This is a very bad precedent ... I think that the US system is pretty flawed, but the terms and verbage in the EU are much scarier ... they really do directly link to 'risk and harm'. They can get shipped to war to die, but can't play a video game due to the 'risk'?

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Well this is pretty ridiculous. It's just a game... And in every game like this, lets say "The Punisher" I guess that there would be a possibility of somebody actually trying those things.

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I'm going to be odd man out and say this is a good call. Well, let me rephrase that... given the quote, at least their reasons for the ban do make sense. It doesn't sound like a knee-jerk reaction. I'm not familiar with laws in Britain, mind you. But it doesn't sound like a Jack Thompson-esque situation, but rather a decision that was made after serious consideration and appraisal of the content.

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"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. There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game."

Good. Now I want this game even more.

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LOL

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This is going to make everyone want the game now. It's actually marketing genius.

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The problem I have with this game is that they seem to have gone after exactly this reaction. I played the first, and it was cool... until it all wore off, and I got a bit bored with it. The story was ok, but wasn't really anything more than a vehicle for gore. One could argue that the same is true of a lot of games and of course movies, but that doesn't exactly make it good or ok.
I don't agree with it being banned entirely, but somehow it doesn't feel like the blow to free-speech or expression that it "should". Instead it just feels like a group calling the company out on making a game based on nothing but catering to the homicidal fantasies of teenage boys.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that's bad exactly, or that there aren't times when this sort of game is lot of fun. I'm just saying that when they were designing this game, this is exactly the reaction they were hoping for. Hard to get behind a product that toes the line on purpose, then suddenly finds that it stepped over sections of it.

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GRT, I actually agree with you.

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Wasn't that rule of Rose game for ps2 not released in Europe as well for the same reason recently?

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I don't see how it's any different from a film like "Hostel." Was that also denied a rating in the UK?

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I hope I'm not the only one who finds this brand of digital snuff film disgusting. I have a stomach for death and destruction, but not serial killing thanks.

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I agree with the message this sets a precident about serial killing as entertainment. This kind of game turns my stomach, and i think people who like this kind of thing are sickos. (I hope this doesn't trigger a "manhunt")

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You people are crazy. It's an interactive horror film like 'Hostel' or 'Saw.' You may not like splatter films but they're just good, mindless entertainment. I literally wouldn't harm a fly (I prefer to open a window and let them go) much less a person but I find over-the-top gore in games and films fun and interesting.

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Re "I hope I'm not the only one who finds this brand of digital snuff film disgusting. I have a stomach for death and destruction, but not serial killing thanks."

I have no interest, and have not played the first. But note - I have a choice and if I don't want to see that content or have it around my kids I can make that choice. Having the government do it? There is a word for that - censorship.

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"It's an interactive horror film like 'Hostel' or 'Saw.'"

The big difference is that in those movies, you are supposed to identify and feel for the victims, not the killers. Manhunt tries to present it's player characters as anti-heros, but in the end you are playing the role of the one spilling the blood, not the victim, however it is justified by the story.
As a slight aside, it's sort of hard to argue against the idea that games and movies like these desensitize us to violence when the majority of people probably don't see that considerable difference.

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There are plenty of examples in games, films and literature of the villain being the protagonist of the story - American Psycho, Pulp Fiction, Destroy All Humans, Reservoir Dogs, etc. Who the audience chooses to identify with or from which pieces of fiction they derive their personal moral code should be irrelevant.

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"it's sort of hard to argue against the idea that games and movies like these desensitize us to violence when the majority of people probably don't see that considerable difference."

I don't understand this. Difference between what? Games and movies? Virtual- and real-life?

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Re "I have a choice and if I don't want to see that content or have it around my kids I can make that choice."

Are you positive that you can keep that content from your kids? what about ten years from now when the boundaries of of gore keep being pushed? are you going to choose to not let them watch it then?

It may be useless to ban anything, and i feel censorship may treading on our rights, but serial killing is wrong isn't it?

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"I don't understand this. Difference between what? Games and movies? Virtual- and real-life?"

The difference between hero-driven and villain-driven violence, and who the audience identifies with. I'm not trying to say that in movies, the protagonist is always the good guy, and always fighting against evil, or even that it should be that way; but that who we, as the people taking part in either playing or viewing, identify and sympathize with isn't usually the psychopathic killer.
Are you saying that in movies like American Psycho we should identify the most with the character of Bateman? Although he has moments that I think we can all see ourselves in, saying that one identifies with his character is certainly not a "healthy" thing, is it?
Movies like Hostel are also driven entirely by violence, much like Manhunt is. Which of the characters are we emotionally invested in? If you are feeling more for the man with the torch than the girl in the chair, I personally think you have issues. That movie is sick, twisted and satisfies the same baser part of our minds as Manhunt does, but it doesn't put you into the role of the killer. I personally think that is a key difference.

Again, I'm not saying censorship is the answer, but when you have a game like this where crossing that line is the whole point of the experience, it's hard for me to defend it based on artistic merit.

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Txa has nailed it on the head.

I don't care how fancy the jargon and PR gets for British regulations. Fact remains that having a regulatory body usurp the individual rights and thus, responsibilities that come with such volition, is an entire load of shit for a notion.

Hell, it's just plain counter-productive!

People need to check and balance themselves; that's what parents are for, damn it!

Well, my stance:
"Fuck 'em; I'll import!"

Senseless stuff has no use? Then can we swipe the slate clean with present-world politics, borders, and bigotry? Seriously, if you're gonna' make issue out of so-called useless things, then start from the real issues!

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