For the record (and for the 200th time):
1. To be released in Germany at all, there can be no graphical references to Nazi-related paraphenalia. This means removing swastikas and SS runes for a start. Whether or not it is "silly" is another debate. It is a legal requirement to prevent the game being banned completely in Germany.
2. No publisher is going to release a game into the German market without the "necessary" cuts being made. The reason is simple. If USK takes the view that something is "innappropriate" under the law for the protection of youth, then the game ends up being "indexed". This means that it can be sold - but it cannot be sold openly, on store shelves. It cannot be marketed in any way whatsoever in Germany. This also means that it cannot be reviewed in magazines in the German market. As a result no store will stock it - no store manager is going to try and sell a game that he cannot advertise or even show to a customer.
So long as the USK continues on its own peculiar path, games developers/publishers only have 2 (real) choices:
a) Do what L4D and cut the game down such that it gets an 18+ rating and is not indexed. For Heroes, this MAY involve dropping gore levels. There are no written guidelines for the USK jury - it is down to opinion at the time of their review.
b) Do what Epic did with Gears and just not bother to sell a boxed copy in Germany.
Now, what we do in other markets - those governed by PEGI and ESRB primarily - is another matter. To be honest, I'd be surprised if we are required to cut anything. PEGI rated Ostfront 16+, ESRB rated it 17+. No problem. USK rated Ostrfont 16+ - but only because we made cuts on gore. And we had to remove all swastikas, SS runes etc.