Britain Bans Sales of 'Manhunt 2'

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By MATT SLAGLE AP Technology Writer

June 19,2007 | --

An upcoming video game from the maker of the "Grand Theft Auto" series came under fire Tuesday in United States and Britain, where the government's ratings board banned sales for what it called an "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone."

Rockstar Games' "Manhunt 2" was scheduled for a July 10 release on Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 consoles.

Players of "Manhunt 2" assume the role of an escaped mental institution patient who goes on a killing spree as he fights his way to freedom. It includes special death moves players can perform by moving the Wii's wireless, motion-sensitive controller at just the right moment.

"Manhunt 2" is the first game to be banned by the British Board of Film Classification since 1997, when it barred the sale of "Carmageddon," in which players rack up points by driving vehicles over pedestrians.

In a statement, BBFC director David Cooke said the board was unable to approve the game because it was "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."

Rockstar spokesman Rodney Walker said "Manhunt 2" was meant to be a horror game, something akin to gory films like "Saw."

He called the BBFC's decision a form of censorship because the public would never get to decide for itself.

"People think of video games as a kids' medium but the fans are so diverse and the games are diverse," he said. "When you ban a game, you're putting a limit on what sort of creative choices people can make."

But Cooke insisted that the game would "involve a range of unjustifiable harm risks to both adults and minors." The BBFC said it had given Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. six weeks to appeal the board's decision.

In the U.S., meanwhile, a national coalition of educators and child advocacy groups sent a letter to the video game industry's self-governed ratings board on Tuesday hoping to slap "Manhunt 2" with the strictest rating possible.

Though nobody at the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has seen or played the game, it wrote in a letter to Patricia Vance, president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, that "Manhunt 2" should be given an "Adults Only" rating instead of a more lenient "Mature" rating.

"If ever there was a time for the ESRB's strongest and most unambiguous rating, it is now," wrote Dr. Susan Linn, co-founder of the CCFC. "An adults-only rating is the only way to limit children's exposure to this unique combination of horrific violence and interactivity."

The "AO" rating means the game is suitable only for players 18 years old and older, while the far more common "M" rating is meant for players 17 and older.

The group said the Wii version was particularly troublesome because players would be able to act out the violence with the console's controller.

"It is reasonable to expect that being able to go through the motions of violence while playing Manhunt 2 will exacerbate its negative effects," the letter said. "Given what is already known about the impact of violent games played on standard game controllers, it is irresponsible to make this game available to children and teens on a potentially more dangerous platform."

"Manhunt 2" maker Rockstar and Take-Two have long been at the center of the debate over video game violence and children.

Rockstar was embroiled in another ratings controversy two years ago, after a hacker uncovered a hidden sex scene in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." Another of the company's hits, last year's "Bully," was about a slingshot-wielding 15-year-old at Bullworth Academy boarding school, whose motto is "Canis Canem Edit," Latin for "dog eat dog."

Rockstar Games' 'Manhunt 2' Slapped With 'Adults Only' Rating
Most major retailers won't sell AO games; title was banned in U.K.

By Stephen Totilo

Coming soon to the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2: a game that's banned in the U.K and probably won't be sold by major game stores in the U.S. in its current form.

"Manhunt 2," an upcoming action game from "Grand Theft Auto" development house Rockstar Games, has been labeled Adults Only by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, according to a spokesman from Rockstar Games. Major retailers, including the big game chains, won't sell AO games, effectively guaranteeing the game won't be for sale next month as originally scheduled unless Rockstar changes the content.

Asked whether the studio would delay the game (which is scheduled for a July 10 release), Rockstar spokesman Rodney Walker told MTV News: "That's the last thing we want, but it's too early to say."

Walker provided "Manhunt 2" publisher Take 2 Interactive's statement on the game's rating: "We believe the process of rating video games is to help people make informed entertainment choices and not to limit them. 'Manhunt 2' was created for mature audiences and we strongly believe it should receive an M (Mature) rating, aligning it with similar content created in other forms of media. We are exploring our options with regard to the rating of 'Manhunt 2.' "

This revelation followed news that the British Board of Film Classification — which rates entertainment, including video games, for the U.K. market — declared that it had rejected "Manhunt 2," denying it a rating.

Talking to British gaming Web site MCVUK.com, BBFC director David Cooke said the game was rejected because the game "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."

The ESRB did not return an inquiry about the AO rating by press time. But earlier Tuesday (June 19), the group's spokesman acknowledged to MTV News that a group called the Center for a Commercial-Free Childhood had been pushing for an AO rating. "We have received the letter from CCFC, and while we might take issue with some of the statements made within, we sincerely appreciate their expressed concerns. Our ratings are intended to provide guidance that allows parents to choose games they deem suitable for their children, and that is a responsibility we take extremely seriously."

The first "Manhunt," released in 2003, put the player in control of a death-row inmate named James Earl Cash who was forced to commit grisly murders at the behest of a cackling mastermind and snuff-film creator named the Director. Kills could be committed with nail guns and baseball bats. Created by Rockstar North, the team behind the "Grand Theft Auto" console games, "Manhunt" was criticized for its violence but hailed by some game critics for its development of stealth gameplay and innovative use of sound (the Director's voice could be set to only be heard through a headset a gamer wore while playing the game).

For "Manhunt 2," signs pointed to the title being both less and more extreme than the first. Gone from press previews were mentions of snuff films and Directors. Instead, a more traditionally violent video game premise: one man's struggle to stay alive in an insane asylum gone mad. The new game would allow a broader range of weapons, including a phone and a suffocating plastic bag, actions that were glimpsed by MTV News on the PS2 version of the game that was shown at Sony's PlayStation Gamers Day in San Diego in May. While the game caused no furor at that event, such a title was sure to garner attention on the Wii, where its kills are triggered by the system's motion-sensitive controller.

Cooke told MCVUK that the board could see no justification for anyone to play the game: "To issue a certificate to 'Manhunt 2,' on either platform, would involve a range of unjustifiable harm risks, to both adults and minors, within the terms of the Video Recordings Act, and accordingly that its availability, even if statutorily confined to adults, would be unacceptable to the public."