Official: Singapore bans Mass Effect for lesbian scene

Singapore's Board of Film Censors has issued a statement on Thursday, November 14, banning the sale of "Mass Effect" for an intimate scene between two female characters. The game contains "a scene of lesbian intimacy... as such the game has been disallowed," the deputy director of the board said in the statement. Singapore is the only country to have banned the game, which is the first Microsoft title to be banned there.

The statement also said that earlier this year Singapore banned "God of War II" for nudity and "The Darkness" for excessive violence and religiously offensive expletives. Singapore will introduce a new video games classification system next year, which could allow those titles to be passed. Homosexual intercourse remains criminal in Singapore.

[ Note: The official statement confirms an earlier rumor that Mass Effect is banned in Singapore. ]