Manhunt 2 Shelved By Publisher

In the ongoing saga of Take Two’s latest game, the publisher has suspended distribution of Manhunt 2 indefinitely. This is because the AO rating handed down by the ESRB in the US, on the heels of bans in the UK and Ireland, means that Sony and Nitnendo will not license it for their consoles.

The debate on many gaming sites has gone beyond whether the game merits such a rating and has become about censorship in general and what the industry can do to protect the freedom of expression of developers. The argument is that Manhunt 2 is a game specifically targeted at adults and that government bodies and ‘voluntary’ ratings boards have no right to tell adults what they can or can’t play in terms of games. The counter argument is that the rating, and bans, were handed down to protect ‘the children’.

65% of gamers are over 18, which means that some of us are bound to be parents of some of the other 35%. If this was my other blog I’d go into a rant about the nanny state and how, because some are willing to give up responsibility for their own actions and don’t want to have to make choices about what their children consume when it comes to the media, our rights to determine what is and isn’t suitable for our consumption are being taken from us, But its not my blog so I won’t.

Gamedrift and Destructoid have both started campaigns to bring the situation, which they find just as disturbing as me, to wider media attention. GameDrift’s effort is focussed on telling Take Two that if Manhunt 2 is censored or modified in any way from its original form, the signatories of a petition they’ve started will refuse to buy it. This seems at first glance to be a threat on their part, but if you read between the lines it is actually quite supportive of the developers vision of what the game should be. While I agree with the sentiment, I don’t honestly think that Take Two are going to listen. First and foremost they are a commercial enterprise, in the business of making money, to think that they will forego the chance to make some cash for the sake of a principle is the height of naivety.

Destructoid’s approach is quite different. They are looking at the wider issue of freedom of expression in the games industry and how they can bring appreciation of the medium as a valid artform to the wider populace. They contest that mainstream media outlets always paint gaming and gamers in a negative light and are misled in their continued assertion that videogames are toys. They make the point that there is a double standard at work in that something which is unacceptable in a game, is readily accepted and sometimes even lauded in other forms of media. A game like Manhunt 2, they assert, is no better or worse than so-called ‘torture porn’ movies such as the Saw fims or Hostel, which have flimsy and tenuous plots to justify their portrayal of graphic violence. They readily admit that they’re efforts are not going to produce overnight results, and they seem to be ready for a long and drawn out campaign.

Take Two has been having a turbulent year to date, with crisis shareholder meetings, profit warnings and the ‘resignation’ of their CEO. The only reason that they haven’t imploded is the release of GTA IV later this year. Having given the Xbox 360 exclusive access to any episodic content for the latest title in their most successful product for a rumoured $50 million has provided some wiggle room for their accountants to play with, though I don’t see them spending any of that on costly appeals or modifications to Manhunt 2. We may just have to live with the fact that we’re not going to see it on our systems any time soon.

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Posted on June 22, 2007 by Mandrill | Filed Under News
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