Take-Two shelves Manhunt 2

By GamesIndustry International Published 22 June, 2007

[Surely "kills"? - Ed]

Following bans on the sale of the game in the UK and Ireland, as well as a preliminary Adults Only rating in the US, Take-Two Interactive has temporarily shelved Manhunt 2, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

"Take-Two Interactive Software has temporarily suspended plans to distribute Manhunt 2 for the Wii or PlayStation platforms while it reviews its options with regard to the recent decisions made by the BBFC and ESRB," the publisher said in a written statement.

"We continue to stand behind this extraordinary game. We believe in freedom of creative expression, as well as responsible marketing, both of which are essential to our business of making great entertainment."

Manhunt 2 was originally scheduled for a 10th July release on the PlayStation 2, PSP, and Nintendo Wii. However, Sony and Nintendo corporate policies forbid third-parties from releasing AO-rated titles for their systems. On Wednesday, Take-Two confirmed that the game had indeed received an Adults Only rating from the ESRB.

The game has already been banned in the UK and Ireland.

Take-Two has not yet announced whether its intention is to appeal the rating, rework the game and resubmit it to the ESRB for a new rating determination, or to shelve the game indefinitely.

For more on "Banhunt", read GamesIndustry.biz.

Picture of GamesIndustry.

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Comments (60) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Aretak #1 5 years ago

    Thrill Kill: Part 2.

  • arctic #2 5 years ago

    And they say theres no such thing as bad publicity..

    Something along the lines of "he who lives by the sword, dies by it" would seem appropriate..

  • krudster #3 5 years ago

    Sigh.

  • #4 5 years ago

    Don't understand the reason why SONY and Nintendo forbid the release of this title on their machines.

    This should be up to each country to decide.

  • ratso #5 5 years ago

    i really want to play this now!

    hopefully it gets leaked or something

  • WJF #6 5 years ago

    Anyone seen the BBC's Tech frontpage for this story? The headline reads 'Banned Video Game is 'Fine art" and the picture shows a man about to slice someone up with a very big axe.

    I chuckled.

  • Penguinzoot #7 5 years ago

    We believe in freedom of creative expression, as well as responsible marketing

    Hmmm.....

  • teabagger #8 5 years ago

    I feel for the dev guys. All that time working, going through crunch to get it out of the door then at the last moment it's put on hold either indefinately or to be reworked. Either it's all been for nothing or you're faced with going back to a title you're sick of the sight of.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #9 5 years ago

    Well, that settles it then. Rockstar have fucked up, big time and they know it.

    Though reading that preview from May someone linked to, I find it hard to believe that they didn't spot this coming. I recently worked on a violent, adult game (ESRB M, Cero-Z, BBFC 15, banned in Germany) but we were well aware of the boundaries we had to stay within in order that the game would be acceptable for release (even in Germany, we just weren't too bothered about being banned there). Indeed, as a developer, I would be feel uncomfortable producing something that was unremittingly amoral or depraved. Apparently, they just steamrollered right through the boundaries of taste and decency with nary a thought to the consequences. Even the Dutch were going to ban it.

    Was this developed in Edinburgh, or did Rockstar hive it off to one of their other studios? I knew some people who worked on the first one. It makes me worried that something like this can be done in the UK, and a bit perturbed about the coming GTA4, to be honest.

  • afghan_jones #10 5 years ago

    Just quickly replace all the bad guy character models with haunted gingerbread men and swap the blood for jam. Call the main character John Baker and re-market the game as a kiddie friendly Wii title called 'Bakers Dozen'.

    Job done.

  • bushwod #11 5 years ago

    @afghan_jones

    Bakers Dozen lol

    I would so buy that.

  • SBfistfun #12 5 years ago

    Give me an N

    Give me an 0

    Give me an 0

    Give me a B

    Give me an S

    What does it spell?


    N00BS!

  • zuljin #13 5 years ago

    @Hansi320
    "Don't understand the reason why SONY and Nintendo forbid the release of this title on their machines."

    As far as I understand it, Sony/Nintendo didn't ban it, they just didn't release it in the US because it got an AO rating. It was meant to be coming out in Europe, until in the above article, Rockstar decided to suspend distribution.

  • AcidSnake #14 5 years ago

    @afghan_jones:
    Bakers Dozen tutorial:
    "Press A and pull the wiimote backwards to rip the testicles off the gingerbread men!"

  • mostly_harmless #15 5 years ago

    This will all seem so funny in about 10 years time when it's finally released for free on some descendent of PSN/VC, without any age rating at all because the graphics will look so clunky by then no one will take it seriously...

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #16 5 years ago

    @mostly_harmless

    Super Columbine RPG has old-fashioned, unrealistic graphics, but it still disturbs people. Not that I'm equating that to Manhunt in other ways - SCRPG's 'Artistic Merit' credentials are considerable helped by the fact that a corporation isn't - well, wasn't - going to try to charge 30 quid a time for it.

  • IAmBatman #17 5 years ago

    > And they say theres no such thing as bad publicity..

    A couple of tweaks to camera angles here and there, and they release "the game the bbfc banned" and rake in the cash.

  • asphaltcowboy #18 5 years ago

    The very cynical part of me, says they knew it wouldn't get through classification, then would shelve it, sort the really bad stuff out, then re-release it to the BILLIONS of people now interested in the game because it was rejected by... everyone.

  • zuljin #19 5 years ago

    As long as we're going to shout out silly paranoid theories, heres my two cents:

    I reckon they never actually made Manhunt 2. They redid some animations in Manhunt 1 to make it extra gory, and now its been shelved on purpose, just to get TakeTwo extra publicity.

    /Rolls eyes

  • aldo_14 #20 5 years ago

    Was this developed in Edinburgh, or did Rockstar hive it off to one of their other studios? I knew some people who worked on the first one. It makes me worried that something like this can be done in the UK, and a bit perturbed about the coming GTA4, to be honest.

    Wikipedia (erk) lists a bunch of studios; rockstar North & London generally, plus Toronto (Wii) and Leeds (PSP).

  • chupachups #21 5 years ago

    "Don't understand the reason why SONY and Nintendo forbid the release of this title on their machines. "

    They have a blanket policy of not accepting AO-rated games. AO is the rating given to games in the US that include pornography, amongst other things, so the console owners don't really want to be associated with this segment of the market.

    Most AO games are for the PC so no one can stop them being published as it's an open platform.


    "This should be up to each country to decide."

    It is. The games have only been forbidden by Sony and Nintendo in America. The ban in the UK is because of the BBFC, and nothing to do with the console makers.


    "A couple of tweaks to camera angles here and there, and they release "the game the bbfc banned" and rake in the cash."

    The BBFC have already said they couldn't suggest any edits that would get it released. It was the entire theme of the game that worried them, not any particular images or effects.
    Edited by chupachups at 22/06/07 @ 10:06

  • afghan_jones #22 5 years ago

    @asphalt cowboy.

    Maybe, but thats a hell of a risk for a company to take. I cant imagine that take two, with their current financial issues would deliberately go down such a risky route.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #23 5 years ago

    I agree with Rob here:

    [link url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=26012
    ]http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_pag...[/link]



    plus Toronto (Wii)

    Altogether now, "Blame Canada...."

  • asphaltcowboy #24 5 years ago

    @afghan_jones

    Maybe they're going for that "big hit", y'know, the one that'll "set us up for life!" just like in the films :)

  • DjchunKfunK #25 5 years ago

    This game was developed by the newly opened Rockstar London. It is their first game I believe and by the looks of it maybe their last as well.

  • chupachups #26 5 years ago

    "This game was developed by the newly opened Rockstar London. It is their first game I believe and by the looks of it maybe their last as well."

    Maybe they felt under pressure to out-controversy Rockstar's previous controversies.

    I wish Rockstar would do more things like Table Tennis, it would help their claims of fine art if they showed they could do games that don't depend on upsetting people for publicity.
    Edited by chupachups at 22/06/07 @ 10:20

  • bioreit #27 5 years ago

    Maybe they're doing the gaming equivalent of 'The Producers' - ya'know, setting it up to fail so they don't have to pay their investors back?

  • chupachups #28 5 years ago

    "Maybe they're doing the gaming equivalent of 'The Producers' - ya'know, setting it up to fail so they don't have to pay their investors back?"

    That's... brilliant!

    Yes, it all fits. Maybe they've actually been trying to get a game banned for years and cursed the fact that they've failed every time. If you look at their back catalogue, they did tend to get more controversial as time went on.

  • bioreit #29 5 years ago

    /bows

    I reckon Mr Thompson could even be a plant - their foil, if you will, placed there in order to garner extra support following one of his 'outbursts'....
    Edited by bioreit at 22/06/07 @ 11:20

  • afghan_jones #30 5 years ago

    bioreit, thats genius.

    And now we all know their terrible secret.

  • bioreit #31 5 years ago

    It even makes more sense when you take into account the fact that Rockstar have had money problems lately, despite creating one of the most popular gaming franchises in history...

    /loves conspiracies

  • foamy #32 5 years ago

    fucking censorship. The people who don't want to play it, or don't have the guts to do it, need to be aware of what the game is like, therefore, the AO rating is there doing something. Making people aware. People who don't get sensible about those matters should have the opportunity to play it. ffs.

    Tabacco kills thousands of people every year, and it's still in sale.

  • bioreit #33 5 years ago

    Why do people have to try and bring the thread back into line? I mean, honestly, we're all having fun off in this tangent.

    *shakes head while tutting*

  • AcidSnake #34 5 years ago

    Aha!
    Ok, so what if they really didn't make the game, and just re-made the first...
    Then the BBFC would have noticed...So they're in this too!
    I think they are blackmailing Rockstar!

    "If you don't give us a cut, we won't ban your game!"...

    The plot thickens!

  • bioreit #35 5 years ago

    Like mayonnaise in the fridge....

    But I think it's more sinister than that. I think the BBFC have been in on this from the very start. They spend the last ten years becoming a reasonable ratings board, placing them above suspicion.

    Then, when the gaming world catches up (with the requisite graphics upgrades and controller developments), Rockstar releases Manhunt 2 just so the BBFC can ban it!

    Split the profits, everyone's a winner.

    I would even go so far as to venture that it was the BBFC's plan and they recruited the hapless new outift Rockstar to their nefarious scheme, offering them smooth rides for their games until the appropriate time had come!

  • afghan_jones #36 5 years ago

    Now my ridiculously circuitous plan is one-quarter complete!

  • AbyssUK #37 5 years ago

    If i was in rockstars shoes, i'd annoy them all and release the sourcecode/gfx/snd uncompiled on there webpages. Am sure source code doesn't have to be classed by any agencies. Then somebody in china/russia with access to the right equipment can print it out for everybody to order on ebay.

    Jobs a good 'un

    And for you conspiracy theory people out there.. i bet that the BBFC and Rockstar both own stocks in said Russian/Chinese company!

  • bioreit #38 5 years ago

    They wouldn't own stocks in their own shell company now, would they?

    /really getting into the swing of this. John le Carre has nothing on me....

  • zuljin #39 5 years ago

    I think you'll find another strange coincidence. If the BBFC was in on it from the start, then maybe the BBFC was started to lead to these events.

    And the BBFC was founded in the same year as the Republic of China.

    Coincidence? I think not.

  • AcidSnake #40 5 years ago

    ...But something went wrong...
    A real controversial game was released in 97...Carmageddon...Designed especially by Jack Thompson to show that the BBFC would never be able to ban it lest other similar games be banned as well...
    If they banned it Jack Thompson would be justified...
    If they didn't ban it Thompson could reveal that the BBFC had a hidden agenda...

    And all of this because of the secret between Jack Thompson and the BBFC...

    Anyone?

  • zuljin #41 5 years ago

    "If they banned it Jack Thompson would be justified...
    If they didn't ban it Thompson could reveal that the BBFC had a hidden agenda..."

    Thats why they had to ban it! Otherwise they'd be discovered! But then overturned it so Thompson still wouldn't be justified.

  • AcidSnake #42 5 years ago

    Oh and don't get me started about 'hot coffee'...

    Anyone notice the sudden fall of president Bush's approval rate in that period?

    This is big people...

  • bioreit #43 5 years ago

    Close.

    I think what happened is that Jack Thompson, an ambulance-chasing lawyer going nowhere, watched the whole ban of Carmageddon and become suspicious when the BBFC eventually allowed it to go on sale - having previously banned it.

    He has no problems with games (he could even be a gamer himself), but he is actually an intelligent man (and a consummate actor) and realised that something fishy was going on with the BBFC. He threatened to spill the beans (maybe he found ssome concrete proof, like a master plan or something) unless they followed his plan...

    He would be the very public opponent of video games, but he would also assume many characterists typically reserved for pantomime villains. This would have the effect of enraging genuinely intelligent people and gamers, who would cry out 'But the man's an idiot!'

    This would ensure vast amounts of publicity on both the Internet (by the people who despise him) and in the traditional media (by many who were thankful to have a new moral watchdog, following the demise of their beloved Mary Whitehouse).

    The recent pieces from Thompson show that his pantomiming skills are going too far (signing a letter 'Attorney-at-law, you're not', for example) and I suggest that the recent deal between him and Take-Two is to enable him to try and wind down his antics and become more believable again.

    No doubt this was arranged by his 'handler' within the BBFC....
    Edited by bioreit at 22/06/07 @ 12:07

  • zuljin #44 5 years ago

    There is a small hitch in your theory:

    "This would have the effect of enraging genuinely intelligent people and gamers, who would cry out 'But the man's an idiot!' "

    Why would JT volunteer to do a sanity test if he was trying to get the public think him a moron? Currently he's the countries only certified "sane" lawyer, I think... Or is it a double bluff?
    Edited by zuljin at 22/06/07 @ 12:33

  • dryden555 #45 5 years ago

    i'd be disappointed if it werent for the fact the he first manhunter wasnt any good.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #46 5 years ago

    Man, the meaning of freedom is already fucked up beyond any hope of restitution. See 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'.

    I blame Mel Gibson.

  • AllMetal #47 5 years ago

    Just looked on Play.com and they have the release date changed to 31/8/07. Anyone know if Rockstar are editing the game and trying again for a UK release?

  • afghan_jones #48 5 years ago

    "Just looked on Play.com and they have the release date changed to 31/8/07. Anyone know if Rockstar are editing the game and trying again for a UK release?"

    Yeah, they are removing all the blood and gore and replacing it with sweets and candy. It will be renamed 'Viva PinataHunt 2' and kids will love it. It will sell more copies than GTAIV.

    Jack Thompson will still call for it to be banned though as games are all evil and are made in satans workshop by ghosts who want to eat people.

  • UmBongo #49 5 years ago

    success at last!

  • MasterGrief #50 5 years ago

    Why can't they release it in Europe ? I mean the biggest costs come from development so they may as well try and make some of it back.

    And people saying they should have expected this take a look at this video from Manhunt 1 and tell me what exactly is worse in Manhunt ?

    [link url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=ywGR2Zf9aDM
    ]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ywGR2Zf9aDM
    [/link]

    Yeah lines need to be drawn...lines on censorship that is

  • dom6918 #51 5 years ago

    Just release it on Steam for PC...best way to get some money back!

  • smelly #52 5 years ago

    There is actually a review of this game out there.. it got 92%.

    So now i want to play it!


    They dont have to censor anything yet.. there's still an appeal process for them to go through, etc.

    Personally i think that the game is probably not THAT bad and the bbfc/elspa are just "getting back" at them over gta hot coffee thing and the oblivion nipple "scandal"

  • smelly #53 5 years ago

    REview here (exerts from npower mag):

    [link url=http://computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=166229
    ]http://computerandvideogames.com/article...[/link]

  • onyx_elite #54 5 years ago

    @MasterGrief

    "Why can't they release it in Europe?"

    Because it's been banned!!!

    It's amazing how a group of reasonably sane, intelligent individuals can baffle the simple facts into nonsense, referring not just to Mr Grief but also some of the earlier posts. The order of things is such,

    1)BBFS bans game
    2)US classification authorities give the game an AO rating meaning that big chains like Walmart won't stock it as policy meaning it is effectively banned.
    3)Sony & Nintendo announce they will not be providing versions for their consoles as planned.

    This is simple information but reading the first page of replies made me headbutt my desk at the number of people who failed to grasp this.

    And, most importantly, does no-one actually remember that the original manhunt was complete shit? It was bleak, fiddly and had next to no style of any kind. If anything the ban is creating more interest than the game deserves.

  • deadlock #55 5 years ago

    onyx:

    The ironic part of your outburst about reading comprehension, of course, is that according to the article it has only been banned in Ireland and the UK. Not quite the same as saying it has been banned in Europe.

    MasterGrief:

    My understanding is that it boils down to two things. Firstly, Rockstar have upped the ante in terms of the violence that is actually featured in the game; players can now use axes and chainsaws to dismember enemies, with graphic animation depicting the carnage.

    Secondly, the violence is framed in a far more tenuous context than in the previous game.

  • Skeletor #56 5 years ago

    @Mentalist(air)
    If you really work in the industry you should know that the Dutch don't ban anything when it comes to violence and that the German "indexing" is not a ban. The big difference between Germany and the UK is that in Germany something has to be published first in order to get banned.
    No release = no ban in Germany.
    An EU version of Manhunt 2 shouldn't be a problem because PEGI doesn't reject ratings, it's the decision of Nintendo and Sony not to release it over here.
    Edited by Skeletor at 24/06/07 @ 10:20

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #57 5 years ago

    Well, sorrr-eee for using generalised terms to describe things rather than precise foreign legal terminology.

    However 'it's the decision of Nintendo and Sony not to release it over here' is just plain wrong. The platform holders (well, Sony and Microsoft at least), and the game shops don't have the Americans' moral hangups, as can be witnessed by the availability of the Leisure Suit Larry game when it came out.

    The decision to pull it is from the publishers because it's not worth releasing it when its two largest potential markets (realistically, it's not going to sell much in japan anyway) have banned it.

  • MGG #58 5 years ago

    @bioreit
    "It even makes more sense when you take into account the fact that Rockstar have had money problems lately, despite creating one of the most popular gaming franchises in history...

    /loves conspiracies "

    Umm, thats Take2, not Rockstar.....

  • kangarootoo #59 5 years ago

    @onyx_elite

    "It's amazing how a group of reasonably sane, intelligent individuals can baffle the simple facts into nonsense"

    Understand my pain :)

  • Monkey-Wizard-Ken #60 5 years ago

    I want to chop people up on my Wii!
    god damn it
    :)