When you think of hubs of international game development, France probably doesn't leap to the front of the list. But the country hosts major game makers like Ubisoft and Atari and famous creators like Beyond Good and Evil's Michel Ancel and Alone in the Dark's Frédérick Raynal.

The country's game making reputation might just grow if the French government has anything to say about it. Wired reports on a recently passed French law granting special tax breaks to French game makers through the "exception Francaise."

The exemption still has to be approved by the European Union, but even if it is, don't expect to see a flood of mindless shoot-'em-ups to come out of the country. French Culture Ministry Adviser Marc Herubel told Wired that tax-exempt games must be "culturally relevant," meaning they have "a narration of some kind and a scenario written in French with elements of adventure or simulation games." So, apparently, some of the most important games of all time wouldn't be culturally relevant enough for the ministry just because they didn't have French narration? Way to fight that elitist French stereotype, there.

Previously: France vies to give artful tax break for game industry