Manhunt 2 will get UK release Comments by Ellie Gibson

A good day for freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and gamers who can only crack one out to depictions of garden-strimmer decapitations everywhere.

The result of the BBFC's campaign will of course be to turn a mediocre game that nobody wanted into a playground must-have. Way to go gramps!

Big deal, it's still crap game........

Good news. I'm sure the game is merely average, but it's still good to know that it's going to be released.

A victory over censorship then.

Shame they didn't put as much effort in the game as they did on getting it released.

crappy game but glad it got a release.

glad of the result. hope no one feels the need to buy this sad little game.

Brilliant!! Can't wait to see conversions of Saw and Hostel making their way on to the Wii.

In an ideal world rockstar would have spent the last few months improving the game while waiting for the decsion to be over-ruled, i doubt it though.

Sounds like a perfect solution, what with devs always wanting more time before release and all.

Does anyone really care anymore? -_-

Sanity prevails! I quite enjoyed this on PSP, glad that people will get the chance to make up their own mind.

Does anyone really care anymore?

I'm sure Keith Vaz does.

Start the timer...

Finally I might get a Wii now

It's not often I quote Jasper Carrott, but there's an apt time for everything...

"Why's it banned?"
" 'cuz it's crap"

Two posts. That's all it took for someone to miss the point.

The issue with Manhunt 2 isn't the quality of the game, it's the censorship that was important. Adult gamers have a right to play adult software, much the same as we have the right to watch any 18 movie or read whichever gorey horror novel we choose.

All this over what basically amounts to CARTOON VIOLENCE.

Err...no. Its not like Tom and Jerry - its depicted as being serious.

And to join in, yes...it is a crap game.

Somewhere out there, someone who plays video games will care about this news. I'm sure of it. Well, probably.

No?

now they can plaster THE GAME THEY TRIED TO BAN!!!!! all over the box

Thank god censorship has been beaten so we can now all enjoy the game's message of extreme nihilism. There'd have been no other games that would have provided this otherwise...

Freedom of expression and common sense finally wins out. A good day for those of us who value making our own decisions on what we do and don't play.

Its coming out?

Oh.. great.. I suppose.

Still not going to buy it.

Vaz am cry.

Will this be the original submission, or the re-edited version?

Game isn't released, yet people all know it's a crap, sad little game

I guess i need to get one of these crystal balls myself

metacritic 6.9 avg user avg 8.7 suggests it's an above average title

i like a bit of dinge (Condemned, Manhunt1) and am not a psycho, so look forward to buying it and enjoying it

@BBIAJ

it's the censored version

It's the US edited version that'll be released.

Can hope that Holland gets uncut but doubtful otherwise it'd be released already. They'll just press the one master for Europe.

@BillyBrush:

Damn, I thought it might be... :o(

"Game isn't released, yet people all know it's a crap, sad little game"

Yes, because we all wait for a UK release before playing a game.

You plonker.

Nobody gives a shit. Shit game, interest levels raised because of some made up controversy. Job done.

R* didn't make up the fact that the BBFC banned it though, you pleb.

Yes, but it IS shit.

if the whole selling point was the gore and depiction of violence, and that has now been censored, and the game play wasn't that good to begin with, then the appeal of this game should be Zero. Hooray for freedom and all that, but the games been castrated, and no one gives a toss either way. its not a win for liberty REALLY is it? the fact that there was a banning and that they had to censor it in the first place is a loss for freedom in my eyes.

+1 to the "Glad it's released but it's still crap" party.

The BBFC have to have some power though over content and censorship, otherwise there's zero point of having a ratings system in the first place. The ratings system, as it is, is utterly broken and not helped that most parents and guardians don't give a flying shit about the age rating on the box. They'll still buy it for their spoilt little cuntish children. The system needs a review, and a possible overhaul, as well as a good ad campaign reminding parents and guardians that age ratings are given for a reason - to restrict and reflect the content contained within. After that, if parents want to buy it for their little cunts then so be it. They were warned.

/waits for the Daily Mail et al to jump on board and start waffling on about how bad it is and how it was responsible for that murder that it totally wasn't responsible for and all that 8)

"In an ideal world rockstar would have spent the last few months improving the game while waiting for the decsion to be over-ruled, i doubt it though.

Sounds like a perfect solution, what with devs always wanting more time before release and all. "

Except you'd have to resubmit it to the BBFC if you'd changed anything.

The sad thing is without this legal stuff people would just have read the mediocre reviews and stood well clear. Not it's "the game they kept trying to ban!" I almost want it now, just to see how gory it is, but I know it'll be nothing at all worth looking at - Doctor Who is probably worse!

@Kami

Good post.

Everyone winges on about the BBFC, but they don't have cart blanc to set the rules, they simply follow them.

If the rules need changing or updating, fair enough. That doesn't mean the BBFC don't have an important role to play. Except of course for those who frequently trumpet "I am an adult and should be able to do whatever I want", to which my response is simply "no you shouldn't, shut up idiot adult with the mind of a child".


As for the game itself. I personally feel so uninterested in it that I'm not even sure I can bring myself to join the "glad its released but its crap" party. Don't know how I feel about it being released. As usual, I don't just consider these things in terms of what I do or don't want to play, but also how any given title may be perceived by the public at large and how in turn it makes the games industry appear.

If MH2 makes the mainstream look at gaming with distain, that is a bad thing. Freedom of speech is one thing, and its important, but it isn't the only thing that matters.

If the cost is that gaming gets yet more bad press resulting in widespread misunderstanding and condemnation, and the reward is we all get to play a game that by many accounts isn't really that good, is that a good deal? I think probably not.

/Laughing at all the 'Yay for Freedom of Expression/Speech' cries.

/Wonders when Rockstar became comparable to Martin Luther King and Emmeline Pankhurst.

@bioreit

I don't think anyone's suggesting Rockstar is comparable to the likes of Martin Luther King - except for you, it seems- but the fact that adults are being given the ability to make up their own minds is obviously a good thing. The quality of the game is a non-issue for me, I'm extremely glad to see it's been released, but I doubt I'll buy it.

@Kami
"The ratings system, as it is, is utterly broken and not helped that most parents and guardians don't give a flying shit about the age rating on the box."

Is there anything a rating system can do about that though? If a parent is hapy to buy their child an 18 rated game then surely they're going to do it, regardless of what system has been put in place.

Hmm, i actually want this now just to see what all the fuss was about

hidden agenda?

Kinda makes you wounder what the point of the BBFC is if they just get over ruled like this!!

@ kyle

But they are, implicitly, by stating that this decision is a 'victory for freedom of speech / expression'.

To myself and all of those I know, terms such as Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression are directly related to ideas such as inequality between races, sexes and religions and their subsequent victimisation. Included within this scope are those who are persecuted or denied rights purely on the basis of sexual orientation.

Multinational games corporations potentially worth billions, making games for (comparatively) wealthy individuals (usually males) in a predominantly Western-style society do NOT, in our opinion, fit into any of the above categories.

I mean, they've all had it so tough over the years, haven't they, what with all that persecution and hardship...

Edit 1: "Is there anything a rating system can do about that though? If a parent is hapy to buy their child an 18 rated game then surely they're going to do it, regardless of what system has been put in place."

Not the ratings system, no, but the law could (and should) be there to back up and enforce the BBFC's decisions, in similar ways to tobacco and alcohol licensing. I mean, how many times do off-licences get checked for selling to underage kids? Barely once in a blue moon - but still a thousand times more than your local Game or HMV.

If the correct atmosphere is fostered - whereby ratings are given appropriately and parents and retailers know and expect to get into trouble for bypassing them - then I would have no problem with games like Manhunt 2 being released. As many have said here, it would be an adult game for adults to choose whether to play or not.

But the sad fact is that the current ratings system is basically unheeded by the majority of parents and retailers and the enforcement of such ratings is basically non-existent and for anyone to believe that a sweeping "It's an adult game so adults should choose" attitude can be immediately and successfully implemented is guilty of the highest state of naivete.

@bioreit

Ok, I see your point, and perhaps touting it as a victory for freedom of speech is over selling it a little, but the fact remains that as an adult, being able to decide for yourself whether or not a game is suitable for you to play is an option that should have been available from the start, without all this commitee malarky.

Don't get me wrong, I think the BBFC or an organisation of it's kind is wholly necessary for imposing age restrictions. But it shouldn't be able to flat out ban something. I've said this before but I don't believe that there is any software that will be 'harmful' to an otherwise healthy adult.

@Moz

"Kinda makes you wounder what the point of the BBFC is if they just get over ruled like this!!"

Oh come on, this is clearly the very definition of a special case. The BBFC hardly ban anything (maybe 2 titles a year, including games and DVD releases), and having their decisions overuled is even rarer still.


Should we also throw out trial by jury just because occasionally someone has the case against them overturned at appeal?


The "point" of the BBFC is to decide what rating the thousands of games and films that get released every year should have applied to them.

so does this mean Ireland is the only country that banned it?
:-(

@ Kyle

I replied to your edited reply to kami in my original post, so you might want to look at that, as it seems I anticipated at least part of your line of reasoning in that response.

But you might miss it, what with it being an edit!

Owned. I love it when self righteous governing bodies get slapped in the face.

We're capable of making our own decisions, we don't need protecting from a videogame when we can pick up pretty nasty films like Hostel 2 at the local Tesco for five quid.

Now that I have the freedom of choice in the matter, I will enjoy choosing to not buy the game, because it doesn't look that brilliant. Other people can choose to buy it. See how painless that was?

Manhunt 2 doesn't look more violent/disturbing/nihilistic than condemned 2, so why did they ban it to begin with? Rockstar's track record, i guess.

Aretak
14-Mar-08 13:18:16 "Game isn't released, yet people all know it's a crap, sad little game"

Yes, because we all wait for a UK release before playing a game.

You plonker.


Nice reply...

Soooo....you own Manhunt 2 do you? ?

?
?

give us the lowdown then..

@bioreit
But they are, implicitly, by stating that this decision is a 'victory for freedom of speech / expression'.

It is a victory for freedom of choice... Not much of one admittadly, but definitly gives me a choice that I wouldnt have had otherwise.
It also sets a precident for future cases - Which may actually be worth the trouble.

That I choose to play (or not to play) this title should be my decision - not anyone elses & while I would appreacite the BBFC advising me of the content within the game, I think its up to be to decide wether I actually play it or not - I'm all grown up now, I can make that decision for myself.

Not that I'll play the game - I hear its crap.

I'm so glad my mom allowed me to watch horror movies when I was a kid (judging by Kami's post, I must be a "spoiled cunt" for wanting to watch them...). Now that I'm grown up, I'm not a psycho serial killer, but just a big, rather geeky "horror buff". And before someone says "yeah, that's you, but that doesn't mean...": in my country, where rating system practicly doesn't exist (12 year old can go watch, I dunno, uncensored Hostel 2 without a problem), crime-rate isn't sky-high or something, but is in fact much lower (my estimate, don't have any proof or anything) compared to other countries, judging from what I read. We are small, though, but the point I'm making is, that bloody movies/games/whatever are, when it comes to harmful/bad influences to the individual/society, IMO, nothing compared to poverty, bad parenting, over-population etc. So, yeah, I'm defenitely in the "I'm glad it was released, but don't care about this particular title" camp.