No Manhunt 2 in the UK

koneko

Pending appeal, of course, but it's looking grim:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/27545/BBFC-rejects-Manhunt-2

"BBFC rejects Manhunt 2Ben Parfitt Today, 11:45am
British Classification body rules Rockstar cannot release upcoming PS2 and Wii sequel in the UK
With Take 2 already in turmoil following the recent company-wide restructuring, the group has been dealt another blow with the news that Rockstar’s upcoming sequel Manhunt 2 has been rejected by the BBFC, meaning it cannot legally be supplied anywhere in the UK.

The only other game to ever be rejected by the body was Carmageddon in 1997, though that decision was overturned by the Video Appeals Committee."

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/0/9549A008B065EDD2802572FF003BE6ED?OpenDocument
(Says Rejected at the top of the page)

Crucifix

Are there many blanket bans for media these days (movies and books aswell as games)?
That sucks though. I probably wasn't going to play it, but it still sucks

bizmark

BUUUUUURRRRRRRRRNNNNN THE BOOOKS1!!!!!! :rolleyes:

Honestly i seen some god awful film called hostel a while back which had poeple getting their eye's burned out and knee cap's drilled how is this game worse than that?.

Great liveing in a nanny/semi police state i guess

mcgovern

The problem is we tend to copy whatever they do so that could see a ban here too.

projectmayhem

it would be more significant if people in the UK couldn't order online...

evad_lhorg

wow thats crazy. it must be really good

DarkJager

Some kid gets stabbed by another kid who just happened to play Manhunt, and the media gets into a frenzy over it??? Now its sequel gets banned directly because of that?? Sometimes I'd just really love to get all of these moral high ground preachers, pack them into a boat and then set it alight when they get out to sea....

koneko

The "Average Joe" doesn't order online (Game's profits prove that, heh).

I wonder what this means for an Irish release though, even if there is no censor stopping it, our games are normally the UK version/SKU. If there is no UK version, will there be an Irish release at all?

SeantheMan

Would it not have to go to the Irish Censors though isntead of the BBFC ??

koneko

Well, as I said, aside from possible censors, the actual games we get are normally the UK versions, if there is no UK version, what happens here?

As far as censorship goes, the IFCO (Irish Film Censors Office) say:

"Does IFCO classify video games?

Under the Video Recordings Act 1989 video games are exempt from classification unless they are deemed prohibitable under section 3 (1) of the Act.

Ireland, along with 15 other European countries, is a member of PEGI, an organisation which produces age ratings for video games. To learn more about this system the PEGI website is www.pegi.info"

projectmayhem

DarkJager wrote:

Sometimes I'd just really love to get all of these moral high ground preachers, pack them into a boat and then set it alight when they get out to sea....

would you not want to stab them in the face with a shard of glass. you know, because you play video games?

Retr0gamer

I'm predicting this game will be **** but still it's bad news. We could have a 'videogame nasties' ban list on our hands and end up with the stupid censorship that German games go through.

I've said it before and I'll say it now, these type of games which are just violence for the sake of violence are going to end up damaging the games industry. It's easy to defend a game which uses stylistic violence such as Resident Evil but very hard to defend a game like Manhunt which contains a lot of violence for absolutely no reason other than to portray very violent deaths. Of course when these games inevitably get banned or become scapegoats it doesn't reflect on just the game but is unfairly levelled at the entire industry and videogame medium. This is the reason I have such a dislike for games such as Postal 2 and Manhunt.

DarkJager

I'd love to stab them in the face, but that would get me 5 stars from the police and I don't have enough money to get the car resprayed

johnny_ultimate

Set's a bad precedent alright, and can only promote more anti-gaming crusades. The fact that only stories like this or the recent Manchester Cathedrel farce are the only ones to break into the popular media says alot.
However, I think the banning could in fact be due to the Wii version existing. This is the first game to really use the Wiimote for some of it's more 'questionable' possibilities. For some reason, it may also be the last.

Beelzebub

It's available on Amazon.co.uk for pre-order.

jhegarty

DarkJager wrote:

Some kid gets stabbed by another kid who just happened to play Manhunt, and the media gets into a frenzy over it???

Didn't it turn out it was the victim owned the game and it was over drug money anyway ?

christophicus

Retr0gamer wrote:

I'm predicting this game will be **** but still it's bad news. We could have a 'videogame nasties' ban list on our hands and end up with the stupid censorship that German games go through.

The game got over 90% in Ngamer apparently.

DarkJager

Yeah but you know how it is: kid owns violent videogame, kills someone/gets killed himself and suddenly the game is blamed for it. People never think of questioning human beings stupidity and mental imbalance, its entertainment thats to blame at the end of the day.

Frankmagnet

I work in Gamestop and we havent heard anything. Got more dummy boxes yesterday to advertise pre-books

F-Stop

Just posted this in the other thread.

According to IFCO it'll be prohibited here too.

A prohibition order has been made by IFCO in relation to the video game Manhunt 2. The Order was made on 18th June 2007 under Sec 7 (1) (b) of the Video Recordings Act 1989 which refers to ‘acts of gross violence or cruelty (including mutilation and torture)’.

IFCO recognizes that in certain films, DVDs and video games, strong graphic violence may be a justifiable element within the overall context of the work. However, in the case of Manhunt 2, IFCO believes that there is no such context, and the level of gross, unrelenting and gratuitous violence is unacceptable.

johnny_ultimate

F-Stop wrote:

Just posted this in the other thread.

According to IFCO it'll be prohibited here too.

And the battle of free speech -v- anti gaming zealots begins.

DarkJager

Can members of the public make an appeal against this censorship or are these bastards just allowed to decide it like that?

No big loss, the first Manhunt game wasn't exactly great and I've seen nothing about this that makes it look any better. The games only selling point is its violence. Is that really what appeals to people when they buy this game?

DarkJager

Its not the point of it being Manhunt, its the fact that its setting a bad stadard for censorship. Any game now deemed to be too violent could legally be prohibited which would eventually lead us to being only able to buy dumbed down kiddies games

johnny_ultimate

DarkJager wrote:

Its not the point of it being Manhunt, its the fact that its setting a bad stadard for censorship. Any game now deemed to be too violent could legally be prohibited which would eventually lead us to being only able to buy dumbed down kiddies games

Indeed. I don't have any intention to buy the game but it somewhat annoys me that this is the first thing to be banned in Ireland in a long while as I understand it. The game may be violent, but is banning it the solution? Look at Germany - green blood only, and games such as Gears of War being outright banned. Do we want this?

They only banned manhunt 2 because there was nothing else in it besides the violence. It apparently had nothing else to offer in terms of gameplay. I dont think that the censors here will go down the route that Germany has. As long as the game developers are some way sensible with the content in their games there shouldnt be any trouble. Look at the violence in Resident Evil 4, that got past the censor no problem because he thought that it wasnt just about killing people as violently as possible.

thelordofcheese

DarkJager wrote:

Its not the point of it being Manhunt, its the fact that its setting a bad stadard for censorship. Any game now deemed to be too violent could legally be prohibited which would eventually lead us to being only able to buy dumbed down kiddies games

leaving out the sweeping generalisation that non-violent games are "dumbed down kiddies games", i have to agree it might set a dangerous precedent.

I say might because we don't really know what the contents of the game are. Maybe there is a proper reason that it's been banned as opposed to some knee-jerk reaction to some news story a few years back (which seems a little unlikely to me).
If its nothing but violence, then to be honest i've no problem with this

Beelzebub

This is making me mad, mad enough to want to fcuk someone up real bad!:eek:

DarkJager

If it was a game where you were just out to kill people in the most violent way possible for no reason at all, and with no storyline of any sort to explain the need for you to kill, then I see why it would be banned. But I would highly doubt that such a game would be made in the first place...every game no matter how bad it is has some story to it..

Crucifix

Deleted User wrote:

Look at the violence in Resident Evil 4, that got past the censor no problem because he thought that it wasnt just about killing people as violently as possible.

Some regions had various bits censored for RE4. Decapitations removed and the like.

Timans

I think it's a good decision tbh. Maybe it will stop companies making bland, boring games which the only objective is to kill things with no real goal.