Manhunt 2 — Too hot for the U.K.!
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 at 11:11am by Jack
Seems our British brethren won’t be placing plastic bags over the heads of their adversaries in Manhunt 2 for the Wii this summer. The Register reports:
Rockstar Games’ Manhunt 2 has been to all intents and purposes banned in the UK after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to certify the PS2 and Wii title. Without a BBFC certificate, the game can’t legally be sold here.
The BBFC’s verdict of the game is damning: “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,” the organisation said today.
“Unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing” — and it was said about a game making its way to a Nintendo system? My my my. The times they are a changin’.
There’s something to be said about a game like Manhunt being sold illegally, don’t you think? Sweet irony.
[Thanks, Daniel]
June 19th, 2007 at 11:19 am
And this is good for Nintendo how?
June 19th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Blergh, a drunken monkey driving a truck would spell better than me.. What I meant to say was: how, or why is this good for Nintendo?
June 19th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Well stuff like this always generates additional interest which usually leads to extra sales.
Used to work in game in the UK and Manhunt got removed from the shelves due to a murder trial happening at the time and all of a sudden demand for it increased greatly.
So far it’s only the UK and Ireland that have banned it, Australia will probably follow though. Rockstar can still appeal.
June 19th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Not that much of a big deal.
PAL territory is a big place comprising lots of countries. All it takes is a trip across the Channel.
June 19th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
“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”.
Now, THAT’s a great marketing campaign if I’ve ever read one!! That game is going to sell like hot pancakes!
June 19th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Yeah all this will do is create a hype, and make parents scares as hell about the game’s effect on their kids. Remember what Carmageddon did with your parents? It is that, all over again, and possibly even bigger. Kids will be playing it secretly from their parents, which can never lead to anything good.
Good job.
June 19th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Rockstar loves it when this happens.
June 19th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
i was midly interested in this before….
NOW ITS ALL I WANT!!!
well done bbfc, well done
June 19th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
It may increase interest, but if people can’t buy it in regular shops it won’t sell well.
I am glad to see this attempt at making money from cruelty and nastiness blowing up in the faces of its creators.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
[...] by the Ministry of Silly Walks the British Board of Film Classification in June 2007, Manhunt 2 was criticized for “unremitting bleakness and callousness of [...]