Party video game banned in UK for having offensive word

July 13, 2007 Employees of British video game retailer GAME are reporting an email sent around stores to remove the popular Wii board party game Mario Party 8 and all applicable advertising due to the game having a word considered to be offensive in Britain.

The word is "spastic," and can be seen on the "Shy Guy's Perplex Express" board. If a player lands on one of several certain green spaces, Magikoopa will appear and, before rearranging the train cars, will say, "Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic Make this ticket tragic!"

Nintendo is currently developing an updated version of the game without the offending word.

This is not the first time a video game has been banned in the UK for including the word "spastic." Last month, Ubisoft announced a recall of its PSP brain-training game Mind Quiz after a mother of a child with cerebral palsy complained because the game called her a "spastic" for not doing well.