U.K. censors Rockstar's 'Manhunt 2'

The British Board of Film Classification has banned Rockstar Games' upcoming Manhunt 2 for its "unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying."

The ban, announced Tuesday, means that the psychological-horror title cannot be legally be supplied anywhere in the United Kingdom. Rockstar, a division of Take-Two Interactive Software, has six weeks to appeal, according to the BBC.

(Credit: Rockstar Games)

"While we respect the authority of the classification board and will abide by the rules, we emphatically disagree with this particular decision," Rockstar said in a statement released Tuesday. "Manhunt 2 is an entertainment experience for fans of psychological thrillers and horror. The subject matter of this game is in line with other mainstream entertainment choices for adult consumers."

The game (click here to watch CNET Reviews' video preview) is due out in July for Nintendo's Wii, as well as for Sony's PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. In it, players assume the role of an asylum patient forced to kill other characters to escape from a nightmarish institution.

"The door to your cell is open. One choice. Once chance. They took your life. Time to take it back," the promo on Rockstar's site reads.

The title is a sequel to the controversial Manhunt game. The parents of a 14-year-old boy in Leicester, England, blamed that game for their son's violent 2004 murder.

David Cooke, director of the BBFC, said that banning a game is "a very serious action and one which we do not take lightly."

"Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing," he said in a statement on the organization's Web site. "There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game."

Tuesday's decision marks the first time in a decade that British censors have banned a video game in the United Kingdom. In 1997, Carmagedden was refused classification in the country; the decision was later overturned on appeal.

Rockstar, of course, has endured ratings controversies before. In 2005, hidden sexual content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas led to an uproar and ultimately to a ratings change.

[umbrae]

Regardless...

No government should tell its citizens what content they can/cannot consume.

Manhunt was a lousy game, but no more violent than Saw or Hostel.

[toddmmccall]

Desensitized

This is another major move toward the desensitization of society. As you all know, progressive generations must take on the role of leaders and law makers. Their base personality is being shaped by their childhood experiences. The things you learn as a child coninually rise up in your personality throughout your entire adult life, whether you learned as a bully or from a bully, as a thief or from a thief, as a demure underachiever or from the same.
Therefore we must protect our children, our greatest asset, from desensitization by the greedy corporations who take no responsibility for the envorinmental or social impact of their products.
Bravo to the British censors.

[Darialan]

Desensitization?

Really, first off the game is NOT FOR KIDS! I use caps to emphasize this. Kids should stay far away from these games and even though I like playing violent games and watch violent movies off and on, I do think that these games sometimes require an AO rating(adult) as opposed to M. Desensitization is really a myth. Playing a game or watching a movie is VERY different from real life. The experience is so different that I know that if I were to see a real life killer spill guts, I'd probably be so shocked it'd be unbelievable. Some kids are learning to do things from these games and that is why I suggest AO rather than M. When you reach a certain age you are very unlikely to take the actions of a game and try to make them real. And I know the next thing I say has been said over and over, but I can't emphasize this enough and it cannot be said enough, because people just don't listen to rational reason. What about the players who AREN'T violent? Doesn't that say something? A vast majority of players don't even feel the urge to commit violent acts like these.

[Geek94]

14 Year old killing

How could the parents of the 14 year blame the game when the first Manhunt was clearly rated 18. Either the parents failed as a parent or the the bbfc failed to moderate the sales of rated games.

[Riquez-001]

because..

..the 14 year old was killed with a hammer in the park. The boy
who did it said he saw it on manhunt. To be fair, he was already a
psycho though...

[CBWolf]

Absolutely Ridiculous

While I have no problems with restricting violent media access to
minors, the outright ban of any piece of media is outrageous and
tramples all over the adult population's right to freedom of speech.
If they ever tried to pull something like that in the US I would be
raising a huge stink about it.