Residents of central China's Chongqing city have demanded Japanese gamemaker Sega Corp. apologize for a computer game depicting Chinese soldiers as gambling addicts, the company's Chinese agent said on Thursday.
A petition signed by about 60 residents appeared Wednesday in a Chongqing newspaper, said Su Fei, marketing director for Tianren Hudong. The Beijing-based company is Sega's distributor in China.
The game, ``Shenmu II,'' simulates battles between invading Japanese forces and Chinese defenders during World War II.
More than 30 million Chinese died during a series of Japanese invasions starting in 1931.
In recent years, mistakes by several Japanese companies have frequently rouse protests from Chinese consumer against Japanese products.
In 2000, a Chongqing man found that a CD-ROM by the Japanese electronic firm Canon Inc referred to Hong Kong and Taiwan as countries instead of parts of China, and determined to sue the firm.
Japanese electronics maker Matsushita also drew official criticism for calling Taiwan, which is an integral part of China, a country in a cell phone menu.
(China Daily February 28, 2002)
