‘Manhunt 2′ Gets Beaten With Crowbar, Has Head Smashed In, Neck Snapped, Throat Slit
June 19, 2007
Sheesh. There’s never a moment of dead air in the game industry these days. Every time I lose interest in this blog and start slipping back into a perpetual state of laziness, a bomb goes off that I have to jump all over. Maybe I should stop updating more often, so all hell will continue breaking loose.
Today, there’s been some very bad news on Take-Two Interactive’s front. In case you weren’t aware, they’re the corporation that’s constantly coming under fire from watchdog groups and egotistical maniacs, having garnered a reputation for their ‘hyperviolent’ franchises. Their latest game, ‘Manhunt 2′, has been essentially getting its ass handed to it all day long.
The upcoming installment has repeatedly taken brutal stabbings to the face and gut today, and Gamepolitics has been painstakingly covering the whole fustercluck situation.
First, there was the report that our friends in the United Kingdom have refused to rate the game, effectively banning it altogether over there. While outright censorship in the UK is strongly discouraged and alternative methods are often taken, the British Board of Film Classification evidently decided that ‘Manhunt 2′, was way, way too scary and creepy for their tastes.
Said the BBFC:
“In the case of Manhunt 2 this has not been possible. Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing.”
Right. Because it’s not like any kind of editing can be done before the game is released. It’s not the end of July yet.
You’d think that kind of craziness would stay overseas and that we wouldn’t have to worry about having the game condemned. You’d be wrong.
That’s because the ESRB has given Manhunt 2 an ‘AO’ rating. Akin to the dreaded NC-17 mark all US filmmakers try to avoid, an ‘AO’ rating is the worst thing that can happen to the game. It means that most major retailers will not stock it,
When thinking about to all the other games that have gotten by with an ‘M’ rating (including the original Manhunt, which I can say with a straight face is the most violent game I’ve ever played) you have to wonder just how brutal MH2 must be.
Or maybe, perhaps, this is all because Manhunt 2 will be on the Nintendo Wii, where it will take full capabilities of the Wiimote and allow you to stab, shoot, and crack by swinging your body and arms around. Maybe that’s the case, but unlikely given that MH2 will be ported to multiple consoles, that don’t all have a wacky death wand in the box.
The average crack head probably doesn’t have the time, money or interest in the Wii or Manhunt 2, so he or she won’t be getting any extra practice time jacking the average Joe by playing the game with his ir her Wiimote.
Doesn’t it all comes down to parenting? If you’re afraid little Johnny is a bit too violent for an eight-year-old, don’t let him buy Manhunt 2. If that’s too difficult, don’t have kids.
Take-two Interactive and Rockstar on the other hand, should quit playing to the basest instinct in all of us and worry about making some money before their company goes up in the flames of all the burning envelopes they’ve pushed.
The big issue with the AO rating isn’t that Walmart and the like won’t stock it, but that Nintendo and Sony (of America) won’t licence it. As in it won’t get published in North America to let stores choose not to stock it.