Manhunt 2 banned by UK censor - again
Heads won't roll
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has once again refused to grant controversial videogame Manhunt 2 a release certificate in the UK, effectively banning the title.
Manhunt 2: no axe please, we're British
Manhunt 2 was originally refused a classification by the BBFC back in June, preventing the game from being sold legally in Britain. At the time, the organisation claimed the game had an "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing".
Developer Rockstar did make subsequent changes to the game, including a reduction in the visual detail of some "execution" kills. But the BBFC still reckons that other forms of killing retain their original "casually sadistic nature", and that the changes don't go far enough to address its concerns about the original version.
Any decision to appeal against the BBFC's latest decision now lies with Rockstar's publisher, Take-Two Interactive.
The game was initially awarded an an Adults Only (AO) rating in the US. However, Rockstar tweaks later allowed the title to pass with an Mature (M) rating, allowing it to be bought by anyone aged 17 or more.
While US ratings have no legislative backing, bigger stores will not stock AO-rated games, and both Sony and Nintendo take a dim view of any company releasing a title with that classification on their respective gaming platforms. Not so, M, and with the new, lower rating Manhunt 2 will be able to go on sale in the States when it's released on 31 October.
COMMENTS
Utter Nonsense!!!
I see that al the usual arguments from people who neither like nor play these games are doing the rounds again. We as a society pride ourselves on a certain level of freedom in seeking the pasttimes that we most enjoy. Maybe we should allow these ill informed individuals to manage every aspect of our lives then we could all be spared the demon of choice and free will.
Get the torches and pitchforks...
BoldMan is the kind of troll who gets upset when he thinks of what a pediatritian might be doing to childern.
Ratchet Effect
I still maintain that these games and movies are unhealthy for society as a whole.
Its a ratchet effect - you allow "video nasties" back in the 80s and that is then used as a justification for even more extreme levels of gore and violence later on.
Allow "torture porn" movies and people will then start using them as an excuse: "I can watch a movie like Hostel, but I can't play a game which allows me to torture and kill people in increasingly sadistic ways? I demand my Human Rights to be a sick pervert!!"
Give me a break! What next? Sim Torture: build your very own Dungeon and populate it with all manner of sick and twisted tools... get a high score and it unlocks the "Kiddie Torture" add on!
Society should not be degraded just because a minority of sickos keep trying to push the boundaries.
@Anonymous Coward
Most likely because violence, just like sex, sells. Combine the two and you are bound to have a winner.
The reason it sells is because everyone, including you, deep down fantasises about it. Anyone saying they haven’t thought of some perverted stuff or wanting to slap/strangle or do something worse to that person that annoys you is a liar.
The difference between normal people and the criminals is that normal people leave it in fantasy world (or find a willing partner in the perversion case.)
Movies/pictures and games allow you to experience this base emotion without hurting anyone. It’s a win win situation which should be praised instead of cursed.
Sigh...
I'm saddened (though not surprised) to see people standing up for the ban here for various stupid reasons. I've grown up with videogames so I'm not scared of them, but I do remember a similar witchhunt back in the 80s.
Anyone remember "video nasties"? Movies that were banned in the 80s under this banner became valuable and much sought-after among young kids like myself back then. Movies like Anthpophagous Beast, Cannibal Holocaust and Zombie Flesh Eaters were ravenously consumed by my 12 year-old self. Yet, I'm not a murderer.
Flash forward to today. The video nasties furor has disappeared. Few movies are cut, let alone banned, and The Sun has given away The Evil Dead uncut - a movie that it pushed to get banned in 1984. Attention has now moved on to games because, like VHS 25 years ago, it's an unknown quantity to many parents. Parents (on whose shoulders the responsibility ultimately lies for entertainment consumed within their property) are being woken up to the fact that, actually, games have never really been 'for kids', and they need to look at them in the same way as they look at movies.
Ultimately, banning Manhunt 2 will achieve the same as banning videos did in the 80s - nothing. Kids will still be able to obtain pirated copies - as I obtained movies in the 80s - and are actually much more likely to do so now that the name is so well known. Meanwhile, the same problems of education, employment, poverty and crime will continue to create murderers, rapists and violent criminals as they did before. it's nothing to do with games, it's just that games are the most popular scapegoat right now. When The Sun is giving away free copies of Manhunt 2 20 or 30 years in the future, there will be a new scapegoat but nothing will change unless we attack the real problems.
