UK Government rejects Manhunt 2 petition
Edited content on the American version of Manhunt 2 has seen the hugely contentious game granted a considerably more retail-friendly ‘M for Mature’ rating after its initially crippling ‘Adults Only’ label. However, it would appear that the UK ban doled out by the BBFC is likely to remain an immovable wall set before the game’s territorial progression.
More pointedly, GamesIndustry.biz reports that the UK Government this week rejected the pleas of more than 3,000 people that signed an online petition calling for the British Board of Film Classification’s ban against Manhunt 2 to be lifted.
In an official statement published via the Prime Minister’s Web site, expectant fans of Rockstar Games’ Manhunt series were left disappointed by news that: “The Government is satisfied with the BBFC’s procedure and with the provisions for appeal, and will not be intervening in this process.”
Weep not, Manhunt fans, because the statement further alluded to the appeals process by outlining that, “the game’s producers [Take-Two and Rockstar] are apparently pursuing,” such an appeal through the BBFC.
The gathering of online support for Manhunt 2, in the face of its ban, saw the petition hit the Prime Minister’s site shortly after the BBFC swung its axe of apparent finality. The petition relayed that, while the game’s content “is extremely violent and unsuitable for children,” an 18 age certificate should have been applied rather than a full ban. And that: “Adults should be allowed to make their own decisions with regard to what videogames they want to play.”
Manhunt 2 has been developed for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii and has been criticised for rewarding players for committing heinous acts of graphically realistic violence.
Trailer footage provided by GameTrailers.com.
Yet I could easily go out and rent Saw (for example)… and that is INFINITELY worse than anything we would see in Manhunt 2…
I thought, as an adult, I had a right to choose what I buy?
Problem is that the UK government is taking the American route that you are free to do as you please as long as it fits in with what they want.
Civil liberties have been getting eroded for years now and it’s just going to get worse thanks to the paternalistic attitude of government officials that they know whats best for you. Problem being that the people that most poloticians represent are not me but some right wing fundementalist christian OAP who has no grasp on modern society anyway.
Jack,
Jack,
Where are you Jack, you got to be around here somewhere ?
Big Brother sucks.
Rockstar should just include PAL and NTSC versions on one disc, make it a multisided disc or something, so everyone can import the game at their leizure.
Not a proponent of censorship at all, but where do we as a society draw the line. I believe these kinds of games have potentially a severe impact on the brain of some children who are still in the developing stages where they are forming the difference between reality and fiction. This will inevitably land in the hands of young children who are not being supervised. Do you believe acting out Murder with your own two hands is acceptable? ——> http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=629
It’s acted out in so many different ways already which are also accessable to the kiddies, so to put the blame squarely on Video games to start with is a flawed argument.
I clearly remember playing cowboys & indians/cops & robbers when I was a kid and part of that was someone shooting someone else and getting killed, acting the whole thing out. I have watched many a horror movie or any other violent over 18 format you care to mention before being the age of 18 and I ain’t got no compulsion to kill (well maybe sometimes but morals stop me acting upon it).
So the fundamental issue shouldn’t be looking at why some games can have an effect on what some people may do some of the time. But it should be looking at the people in question and trying to work out why their mind treats this sort of imaginary violence as real. That is the real issue at hand.
I can still remember when I was young and video games were not up to portraying reality with any accuracy that the big thing at the time was horror movies being the cause for all the worlds evils. At the end of the day it always comes back to the person in question, if their mind is predisposed to doing something how is banning a video game for everyone else going to solve the problem.
Society is the issue not the entertainment society uses.