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Take-Two cans Snow

Shovels, surely?

Take-Two's quietly canned drug kingpin strategy game Snow.

Originally due out this year on PC and Xbox, Snow was a real-time strategy game from Frog City Software, which put you in the role of a fledgling druglord in the late 70s, working your way up like a virtual Tony Montana.

Take-Two hasn't given any indication why Snow's been canned - merely confirming the fact for CNN/Money's Game Over columnist Chris Morris - but that hasn't stopped everyone linking the decision to the increased political pressure the US publisher's been under.

Part of that's down to Hot Coffee, Manhunt, and people whinging about Bully (now so closely guarded you couldn't even legitimately borrow its lunch money, let alone pilfer it), and the even more recent re-rating of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion by the American ESRB because they changed their minds about how much blood there was and felt aggrieved by a user-made mod that wrapped a player character in a nude skin.

What a load of nonsense, then. Still, Take-Two - and Jack Thompson's favourite branch of the same, Rockstar Games - seem to be losing their interest in all this controversial stuff, with top titles like Table Tennis on Xbox 360 and the relatively innocent Oblivion complementing the core Grand Theft Auto business. Not to mention BioShock - and around here it's hard not to mention BioShock. More of that please - we ran out of drug/hooker jokes yonks ago.