Manhunt 2 will get UK release Comments by Ellie Gibson

why are they letting them release this shite...!

...if only all crap games could be banned :*(

@bioreit
Thanks for the heads up, I did miss your reply before.

The thing is, this whole argument of whether or not kids get hold of this title is basically down to whether or not the kids parents buy it for them.

As for your point of having "the correct atmosphere... whereby ratings are given appropriately and parents and retailers know and expect to get into trouble for bypassing them": I work in a games store and trust me, we know full well that we will get a fine and criminal record if we are caught selling an age restricted game to someone under-age. We are constantly reminded to do ID checks for any titles bearing BBFC ratings.

I am wholly against the idea of banning a game because there is a potential risk of kids getting hold of something. If kids get hold of something they shouldn't have, its the responsiblty of the parent to make sure they don't have it in the first place. There is a risk of kids getting hold of lots of things they shouldn't have; cigarettes, films. These thing aren't banned because of it, though.

I appreciate how difficult it must be to be a parent, and that its very easy for me to say all this when I'm not one myself, but I still think flat-out bans are not the way forward.

They should release it as an R18, that way it's released, but it's only available from licenced sex shops

Gets a mention on the BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/72...

The part that actually stuck in my head was this from some Rockstar rep.

"Rockstar Games is committed to making great interactive entertainment, while also marketing our products responsibly and supporting an effective rating system."

Marketing products responsibly indeed. Ok.

@Daymare

I agree with you there. My dad let me play adult games and watch adult movies when I was a kid. But he knew what was in them and not only let me play/watch them but also took responsibilty for me playing/watching them. As a result I saw and played a lot of very violent things when I was still in middle school. And as far as I'm aware I have yet to be involved in a single violent act. Ever. Seriously I'm a pussy really.

If a parent makes an informed decision about letting their kids indulge in age restricted material then in my opinion thats their right.

@kangarootoo

What have they done that can be considered irresponsible marketing?

The point here really isn't to do with how good Manhunt 2 is. It's about videogames in general and how they are treated as an artform by regulatory bodies. The release is a good thing in a world where Saw IV is permissible but Manhunt 2 is not. It shouldn't work like that, and now, it won't.

@Kanga

18 rated games like Gears of war have been marketed on TV pre watershed, Rockstar (apart from Bully) have been one of the only companies to advertise their 18 rated games post watershed (on TV anyway), and that's since GTA3

they did forget to put the BBFC 18 logo on early versions of Manhunt1 but that seems to be a mistake not intentional

you're confusing PR (getting news out there and in sites like this) and Marketing which is the ads, perhaps not digital ads where it's a free for all for everyone, R* have probably been the most responsible out there in terms of what time their products are shown on TV

What have they done that can be considered irresponsible marketing?

How about the GTA cocaine mirror?

I actually think that's a seriously cool piece of marketing, but "responsible" is not a word you could used to describe it.

Great, now that a blow for freedom and democracy has been struck we can get back to the everyday business of not buying crap games like Manhunt 2.

@Skillian

for GTA3 they sent the press a GTA3 baseball bat

but what you send the press and what you advertise to consumers are quite different...if they'd sold or advertised a cocaine mirror to anyone that would be terrible, but it's just for journos

I shall duly purchase this crock of a game for no other reason than to celebrate the fact that I can.

@ Daymare;

You seen kids these days when they want something? I went in a while back to buy... well... Dragon Quest if you must know, and a ten/eleven year old was throwing a strop at his mother over a game that was rated 18. His mom was so embarassed by her sons tantrum she picked it up (This was Woolworth's in Liskeard, Cornwall) and took it to the counter. The lady behind the counter barely batted an eyelid despite the strop being clearly visable and audible to all.

Sorry. Kids today are spoiled cunts. I stand by my all-sweeping judgement. It's one thing to let your kid stay up and wtach the horror movies (Hell, I did! Especially Saturday nights, when there was Manga on Channel 4!), it's quite another to give into your childs temper tantrum and cave into buying an 18-rated game that really probably isn't very good anyway and only serves to please some twattish little child. I wanted a game as a kid, I had to save up and buy it. Or wait for my birthday or Christmas present. Rated or not (usually not), it had to be my money. I couldn't throw a tantrum and get what I wanted.

I stand by the BBFC. They know that the age ratings system is a farce. It's ridiculous.

edit; I realise I just named and shamed a store. But it happens, this isn't the first and it sure won't be the last so let's realise this shit happens and look at ways of dealing with it, eh?

It got 7/10 on most reviews i read..

Since when has 7/10 been shit?

I stand by the BBFC. They know that the age ratings system is a farce. It's ridiculous.


I think their line would be different as if the age system is a farce then they have no reason to exist

I agree kids will get hold of games but the way around that is stiffer penalties to shops for breaking the law selling them not banning all 18+ games

Too late.

BBFC are incompetent where games are concerned.

I completely agree BillyBrush. Not only that but I honestly think an ad campaign reminding parents that age ratings aren't just there as some sort of decoration is necessary - we've had quit smoking, drink awareness, speed kills etc. Surely there's some space for ads to remind parents that the ratings are there for their benefit.

It won't stop it completely. That much I know. But it's a start, and might show the Daily Mail crowd that will be honking their horns at this news that the industry is trying to do something about age-rated games falling into the hands of minors.

Yay freedom of expression, boo censorship etc...

But given the current anti-game climate in politics at the moment isn't it slightly irresponsible of R* to be releasing a game like this?
Its just giving the Daily Mail brigade a stick to beat us with.

With the Mass Effect farrago at least we could point to the artistic merit and the scope of the game's narrative to expose the ill-founded criticism for what it was. Its going to be harder to defend a game where violence is the raison d'etre and the narrative is perfunctory at best.

Perhaps if I thought that Manhunt 2 had some kind of merit beyond publicity-generation, and the associated cash benefits, I would be less sceptical.

As it is, I can't help but feel that the reputation of the entire industry, and those who engage in videogaming as hobby, is going to suffer and all we gamers will have to show for it is a decidely mediocre game.

Finally. This is a victory for freedom. Whether it is as worthy as some other thing related to freedom of speech or whatever is pretty much totally irellevant. It's just important that people over the age of 18 should be able to watch/play/read what they like, provided it isn't produced in a way that violates other people's rights blah balh blah. So this is reassuring, although bothersome that it was such a big deal.

I guess it keeps Vaz and the Daily Mail off the streets though. I'd hate to think what these dangerous minded people could do to me and my familiy if they didn't have a safe outlet like moral high horsing and championing the restriction of people's freedoms.

I'll probably buy this, since i'm a R* Fanboy

@kangarootoo

" 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"."

Since when is this is a case of "I should be able to do whatever I want"? Nobody is saying that. What they are saying is that as responsible adults they should have the right to choose whether this game is suitable for them or not. If you really think those people are idiots with the mind of a child then I feel sorry for you. There's plenty of countries out there that actively enforce a "government knows best policy"; since you clearly enjoy being controlled by faceless bureaucrats in grey suits, why don't you move to one?

Odd view that says if something is violent it is also stupid, and designed for stupid people imo

I don't think that's the case, why does the origional manhunt have to be labelled as a stupid game?, it's not the least intelligent plotline i've ever played, in fact it was quite fascinating to me and all the more shocking as it was'nt full of super powered weapons

it's Ok to lust over real world military hardware and watch gleefully as you're soldier does whats right and blasts X foreighners to dust, but it's wrong to have a game that attempts to actually give some wieght/nastiness to it's killing

i'm not saying the games not a brutal and disturbing thing, it is, and in some ways that makes it more resonant to me than COD4, this could put you off violence, most of the other games make it inconsequential.

There's a lot of people that hold up the game equivalent of Rambo as high art and then call the equivalent of Silence of the lambs/texas chainsaw massacre dumb...it's not ICO sure but it at least presents a character, rather than a floating arm holding a gun

brooza - "They should release it as an R18, that way it's released, but it's only available from licenced sex shops"

Why the hell did I find that so damn funny!?

"Odd view that says if something is violent it is also stupid, and designed for stupid people imo "


Especially when most people on these boards keep going on about games being crap because they're too "kiddy".

I agree that violence shouldnt be necessary to make a game good.

But i also agree that people should be able to buy what they want.

Just banning games for being mediocre and violent.. There would be a lot of pissed off potential halo 3 owners..

Oh.. and before people jump down my neck and start slagging me off.. if you think about what i did there...

See.. The whole "something is crap" thing is subjective.

Just because i personally dont like something (halo3) doesnt mean millions of people wont.. and doesnt make my opinion right. But what if i was in charge of banning it? See?

As for the whole manhunt bollocks, there's been a hell of a lot more violent games approved by the bbfc, this one just got picked up because of the "supposed" (wrongly) connection of that kids death.

This game has been deliberately pushed out into the British market in order to give more credence to Brown when he pisses all over the Byron report at the end of the month and bans all videogames that don't feature hugging puppies as the main gameplay element.

Hyperbole, of course.
Probably...

It is a win against poor censorship.

For those of you who keep saying it's a crap game, you can't possibly be saying this from first hand experience - so why do you keep harping on about it?

IMHO the majority of films and games in the Horror Genre are pretty poor, yet many people enjoy them for what they are and they don't get seen so negatively. I fail to understand why so many of you paint this game with a harsher brush.

Does anyone know if its gonna be the original version released or the censored second version of the game that was also rejected?

From numerous other sources online, it appears it will be the toned down version released - like the US version.

Good news for rational thinking people.

About fucking time. The game isn't particularly good, and the uncut version's violence was OTT to the point of being comical, but the ban, particularly the 2nd one (of the toned down version) was a wrong decision. The game looks, plays & has a tone almost identical to the original, which was passed 18 without any trouble. In fact, Brian Cox constantly yelling in your ear for you to "butcher the fucking life out of" people arguably makes the original worse.
For them to kick up such a ridiculous fuss about this one smacks of politics to me.
The fact remains that this is a victory for freedom of choice & expression, regardless of how shit the game is.

This is good news for the seven people that were going to buy it.

nice about time.

"BBFC are incompetent where games are concerned. "

Can you justify this? They haven't chosen to try and ban a game for years; they didn't like Manhunt not because of the violence per se; but the context it was presented in - glorifying murder for the sake of it.

I'm not a fan of censorship - but they're should always be some kind of line somewhere. A lot of folk seem to mix up 'freedom of speech' with 'anything goes'.

And this "freedom of speech" nonsense - we in Britain do not have such a concept, will people stop getting their legal ideas from American cop shows please? And no country has true freedom of speech anyway - otherwise there would be no laws for slander.


And to the person who advised moving to a coutry ran by faceless suits that decide what you can watch and listen to - well I did. The censorship is a pain (although not too bad - it could be argued that most of the TV is improved by not having a constant stream of violence and naked women on it) but the country is ran rather excelently. No over the top tax levels, hardly any crime (although some bugger had away with my phone grrrr), respect between people on the street, no teenage gangs, no fear, great public transport, I could go on. Maybe a "nanny state" isn't all bad.......Or maybe removing the idiotic UK press helps to change the atmosphere of an entire country, I don't know. It would be a start, anyway.

PS2WiiPortLOL

Agree with removing idiotic press.