Manhunt 2 Update: The world has spoken
Things aren’t looking good for Take Two’s game, Manhunt 2. As previously reported here and here, Manhunt 2 has been banned in Ireland and the UK, and has been rated AO by the ESRB.
The news is that Australia has joined the censorship committee, refusing classification to the title. Australia, apparently, is much more aggressive about banning offensive games than the UK, so this news is perhaps not unexpected. Germany’s rating board, also well known for banning games, said it hadn’t even received the title for review.
The final nail in the coffin, according to Joystiq, is that Nintendo and Sony both have an internal policy to not allow AO-rated content on their systems. Since all three planned platforms for Manhunt 2‘s release are made by those companies, Take Two’s options are pretty limited. GamePolitics has suggested a PC version but that would still require finding a store to sell it in (unless they simply sold it online themselves).
The odds are good that the next time we hear about Manhunt 2, it’ll be an edited version. If you want to know what all the fuss is about, IGN has an in-depth preview of the title released before it got its mood-killing rating. Beware - the game is not for kids.
Read [Joystiq] Also Read [Smarthouse] Via [GamePolitics] Also Read [IGNi]
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You suck ESRB - I can’t say for the other countries but their boards suck the same and worse .... Movies have displayed way more grotesque violence, sex, mutilation, and all out horror than this game could. I say Change the name and no one will know the difference and it will hit the shelves with a good ol’ M rating. Besides that, use PARENTAL CONTROLS AND CONSUMER DISCRETION YOU FREAKING DUMB ASS PARENTS! I was at the store and some kids were buying Scareface - they literally called their mom on the phone because the dad didn’t want to make the choice. “Mommy it ONLY has violence and mature language and some sexual content” .... “ok buy it kiddies!” ... mind you these kids had to have only been between 8-11. Is this the developers fault - NO! this makes me angry to no end - it is not that I want this game so badly - it is just that this issue is ridiculously stupid on all levels. Remember Mortal Combat was going to be shut down for the same reasons . They display a type of mutilation that is 10 time worse than in this game - although the environment is different - you don’t see Manhunt rip a guys spinal cord out along with his brain still attatched then burning the body and then tossing it into a pit of nails and then .... you get the point. Bullshivism - pure Bullshivism!
on July 5, 2007 at 05:57 AM - LINKYou shouldn’t fault ESRB for making more accurate ratings than the movie industry; you should fault the rest of the retail industry for refusing to stock and sell AO games when they have no problems stocking “unrated” movies that were clearly only not rated to avoid getting an NC-17 black mark.
on July 9, 2007 at 01:36 PM - LINKThe problem here is that the ESRB has literally banned the game. Good ol’ America wouldn’t ban a game directly - but indirectly is no problem. SBy giving it an AO rating, they have barred it from being released on the consoles it was intended for. Does the ESRB have the right to ban content because it feels you don’t have the capacity to understand fictional settings.
I think I’ll leave the banning for the Catholic church. I can understand a religious outcry for its members not to purchase things that are morally detrimental - but not the government. Morality and decency can be augmented in cases of entertainment - Pulp Fiction, Scareface, Godfather, GTA(all of them) and so on are movie and games that have you rooting for the bad guys.
In this game you are the good guy killing bad guys by doing justifiably bad things. I would kill someone if it meant my own survival and the destruction of the main cause of evil. This is by the way what the game is.
on July 9, 2007 at 05:26 PM - LINK