It looks like Manhunt 2 is likely to be banned from sale in the UK. A computer bloke on the breakfast news was suggesting this was in part because on the Wii, players get to physically act out garroting, stabbing and other murderous activities with the controllers, making the immersive violence a step too far.
Any thoughts on this? Is it/will it be available in the US? Anybody played it?
This just makes me want to buy it even more, and I never even heard of it until I read your OP.
I have to say this is about the first time I agree with a banning of a game.
I love my violent games (GTA is one of my all-time favourites) but ManHunt is just a sick, sick, sick concept.
I played the first few levels of the first version and found it very distasteful.
There is no redeeming value to the game, no feeling of tongue-in-cheek.
You are basically supposed to kill a lot of people in the most sadistic, gory method possible.
It is basically a snuffmovie in the shape of a game.
I don’t think this should be sold as entertainment and I really don’t understand why RockStar created it.
(Except of course that it will probably outsell everything because of the press hoopla).
I have always hated the Wii controller but I just might make an exception for this one. I don’t have a Wii but I guess I’ll rent this when it comes out and play it with someone who has one. I haven’t played a good gore-filled game in a long time, since gore in games seems to be out of style.
I share your views - love GTA, but found Manhunt both unpleasant, but much worse, boring as hell. The only real ‘bonuses’ in it seemed to be to make each slaying as horrific as possible.
Saying that, this has roused my curiosity, and I wouldn’t mind knowing what unspeakable acts the ‘new, improved’ version contains.
Godfather: Blackhand Edition already does this. Is it banned in the UK?
Well, from what I read, you can decapitate people and carry their heads on your belt to be used as weapons or distractions later. You can latch onto someone’s testicles with a pair of pliers and turn them from a rooster to a hen, as it were. Among other charming things.
It sounds pretty bad – but do you really think the government should have a say in what video game a person plays in his own home?
Or you could simply not buy it and let everyone else make their own damn decision about what to play.
Here’s an article about the ban. The language used to describe the banning is vague.
When I read this yesterday I was thrilled. YAY! There’s a Manhunt 2 coming! Can’t wait to play. Loved the first Manhunt and plan to play it again.
On the ban… stupid. It’s rated Mature. Don’t buy it for your kids. Don’t play it if you don’t like it. But don’t try to keep other adults from playing it.
Rockstar response to the ban.
On Rockstar… what do you expect? These are the same folks that spilled hot coffee all over the gaming industry.
Dear Rockstar,
I forgive you and I am still your bitch.
Sincerely,
Haunted
P.S. Are you reading this, Mark Burnett?
It’s banned here as well. The first game to be banned.
The first game was crap IMO. Not because of the violence but because it was boring and repetitive.
This won’t hurt it at all in the States. Lots of negative press is always a good thing.
The banning is bullshit IMO, no matter what the level of violence etc. Put a over 18 sticker on it and punish any shop that sells it to minors and then fuck off out of my life and decisions.
If this thing hadn’t have been banned I wouldn’t have been that interested based on the first one, now I’m going to buy it on-line just out of badness 
Well now that they have broken the cheery of a game banning you may well find that people with smaller yardsticks that you start looking at games you like to be banned. This is the risk when you start banning things. No game should be banned IMO unless people are actually hurt etc. in the production of it.
Yes, yes you can. But it’s really only fun the first few times.
Well, another game was banned ten years ago. It’s odd though, the BBFC has been much more relaxed about things filmwise for a number of years now, I wonder if this is the start of the pendulum swinging back in the more censorious direction.
On a related note.
This argument, about modeling an interior after a real cathedral, is slightly different. Apparently *Resistance: Fall of Man * is “undermining the work of the church.”
Video games. Our biggest problem, didn’t you know?
The British Board of Film Classification isn’t a government body.
From their website:
So they’re not “a government body” but they are “an authority designated by the Secretary of State.” Pretty fine line to me.
So let the BBFC refuse to certify it. You should still be able to sell it without a certification (like Unrated movies in the U.S.).
I think it’s important to note that the main character was not just killing people for the fun of it. The people he killed were trying to kill him first. It’s not like he was randomly killing innocent strangers like some kind of serial killer.
Well yeah, but that’s because the basic plot of the game is that you’re a convicted felon who was suppose to have been executed but you end up starring in a snuff film for some rich guy instead. It’s not like GTA where you just go around running down innocent people you’re killing members of gangs hired by the director to kill you.
While the first Manhunt wasn’t my favorite game I thought it was a pretty good game. I thought it was pretty neat that you could use anything from a plastic bag to a machete to stealthily dispatch your foes and it almost seemed like you were playing some cheesy 70s or early 80s movie. Really, couldn’t you see Manhunt as a vehicle for Chuck Norris or even Jean Claude Van Damme? Hell, they made a Van Damme movie like that it was called Hard Target but that was the early 90s.
You’re not alone about being uncomfortable with the game and that’s perfectly ok. I find that there are things that bother me that don’t give anyone else much pause. However, Manhunt was released because Rockstar thought it was a good game and that people would enjoy it. I enjoyed it and apparantly enough people enjoyed it enough to merit a sequel.
Marc
This isn’t negative press. In the gaming industry negative press would be “Manhunt 2 gets an E rating for its lovely depiction of ponies!”
The market that game companies have worked so hard to build is effectively 12 to 25 year old males. If you’re outside of that range or a different gender then the vast bulk of what is made is not being sold to you. And what sells to immature boy? “Our game is the most violent, gory thing ever! It’s forbidden! Don’t touch!”
They might not be happy with the problems getting it onto shelves (especially since the US’s ESRB gave it one of the rarely used AO ratings) and they might change up the content a little to get back into those markets but Rockstar couldn’t ask for better press for what will presumably be yet another mediocre game offering nothing other than shock value.