Due to
ridiculous British censorship laws,* most
computer games in this country have
throwing stars removed (and often replaced with
knives or
darts - remember kids, it's OK to throw darts at people's faces, but not
ninja death weapons).
Shadow Warrior is an example of this policy being put into effect. Interestingly,
Shinobi (the most ninja-centric game ever) was not censored in this way, but of course
nobody fucks with Shinobi.
The BBFC's guidelines make clear that illegal weapons should not be demonstrated in films (including butterfly knives and nunchukas), although guns seem to be exempt from this, presumably because most of Hollywood's output would be slashed to ribbons otherwise.
* a legacy of the Daily Mail's utterly risible campaign against "kung-fu" movies in the 1970's following a supposed spate of kids imitating their onscreen antics.