Germany has lifted restrictions on the video game Doom which had been in place for nearly 17 years.
Doom has been unavailable in Germany except in specialist adult stores since 1994, but following a decision made by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (Bundesprufstelle), the game can now be made widely available to anyone over 16.
BBC News reports that the decision was made after Bethesda Softworks (who own Doom developers id software) made an appeal to the Department saying that the level of graphical detail of any violent content has been far surpassed by modern games.
The Bundesprufstelle said that their original decision was not based solely on the quality of the graphics but acknowledged that more realistic images are now available on most games for mobile phones.
The decision to lift restrictions on the game now was mainly based on the fact that Doom is "mainly of historical interest" and that the game is unlikely to be played by youngsters but more by people interested in its artistic and scientific significance.
Doom is one of the most popular and influential games of all time and has inspired a vast array of modern video games and still has a massive following today. The original game is believed to have been installed on more computers than Microsoft's Windows 95.
