High Court blocks Manhunt 2 from sale

By Robert Purchese Published 25 January, 2008

Man in wig overturns appeal decision.

The High Court of Justice has decided British citizens shouldn't be allowed to play Manhunt 2 after all.

The British Board of Film Classification, you may recall, refused to give Manhunt 2 a rating last year. Rockstar appealed and in December the Video Appeals Committee ruled in the publisher's favour.

However, High Court judge the Honourable Mr Justice Mitting has now declared there was "a clear error of law" in the committee's decision. He claimed the VAC erred when evaluating if Manhunt 2 could be harmful to youngsters, misinterpreting the term as referring to actual harm when it should be considered in a wider sense of potential harm.

Mitting ordered the VAC to review its decision in two weeks under a new set of guidelines he outlined.

This latest hurdle follows two previous failed attempts by Rockstar to have Manhunt 2 rated and allowed on sale by the BBFC in the UK.

Will it ever be allowed? We shall see.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (34) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BigStu #1 4 years ago

    One day, someone will give a shit about if it's released or not.

    The media's still more concerned about it than actual gamers i think.

  • bad09 #2 4 years ago

    @ BigStu

    I agree, let this game die already it's not that good anyway! One thing scares me though, with drink driving and such in GTA4, will that have problems? God I hope not!

  • X201 #3 4 years ago

    Wasn't there a drunk pick-up in Carmageddon?

  • jamie_fear #4 4 years ago

    Nope, it was an "drugs" pick up in Carmageddon.

  • Toothball #5 4 years ago

    I think I'm just going to stop reading news about Manhunt. Should probably do some work instead.

  • Lexx87 #6 4 years ago

    If they try and block GTA4 I think EG should rise up and murder all the tabloid offices. This is nothing to do with games having an effect on me, just that they deserve to burn in hell for being such retards.

  • Brogan #7 4 years ago

    "This country is pretty much run by tabloids."

    Murdock says in a cuban accent: 1st you get the football; then you get the fuckwits; then you get the power.

  • BigStu #8 4 years ago

    I'm pretty staggered myself that Condemned 2 hasn't come in for a massive shitstorm. Right from the very first previews last year at E3 i thought there was no way it would be get released.

    So far so good apparently!

    JINXED!

  • GamesConnoisseur #9 4 years ago

    wider sense of potential harm....

    Mass Effect as reported by Fox News have shock full nudity and sex, GTA4 glorifys the russian mafia world! Tabloids will have massive shock horrors headlines!

    Bloody hell why everyone allow Goodfellas, The Godfather Trilogy to be widely admired and considered as the best of its genre when its contained sufficent violence and a real negative role models to young vulernable people? Because the people who presides on these decisions are fuckwits and have no idea what gaming is! Still see the medium as belonging to wee kids alongside Barbie doll and Transformers.

    Manhunt 2 is not that great but it could be the start of the another 'ban the flith' by Mary Whitehouses of the 21st century.

  • Mortey #10 4 years ago

    Manhunt should not have been made and Rockstar only have themselves to blame, they are using the hype for profits, not to make their games better for the benefit of their customers.

    In a 'free' society (and I am using that term loosly) individuals and companies should be able to do what they want but it should be based on what is right at that time. Manhunt's idea's are not right and just portrays gaming as a childish hobby which it has to loose so it can make games on the same playing field as film.

    PS loved the Murdoch quote!

  • awb83 #11 4 years ago

    This is a bloody disgrace. How on earth can this not be released but GTA4 can be, this ruling stinks of double standards.

  • Gl3n #12 4 years ago

    Ban this filth! Viva something or other! Viva!

  • Moz #13 4 years ago

    @lavalant

    I'd hope with the recent date anouncement that GTA4 has already had at least a prelimerary rating.


    It's still pisses me off that this is all about possible harm to children when it should be an 18 rated game. BBFC rating are a legaly binding and action should be being taken against parent who let their children play or watch 18 rated media, yet the press never seems to want to cover that angle.

  • FenderMaster #14 4 years ago

    The media's still more concerned about it than actual gamers i think

    your dead right

    but still... as little as i care about this mediocre game that i have no interest in whatsoever, i still think this is stupid

    ... i mean, Hostel got a release... and so did Saw, and from what ive seen those are far worse

    so in principle i agree with R*... but in actuality i think theyre just filthy media whores using controversy to drum up hype for sub par - mediocre games... the paris hilton of the games industry if you will
    Edited by 1 at 25/01/08 @ 11:37

  • skillian #15 4 years ago

    BBFC rating are a legaly binding and action should be being taken against parent who let their children play or watch 18 rated media, yet the press never seems to want to cover that angle.

    I understand the point you're trying to make about parental responsibility, but do you really think parents should be fined or go to jail when their teenage son watches an 18 rated movie?

    Shops that need to be fined for selling them to underage kids, but in the home parents should be able to make the choice what their kids see or play.

  • smoison #16 4 years ago

    Wow, how long before the Uk decides to make a great firewall to start makieng their own Internet.

    Let your govrenment choose what you should play, see, and think...

  • kangarootoo #17 4 years ago

    "Let your government choose what you should play, see, and think..."

    That is kind of the point of a government though, isn't it? To create laws, to manage society, etc.

    Every time this discussion comes up, the same "I should be able to do what I want" comments rise to the surface.

    If you live on a small island in the middle of the pacific, you can do exactly what you want. If you live in society, you take the rules. By all means lobby to change them if you think they are wrong, but don't comaplin about their very existence. You have a choice in where you live you know.

    For the record, I wouldn't mind if MH2 got released. But please lets not pretend its as simple as "the man" messing with our freedoms. It just isn't.

  • Saladin #18 4 years ago

    Oh for fuck's sake.

    What don't they understand? CENSORSHIP BAD, ENFORCED RATINGS SYSTEMS GOOD
    Edited by 1 at 25/01/08 @ 12:49

  • Hunam #19 4 years ago

    That decision is bullshit. I don't even want the game and I can see the judge is just being swayed by the media.

  • soundtrack #20 4 years ago

    Is the whole Manhunt 2 saga possibly no more than testing the water prior to GTAIV? If they can (almost) get approval on the mindlessly sadistic game, well GTA being more story and character-driven, should seem much tamer by comparison and find it easier to get a release perhaps?
    Surely from a financial perspective the expected revenues from Manhunt are a drop in the ocean compared to what may be lost if GTA gets banned or severely delayed?

    Just a thought

  • kangarootoo #21 4 years ago

    As it happens, the judge probably didn't really directly make the call on whether MH2 got released or not. His job was to see that the law had been applied correctly as written. In this case, he is saying the law wasn't applied correctly.

    That doesn't necessarily mean he thinks MH2 should be banned, and in fact he probably didn't examine the content or anything like that. He will have simply examined the stated reason that the appeal was upheld, and tried to determine whether that reason was legal. He decided it wasn't.

    I'm not sure he could have really come to any other judgement. A judge can't sit there and say "well strictly speaking its not legally sound, but it shouldn't have been banned in the first place, so I'll let the law slide in this case". All he is concerned with is that the law is followed, which is how it should be for someone in his profession.

  • Fitzmogwai #22 4 years ago

    Same old worn-out kneejerk bullshit coming from the usual suspects. Nothing to see here. Move along please.

  • skillian #23 4 years ago

    kanga, the voice of reason. This judge isn't banning anything, he's just applying the letter of the law.


    On another note, I wouldn't worry too much about GTA getting this same treatment. Games getting banned in this country is a very, very rare occurence, and the main problem the BBFC had with the violence in Manhunt was it's context - i.e. the "unremittingly bleak and callous" tone. GTA is a world away from that, and while I'm sure we'll see a few sensationalist stories in the usual places, the chances of the BBFC banning it are very low indeed IMO.

  • Nallen #24 4 years ago

    Will anyone that plays games give a shit? We shall see.

  • doctorgonzo #25 4 years ago

    kangoroo is right. The judge has decided that the decision was taken under a mistaken understanding of the law. He has therefore quashed the decision and sent them back to take the decision again, with correct regard to the law. He hasn't expressed an opinion on the content of the game. It is still open to the decision making body to decide to allow the game to be released, if they can do so within the law as it stands.
    Edited by 1 at 25/01/08 @ 14:11

  • ParmaViolet #26 4 years ago

    Personally, I think this game should be banned - if only to make R* grow up a little bit.....sorry, but San Andreas was a technically amazing game with zero character - give me Tommy Vercetti any day of the week....

    Still, the problem here is 100% with the parents. Any game that is given an 18 certificate is suitable only for persons of 18 years and over - how hard is that to understand?, why is it that parents can understand it clearly when it's on a DVD case but not when it's on a game case?

    It's not even as if the shops will sell them to minors either - many a time have I seen a kid turned away when they want to buy adult games. Mind you, only recently did I see a kid (must've only been about 7-8) in a shop with his dad looking at XBox games when his Dad turned to the kid and said 'Ok, so you want the Hitman game, do you?', at which point he grabbed a copy of 'Hitman: Blood Money' and walked up to the counter to buy it - is it the shop's responsibility to check who the guy is buying the game for?......I mean, jeez - how hard is it to even guess the content of that game just by the title?......if that kid turns out to be a serial-murderer, I know that I won't be blaming Eidos....

    :-)

  • Landmaster #27 4 years ago

    Release it already and be done with it.

  • SEVQA #28 4 years ago

    Honourable Mr Justice Mitting does not want people to get confused with the game of manhunt he plays on Hampstead common I bet!

  • merc2k7 #29 4 years ago

    Well done BBFC you have just given the gaming community a HUGE reason to use Torrent sites! It's so nice to see that if I want to I can watch films like Saw, Captivity,Hostel etc. but cannot play an ADULT games. The simple answer is to create a new classification FOR ADULTS so at least we can enjoy these games!!! I really get PISSED off with this nanny state trying to tell me what I can and cannot play!

    WAKE UP UK! Adults play games as well and I dont want to play F*cking Mario!!!

  • FenderMaster #30 4 years ago

    ^^

    youd rather play Manhunt than Mario?

    too bad for you i suppose...

  • Saladin #31 4 years ago

    @merc2k7:

    There already is a "for adults" classification - the 18 rating. The problem is, parents either don't know or don't care about looking out for it.

  • Malacath #32 4 years ago

    Although I don't really care whether manhunt 2 is released or not this is bad news.
    It will not end here. There will now be religious nutters, Keith Vaz and bad parents (who blame anyone but themselves for the way their kids are turned into evil little shits) calling for more bans. Soon another game will be banned then eventually we will end up like germany where games have to have green blood. Expect games like GTA4 and COD4 to be banned now. If these nutters have their way all games that are for adults will be banned.
    Edited by 1 at 25/01/08 @ 20:58

  • djed #33 4 years ago

    the role of the government is under constant discussion. Brits are apparently a bit apathetic, so they get a government that dictates what they can see, hear and read.

    I wonder just how black and white the law is and how the Video Appeals Committee's reasoning got worded.
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/08 @ 21:30

  • Krun #34 4 years ago

    I never wanted to play it anyway.

    Mostly because I like playing games where I get to be a hero or cartoon villain. I really have no desire to be a psycho in a game. I can honestly say, I never though, "Hmm wouldn't it be cool if I could play a character with no redeeming qualities who kills people for no reason in horrifically graphic ways."

    Sure censorship is bad, but only if I actually wanted the product. I didn't so it isn't.