A lengthy, to-and-fro legal battle between the BBFC and Rockstar prevented Manhunt 2 from being released in the UK, with the BBFC eventually giving up and granting the game an “18″ certificate in March. Having won its right to lop limbs clean off be released in Britain, it was no surprise that the title appeared in Nintendo’s latest European release schedule this morning.
But wait, for there’s another twist to this twistiest of sagas! A Rockstar spokesperson contacted Eurogamer earlier today to reveal that it “has no confirmed release date set for Manhunt 2 in Europe.” Ho boy. If any Europeans out there are beginning to feel particularly indifferent about Manhunt 2 at this stage, we can’t say we blame you.
Some high-profile U.S. Senators, including Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), have made attacking the ESRB their new pet project. The cause of this controversy is, of course, Manhunt 2. You may recall that Rockstar was forced to revise the game in order to remove the "Adults Only" rating given to it by the ESRB. These tactics may have worked in the U.S., but the British Board of Film Classification was unimpressed and still refused to issue a rating for the title.
The Senators are pretty ticked off at the ESRB for not being as censor vicious as the BBFC. But the ramifications of the Senators' attack on the ESRB go deeper than Manhunt 2, and may affect the video game industry in general if the ESRB is put under the "thorough review" that they are demanding.
Even worse, the Senators are calling for more extreme ratings on the Wii, due to the console's motion-sensitive controller. They argue that the Wiimote "permits children to act out each of the many graphic torture scenes and murders."
Of course, they don't acknowledge the fact that children shouldn't be playing Manhunt 2 at all, since the game was given a "Mature" rating by the ESRB, and one of the few ways they can even play the game is with parental permission. If children playing mature games is really their concern, perhaps the Senators should be putting parents under review, and not the ESRB. Those old enough to play violent games can differentiate between using waggle and using real weapons, making separate Wii ratings unnecessary.
Just in case you haven't seen or heard anything about Manhunt 2, or you are terrible at making inferences or something, this new trailer for the game contains violent contentand is best suited for adults.If you watch it, and you're surprised and appalled by gruesome imagery, we can't feel too bad, because you were warned! If you're surprised and appalled by gruesome jaggies-- well, that, we totally sympathize with. We've posted the trailer after the break for obvious reasons. We've posted the Manhunt 2Wii up at the top instead, just because we like it.
In other Manhunt 2 news, this Aeropause post brings up an interesting loophole that Rockstar could use to sell Manhunt 2 in the UK. While the BBFC banned the game from being sold in stores, the ban apparently doesn't include games sold in not-stores. It covers physical media only. Therefore, if Manhunt 2 were to be released as a download, it could be sold even in its unexpurgated form! That's a neat idea, but we doubt Rockstar will take advantage of it. Especially since the Wii's storage space is so limited (and the PS2's hard drive is in so few households.)
Well now, color us shocked that the recent version of Manhunt 2 that was cleaned up for our friends across the pond turned out to be the same exact game that received a "Mature" rating by the ESRB here in the states. So, what's mature to us is absolutely intolerable to them, apparently.
This might cause one to think that the BBFC is tougher on games than, say, movies, as the country had no problem allowing films such as Hostel and Saw into the country. BBFC spokesperson Sue Clark says otherwise, stating "If we were more tough on games than any other medium, don't you think we'd be banning far more titles? Manhunt 2 is the second game we have rejected in 23 years. I'd hardly call that draconian." She goes on further to add "Manhunt 2 went beyond our guidelines when it came to gross violence and we had a public duty to reject it."
The saga continues, as word hits that the latest version of Manhunt 2 hasn't received the A-OK from the BBFC. Turns out, the game is still too violent for the UK, as David Cooke, director of the BBFC, recognizes the changes made, but says the game's content is still far too violent. Cooke explains "We recognise that the distributor has made changes to the game, but we do not consider that these go far enough to address our concerns about the original version." He goes on further to add that the "impact of the revisions on the bleakness and callousness of tone, or the essential nature of the gameplay, is clearly insufficient."
Rockstar isn't taking this lying down, however, as they are appealing the decision. Fat lot of good their appeal is bound to do for them, as it looks like the suggestions made by the BBFC for how the game should be changed are "unacceptable" to Rockstar. Rockstar further commented that "The BBFC allows adults the freedom to decide for themselves when it comes to horror in movies and we think adults should be similarly allowed to decide for themselves when it comes to horror in video games, such as Manhunt 2."
Today begins the official start of Rockstar's appeal to the BBFC decision to provide Manhunt 2 with no rating, effectively banning the game in the country. GamesIndustry.biz is on-hand to provide the blow-by-blow for us, with Geoffrey Robertson representing Rockstar. Robertson thinks the BBFC is "simply ignorant of the gaming experience." Robertson went on to say that "There's no evidence that playing interactive videogames leads to a propensity to act them out in real life. We wonder why Manhunt 2 has been singled out for special treatment."
The rest of today's proceedings went as one would imagine, with Rockstar pleading their case and the BBFC intently paying attention. We'll bring you more as the story develops.
With all of the appeal going on right now, the BBFC has admitted that there isn't any definitive evidence linking violence and video games together. In accepting that there isn't enough out there to prove a link between the two, they have said that they believe more research is needed to determine if the possibility between the two being related exists. So, it isn't a final determination, by any means.
At yesterday's appeal hearing, BBFC spokesperson Andrew Caldecott stated "The board's position is that there is insufficient evidence to prove, as a fact, there is a causal connection between violent games and behavioural harm." Caldecott goes on further to say "It's a perfectly fair point, and one which we accept, but it's not by any means a complete answer to the question the [Video Appeals Committee] has to decide."
Caldecott further explains that the lack of a definitive link isn't enough to rule out the possibility of one, saying "The research certainly achieves the objective of establishing that research does not demonstrate that there is a causal link. But what it certainly does not establish is that there isn't." No matter how you look at, this is definitely an argument that isn't going to go away for quite some time.
