Amazon blocks sale of rape videogame
Online retail giant Amazon has yanked from its virtual shelves a Japanese computer game that lets players simulate raping girls.
Rapelay, being hawked on Amazon by a third-party merchant, was deemed inappropriate and the product's page taken down after it was brought to the California internet firm's attention overnight.
"We determined that we did not want to be selling this particular item," Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith said.
The game was created exclusively for the Japanese market, but a couple of "like new" copies were being offered on Amazon by a US seller specialising in animated Japanese pornography.
The computer game maker, Illusion studio based in Japan , posts a notice on its website that its products are specifically for domestic users.
"As we say on the website, we don't sell the products overseas because of the rating problem," said a spokesman for the company in Yokohama, near Tokyo.
"I cannot possibly comment on the report from San Francisco.
"We believe there is no problem with the software, which has cleared the domestic ratings of an ethics watchdog body," he added.
The game was released in 2006.
Other titles from the studio include Battle Raper and Artificial Girl.
