supreme Commander 2 Pre-Order: Steam = 44,99? , Retail(Germany) = 41?, Retail (UK:Amazon)= 28?!!!
I would be mad to order anything from Steam if I can get brand new games for half the price from the UK.