Oh, the horror!
(Credit: Gamespot)Now that the dust has settled with Manhunt 2 and Rockstar and its parent company Take Two Interactive are being held to the fire once again, the utter lack of knowledge and ignorance that permeates every level of retail has shown its ugly face.
Instead of understanding the nature of the latest Manhunt 2 scandal where gamers could ostensibly view adults-only content in the game through a code hack, Target and others have announced that it will not sell the game on its shelves because "players can potentially view previously filtered content by altering the game code."
Simply put, this is one of the most ludicrous and ridiculous decisions I have seen in years by any retailer. Just because a gamer can "potentially view previously filtered content by altering the game code", Target (and others) feel the need to take Manhunt 2 off store shelves?
Ridiculous.
... Read moreDon Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
It's fun for me to think about a room full of Target executives sitting around and making a decision about whether a video game is too violent for it to sell.
According to ABCNews.com, the giant retailer has decided not to carry the recent Rockstar Games gorefest, Manhunt 2, almost certainly because it has been at the center of the latest kerfuffle over the content of one of the publisher's titles.
"All video games and computer software sold at Target currently carry ratings by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board--from early childhood through mature audiences," ABC quoted a statement from Target as saying. "While Manhunt 2 was given a 'Mature' rating by the ESRB, we received additional information that players can potentially view previously filtered content by altering the game code. As a result, we have decided not the carry the game."
Rockstar Games' new title, 'Manhunt 2' has been the focus of a great deal of controversy because of its highly violent content. As a result, Target has decided not to carry the game.
(Credit: Rockstar Games)Now, this is not a new dynamic for Rockstar. You may well remember that in 2005, the company got into a disastrous scandal over vaguely explicit sexual content that was easily unlocked in the "M"-rated game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
And after that episode, Rockstar agreed that it would never, ever again hide objectionable material in the code of its games.
So here we are, two years later, and according to ABC, Rockstar decided to blur out some of the most violent parts of Manhunt 2 in search of an "M" rating, much as it locked away the explicit content in GTA: SA. But this time, the ESRB said it was satisfied that things were OK.
ABC reported that ESRB president Patricia Vance had no problem with its rating, stating that it was "still valid, and we stand behind it."
Yet, likely because of hype and controversy, Target decided that the game was too violent. Never mind that the retailer also sells such not-quite-pacifist fare as Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War, and Ace Combat 6--which by the way features, on its cover, an exploding airplane and the implication of an instantly killed pilot.
No, Manhunt 2 is too violent. Now, I've never seen the game, and so I certainly cannot comment on how much more violent it is than the titles I just mentioned. But I do know that, for example, Wired writer Clive Thompson has been using Halo 3 as his own personal experiment in exploring the psychology of suicide bombers, and that Call of Duty 4, like most big-name war video games, is pretty much wall-to-wall carnage.
So my question is: When the Target executives were sitting in that room, trying to decide whether Manhunt 2 was too violent, what criteria did they use? It certainly couldn't be the inclusion of blood and guts. Nor of the concept of players or characters getting killed. Because all of that is readily available in the games it is happy to sell.
Rather, it is pointing to the fact that players can unlock the blurred-out elements of the game that Rockstar locked down in order to get an "M" rating instead of "Adults Only," the rating kiss of death when it comes to big-box retailers.
Well, fair enough, I suppose. I think it's short-sighted and random, but I guess Target gets to do whatever it wants. Even when the ratings board itself says it is satisfied that the game is suitable for 17-year-olds.
To my mind, the retailer is running scared from controversy. I know that a lot of parents are unhappy with violent video games because they think the games lead to real-world violence. And that may or may not be true. But I think the retailers either need to pull the plug on all these blood-filled gunfests or carry them all. Singling one out the way they did with Manhunt 2 seems to me to be a sign that these executives are rolling more with the tide of parental outrage than any particularly coherent or sincere policy. And that's a shame.
Originally branded with an AO (adults only) rating--the film equivalent of NC-17--Rockstar Games' creepy sequel to 2003's original Manhunt has just been graced with the more socially acceptable M-for-mature rating. In addition, Rockstar has announced that Manhunt 2 will be released on the appropriate date of October 31 for the PS2, PSP, and the Wii.
The AO rating was widely publicized in June after reports out of the UK claimed the game would never make it to store shelves. Following the ruling, Rockstar immediately announced that the title's release would be suspended until further notice. Censorship in videogames has become just as much of a prevalent issue as it is with the film industry and the MPAA. An AO rating can all but ruin a videogame's success rat,e just as an NC-17 film rating can severely limit the number of theaters in which a movie will be shown.
Why the ESRB chose to pick on Manhunt 2 and not any of the other hundreds of violent games in development is anyone's guess. It's unclear what was removed from the game in order for it to receive the M, but one thing is for sure, all of this press regarding the game's fate will certainly lead to increased sales come Halloween.
Check out CNET's video preview of Manhunt 2 here.
On Sale Now: $33.99 - $39.99
View the latest prices for Manhunt 2 (Wii)
On Sale Now: $28.99 - $29.82
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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.
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