The Manhunt 2 Ban Explained

[sagema]

It's called blanket censorship. They make something very, very offensive. Then politicians use this as an excuse to block anything like this. But do they stop there? Hell no. They move onto phase two and start banning everything else. What are we left with? An illusion of Freedom. Then movies like Back to the Future where saying, "He's an asshole!" Goes from PG to rated R. Why? Because instead of giving people the freedom to determine the line, the government makes the line for you.

 

[madbeanman]

It's called blanket censorship. They make something very, very offensive. Then politicians use this as an excuse to block anything like this. But do they stop there? Hell no. They move onto phase two and start banning everything else. What are we left with? An illusion of Freedom. Then movies like Back to the Future where saying, "He's an asshole!" Goes from PG to rated R. Why? Because instead of giving people the freedom to determine the line, the government makes the line for you.

Thats a bit over the top. This is the first game ever banned in Ireland so it must be pretty grim. Also in America the censors didn't ban it. Nintendo and Sony effectively did.

 

[gnahc79]

I wouldn't put it past Take Two/Rockstar to run with a banned version of Manhunt 2 to garner publicity while having an actual release version, MA rated, ready to go. It would be fairly stupid to proceed to invest lots of development and $$$ without considering the likely AO rating or banned status for a game like Manhunt 2.

 

[Wiiggar]

Yeah thats probably what they are doing. I think thats better publicity than commercials because it's free and more people hear about or pay more attention to something unusual (being banned) over a commercial.

 

[mr_resi]

Eff, i was really looking forward to this game too.

 

[Nuke RedL]

I say that we push the bounds of depravity to such a point in all aspects of society , that it provides a soapbox for some fundamental religious group to attack our immoral behavior . Then society , already disillusioned with what we've become , and hearing the words of the fundamentalists , bring these religious extremists to power .
Then before you know it , games not suitable for people under 13 will be banned .
This is my vision for the future .
Well not really, but I do think that games like Manhunt 2 take us down a path where the eventual consequences may not bear thinking about .

 

[Almo]

heh heh hasnt been Banned in New Zealand and auzzie so i guess ill be playing it happily, if anyone wants a copy in the UK when i comes out ill ship em over from NZ

 

[Adamquest64]

Game companies should allow those AO games. Maybe Sony and Microsoft will allow it eventually but sadly to us, Nintendo probably never will.

 

[EKAY123]

you're all moaning about a stupid GAME not being released, a mother lost her son because some nutter could not tell the difference between a game and real life.

 

[cbrotherson]

you're all moaning about a stupid GAME not being released, a mother lost her son because some nutter could not tell the difference between a game and real life.

Are you referring to the murder that the first Manhunt was associated with? Because that one is painfully inaccurate - a tragedy, yes, but nothing to do with 'videogame related violence' (seeing as it was the victim who owned the game, not the killer).

EDIT: The facts that were ignored in the pursuit of headlines and political agenda: http://www.beemoh.co.uk/article.php?31

As I said before – the murder was a tragedy and a horrible thing. But to blame Rockstar or videogames is pretty specious to say the least.

Of course, if you're talking about another specific case, then it's a fine and valid point; although I'm unaware of any other related incidents regarding Manhunt.

 

[Smegma]

I'm not really upset about the banning, purely because I don't care for the game. Here is my perspective:

Rockstar:
They got and make a game that rides on the gimmick of being gory and disturbing and completely overlook gameplay. The gameplay, after the first few levels of the Manhunt, got so repetitive I just stopped playing. It wasn't worth seeing the story, because it was pretty boring too. Personally, I never play games purely for the story because the gameplay in between makes up a huge part of the pacing and well, it was just too boring. The plot transported into a movie might have kept me mildly interested (depending on how well it was made).
So Rockstar makes a system that gets incredibly boring, but its cool cause "its very gory!". What's so gory about constant camera switching which blocks out much of what's going on, grainy "film", VERY little detailed, and most of the gore is "implied". Wow, that guy just got a scythe shoved up his ass and ripped out. Yea, that sounds gory, but the game basically just says what's happening instead of showing you any real detail or style. Gore? No. Boredom? Hell yes. I've seen more if not equally graphic images in PG-13 films.
Rockstar took a decent idea, and went lazy. The gameplay failed, and while they could have spent the rest of their time making a gory game, they just made some animations with little to no gore. How it ever got a sequel or high ratings, I don't know. I know manhunt 2 will be the same style, which disappoints me.

Media:
They hyped MH2 to be the goriest game of all time. While it may be that, as games aren't too gory to start with (though I doubt this MH2 fits this claim), they make it seem like it is to be ultra violent. Apparently they confuse gore with implied acts, because seeing a hammer crudely collide with the base of the neck, and then simply be pulled out (all the while the angle changes, blocking most of what is going on and when you do see something, its horribly done) is not gore.

Reports of it involving necrophilia and microwaving cats should be treated with a large pinch of salt at the moment, but there's no doubt the game is violent and probably powerful with it.

See, while these could exist in the game, I have no doubt that they would imply it and not show the act and if they did, I am almost certain it would not be "gory". Likewise with the genital mutilations. It will probably just show the weapon grab the crotch of the pants and pull. Oh, real gory. I think I'll have to CLOSE my eyes because the collision of the two look so horrible. The media shouldn't have hyped it up, it doesn't deserve it.

The Ratings:
Games are much more harsher than movies. There is no debate on this, I can show you movies that top gore in Manhunt that are only R.

The People:
They vary, so some people might be "shocked" by this, but they really shouldn't. If they aren't they just shouldn't buy it.

Conclusion:
I don't want this to be banned, but I wouldn't really care. I wouldn't buy it or even play it because the last one failed so hard. The principals on why it is banned offends me as a fan of gore, more so than a fan of the first amendment.

Oh, and MH2 will probably follow suit of its predecessor. Boring, lazy, and bad.

Oh, and Hostel II wasn't too gory either but it is clearly gory than MH.

 

[ImBilly]

Manhunt is a wonderful game who cares that a kid killed 3 people using methods from the game why do we have to suffer for what some kid did

 

[EKAY123]

so selfish

Manhunt is a wonderful game who cares that a kid killed 3 people using methods from the game why do we have to suffer for what some kid did

this mother lost her son two weeks ago, smashed his head with a hammer, then stabbed him gosh knows how many times. the killer loved the game and lured this young boy to his death.

 

[EKAY123]

Are you referring to the murder that the first Manhunt was associated with? Because that one is painfully inaccurate - a tragedy, yes, but nothing to do with 'videogame related violence' (seeing as it was the victim who owned the game, not the killer).

EDIT: The facts that were ignored in the pursuit of headlines and political agenda: http://www.beemoh.co.uk/article.php?31

As I said before – the murder was a tragedy and a horrible thing. But to blame Rockstar or videogames is pretty specious to say the least.

Of course, if you're talking about another specific case, then it's a fine and valid point; although I'm unaware of any other related incidents regarding Manhunt.

this case happened only two weeks ago, the killer loved his game and killed the young boy the same way as in the game, it was horrific.

 

[Joe]

OH MAN! What a mess.... no problem for me, because I wasnt even going to buy it! Mindless killing isnt my sort of thing. But I still hope RockStar can fix things up for the fans of ManHunt and theirselves.