Nintendo joins the rest of the world in not welcoming Hitler

by Eric Caoili { May 19th 2008 at 12:30PM }

"No online racing for you!' That's the message Nintendo is sending to Mario Kart Wii owners hoping to race their Hitler Miis on its Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.

Any attempt to bring a Mii sharing the German dictator's name online for Mario Kart Wii will be met with the following error: "You cannot access Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection using this Mii name. Please change your Mii name and try again." Presumably, you should still be able to race with a Mii bearing Hitler's likeness while using a different name. You know, if drifting through Moo Moo Meadows as the architect of the Holocaust is your idea of fun.

According to initial tests, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, and several other dictator jerks are not currently banned. Really, though, when was the last time you ran into someone using a Mii of Robert Mugabe.

Tags: adolf-hitler, censorship, hitler, mario-kart, mario-kart-wii, mii, nazi, offensive

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Nushio (NDF - Blue) @ May 19th 2008 12:45PM

Miitler.

I wonder if the same could be said about insults and other easily censored words...

Moose @ May 19th 2008 12:46PM

And yet Michael Jackson is perfectly fine. Go figure.

Haohmaru @ May 19th 2008 1:02PM

Maybe because the charges brought against MJ were baseless attempts at exploiting a very reclusive, misunderstood and strange - but not THAT strange - man, while Hitler's image is still used in Neo-Nazi propaganda. Just a thought.

murray b @ May 19th 2008 2:03PM

Really? MJ's not that strange? Like to know who you hang out with. Oh, I raced against Cuntastic the other day so that names OK also.

Matt @ May 19th 2008 2:47PM

Awkward! Somebody doesn't get a joke. This is the awkward moment of the party when you realize you've been speaking to an MJ supporter. Smile and walk away. Quick, honey, gather the kids.

omgbushishitlertoo @ May 19th 2008 3:08PM

Whatever you think of him, Michael Jackson did not kill 6,000,000 Jews. That tends to be the clincher of why frivolous Hitler comparisons fail.

Moose @ May 19th 2008 3:14PM

Whoa! (Note to self: No more seemingly harmless Michael Jackson jabs.)

JRVillalobos @ May 19th 2008 3:46PM

I think that in this case its not a case a defending Michael Jackson but it more against Hitler, the previous quote should read: "Whatever you think of him, (insert name here) did not kill 6,000,000 Jews. That tends to be the clincher of why frivolous Hitler comparisons fail." There are a few cases where that sort of monstrosity applies...

Haohmaru @ May 20th 2008 8:03AM

Hah.. Oh, Matt and murray b. If you're going to reply to a comment, learn to read it in its entirety before you let those busy typing fingers of yours make you look like complete idiots.

Of course by "not THAT strange" I mean "not strange enough for the charges brought against him to be true." On the other hand, there's no denying that Adolf Hitler orchestrated the deaths of millions. Are we clear now? I certainly hope so. If not, it's my turn to just "smile and walk away."

EnrageD @ May 19th 2008 12:47PM

And there goes my fun of my buddy racing as hitler online to screw over as many opponents as he can so i can get a decent rating :(

oh well, time to use Dwight Schrute.

igorponweed @ May 19th 2008 12:54PM

Oh. My. Gawd. Nintendo is being WAY to confident. I apreciate the banning of Hitler, but it's not really banning Hitler, since you could name it htlr.

rimbaud @ May 19th 2008 1:01PM

I raced a Hitler Mii named "Adolf" last night... so, ummm, yeah...

wako @ May 19th 2008 11:56PM

thats because Adolf is still (or was until hitler gave a bad connotation to it) a popular German name

Patrick R @ May 20th 2008 2:09PM

Hmm, yes. I also raced an Adolf yesterday. And although it's true that it's a common German name (I'm German, myself), the little black mustache and swept hair are quite recognizable.

Char6296 @ May 19th 2008 1:02PM

You'd have a bit of trouble if you were a descendant of him.

Haohmaru @ May 19th 2008 1:03PM

He could pass for Walt Disney, too, you know. :D

Cesaria (MKW:2621-2994-1376) @ May 19th 2008 1:03PM

"You know, if drifting through Moo Moo Meadows as the architect of the Holocaust is your idea of fun."

That line made my day!

Scotty @ May 19th 2008 1:05PM

I raced a guy named McTitties last night...apparently that name flies.

Sonic_13 @ May 19th 2008 1:25PM

I'm glad Nintendo is blocking people from using Hitler as a racer.

I wonder if this is a pre-programmed block or if it is a list that can be actively changed and updated.

BlackTye @ May 19th 2008 1:27PM

Godwin's Law!

Ghen @ May 19th 2008 1:43PM

... doesn't apply when the initial post is ABOUT hitler.

macbastard @ May 19th 2008 1:51PM

What if you name him Shitler?

noirs @ May 19th 2008 1:58PM

Censur is wrong.

Char6296 @ May 19th 2008 2:08PM

I tried it with a Mii that looks nothing like him. I laughed when I got the screen.

Nigeria @ May 19th 2008 2:23PM

This is why we can't have nice things.

Garu @ May 19th 2008 2:37PM

This is a shame for anyone who has made a Oliver Hardy or Charlie Chaplin Mii that may not have come out that well! Thanks for ruining the mustache for the rest of us Hitler!

On a side note, it would have been great if you could use your own Miis to fight in Super Smash Brothers Brawl... then you could have beat the crap out of Hitler! People might have liked having him in the game then!

calgoldenbear @ May 19th 2008 2:40PM

Michael Jackson (writer) (1942-2007), Beer Hunter show host, beer and whisky expert.

What do you have against him?

Kamek @ May 19th 2008 3:21PM

Haohmaru said...
"He could pass for Walt Disney, too, you know."
...HAHA! It's true! i never thought of that!
Anyway, I'm pretty surprised they did this. I would expect them to cancel a whole group of "bad names" (if anything), but they just picked one. If someone asked them exactly why they did it, I'd be anxious to hear the answer.

Patius @ May 19th 2008 3:53PM

Mugabe?

Wow, that's sort of recent isn't it?

You should have tried General Tojo, since he was the main militarist during World War II from Japan.

iMeh @ May 19th 2008 4:03PM

I'm highly offended by Jesus....does that mean we should not allow a Mii by the name of Jesus to race?

SoshiKitai @ May 19th 2008 3:11PM

Too generic... too many people have the name Jesus. Especially Hispanic-wise.

You don't see too many people toting around the name "Hitler" everyday.

Brad Huffington @ May 19th 2008 3:12PM

Yes, actually. I'm tired of retarded 12-year-olds provoking others via their Miis since they are prevented from yelling racial/religious epithets through voice chat in their usual fashion.

Ban as many Miis as it takes. Let's go to real names, in fact.

SoshiKitai @ May 19th 2008 3:28PM

Or we could just move backwards and remove any such avatars ever being created or invented.
Just going back to normal game characters... then let's add voice chat! That way, we can hear all the little children try to cuss people out with words they found on the internet-box!
That'll give these characters some attitude!

Or let's not have any self-identity at all and just put characters from the game being the only ones available! No names, no faces, nothing! That way, it's like we were playing in the 80's with people next to us! WAIT! They're not next to us! So all-in-all we'd feel like we're just fighting computers! ASTOUNDING!

... sorry, that's the way I feel with random fights on SSBB... if I can't see their name, I get this slight hint that I'm fighting a computer. Great for recording and watching, not that great when fighting.

SoshiKitai @ May 19th 2008 3:33PM

Guess what I'm trying to say is: Any form of indivualization-creation is a plus for me.
Yeah, people try to annoy/offend each other with their Miis... but hell, people try to annoy/offend each other in real life.

And besides, it's not an epidemic... 90% of my races are against people with real names.

iMeh @ May 19th 2008 4:10PM

Just to clarify...i'm not offended by Jesus at all. In fact, not much offends me really. And, yes, I understand the association some people may have with something as abstract as a name. Its just too bad some people have to take things the wrong way. ::sigh::

Shugotheripper @ May 19th 2008 6:02PM

I have one word Osama

Metalluz @ May 19th 2008 7:08PM

nintendo get my kudos once again, it's time to stop online propaganda, specially a freakin wrong one!

Hitler @ May 19th 2008 9:16PM

What if you name it "A. Hitler" or something?

I don't have the game, so I can't check.

icicle0424 @ May 19th 2008 10:41PM

what about Schicklgruber?

Spekkio @ May 19th 2008 11:38PM

I'm reminded of the SNES title Uniracers - when you were creating custom unicycles, it censored names by saying they "weren't cool enough."

Kogen @ May 19th 2008 11:44PM

This is the type of bullshite that makes me hate Nintendo sometimes. I will not purchase this game now. Hitler is a German name and this is racist agianst Germans. You do not ban names just because you dislike a certain person with that name.

Also why can I be Stalin? He killed 22 million people. More than WW1 and WW2 soldier deaths combined, plus the holocaust.

Haohmaru @ May 20th 2008 8:06AM

Racist against Germans? Really? You do realize that they never would have had to take action in this if people weren't actually racing their Adolf Hitler Mii's, right?

Char6296 @ May 25th 2008 4:31PM

If a German was called Rudolph Hitler, for example, why would he use his last name alone? And it's excusable to not like Hitler.

AbbadonTD @ May 20th 2008 2:50PM

HA! Rimbaud, I think you were racing me! I have been using my Hitler Mii named Adolf for a while, so this article made me think. For those of you who dont get the irony, look at what the man believed in. Since the only answer you can get is the holocost, remember the banning of most materials, and the overall destruction of free thought. This is why making fun of Hitler is EXACTLY what he would not have wanted, so the political message of using a little tiny Mii with a funny moustache is a better message than you think.

Course, little guy, moustache, annoying voice...could have him confused for baby mario.