Mayor of Rome seeks Rule of Rose ban

Sony Computer Entertainment International's PlayStation 2 psychological horror game Rule of Rose has already found a home in Japan, the US, and the UK, but its tale of a girl kidnapped by a secret society of orphans is apparently unwelcome in the capital of Italy. An article on Life in Italy credited to the Italian news agency ANSA reports that the mayor of Rome last week vowed to do whatever he could to get the game banned in his country.

"There is no way that a violent video game should be sold and distributed in our country...this game must not enter Italian homes," Roman mayor Walter Veltroni is quoted as saying.

While Sony created the game, it has left it to third-party publishers to release the game outside of Japan. Atlus picked the game up for distribution in the US, while 505 Gamestreet is handling the UK and Italian releases.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Corrado Buonanno reportedly responded to the mayor's comments by saying that SCEE had completely disassociated itself from Rule of Rose.

"Probably, the sense of what's acceptable in Japan and what's acceptable in Europe are different so our Japanese division did not feel the need to block this game's production and distribution [in] its own market," Buonanno was quoted as saying. "But from our point of view, this game is unsuitable for the Italian and European public because of its content."

For more on Rule of Rose, check out GameSpot's full review.