Manhunt - Rockstar's Secret Weapon?

Thanks to Shacknews for pointing to a Gamers.com report with the first solid details about Rockstar North's PS2 'survival horror' title, Manhunt. This allegedly disturbing and voyeuristic, long in development game is from the developers of Grand Theft Auto, and has been kept about as secret as it's possible to. But according to this new information in a UK magazine, it's "a wholly realistic survival horror game, in which the player assumes the role of an inmate on death row whose lethal injection is faked, and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a violent urban warfare game arranged for the amusement of its wealthy creator. Your goal is to escape the city... populated by roving armed gangs." Are Rockstar keeping this quiet to get the game onto shelves unbanned, or is the stealth marketing just a publicity ploy?

Comments

Re:No Marketing Needed..

[TripleA]

You have to convince the distributors and store chains to sell the game in the first place, you know. And when considering if to sell a game or not, their major concern is marketing budget. Sad but true.

Reused idea

[sofakingl]

Not meaning to troll, but this sounds a lot like they are trying to reuse the story from either "The Most Dangerous Game" or "The Running Man".

Re:Reused idea

[DrSkwid]

that would be "Escape from New York" then

Re:Reused idea

[Paradise Pete]

his sounds a lot like they are trying to reuse the story

Almost all story plot ideas are reused. Movies, television, plays, whatever. The basic elements of what make good stories can be found over and over and over again. There are even standard formulas for stories. How many stories does this formula match? :

- Meet the Main Character (MC)
- MC has a problem.
- MC attempts a simple, straightforward, and reasonable solution.
- The first attempt fails, because of some new, unforseen information.
- MC attempts a more complicated solution to the now more complicated problem.
- The second attempt also fails, because the problem turns out to be much more complex than previously thought.
- MC attempts a third solution. This attempt is is very complicated, and involves great risk.
- As this attempt unfolds it encounters tremendous resistance, and seems doomed to failure.
- At the last moment, the MC snatches victory from the jaws of defeat.
- Finally, another character confirms that the problem is solved. This part is important, as it assures the audience that it is indeed over. This character is essentially the one who says "He's dead, Jim." Even though everybody knows he's dead, it still has to be said.

Many many stories fit this framework. And the three attempts is exactly the right number. Four is tedious, and two is unsatisfying.

Re:Reused idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep. And this '3' is quite disturbing, indeed.

In most of fairy tales, things are done or repeated 3 times. (Classic examples are in the three little pigs, or the three bears, which even have the magic three in the title).

I wonder where that 3 come from. Is it because those tales are what mentaly format us, or is it something deeper ?

Re:Reused idea

[August_zero]

Wow, thats a word for word description of me cleaning my bathroom last week.

Re:Reused idea

[Anonymous Coward]

or "Surviving the Game"

is this NEW?

[Transcendent]

...whose lethal injection is faked, and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a violent urban warfare game arranged for the amusement of its wealthy creator. Your goal is to escape the city... populated by roving armed gangs.

Sounds like the same game as GTA, but with a different way of getting on the street, and a different way of getting off... but the middle could be exactly the same.

Re:is this NEW?

[rgonsalves]

I don't think it is new either. I think i remember seeing this movie in the 80's but it was called The Running Man.

-RPG

Re:is this NEW?

[techstar25]

That's the problem with making a game where your character is free to do EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. It's hard to make another game with anything new to do.

Maybe your character can eat his own arm to survive. Now, that would be cool.

Re:is this NEW?

[YomikoReadman]

When I was reading about it, it reminded me a lot more of Escape from New York or No Escape.. with dash of Running Man game show to make it different.

Re:is this NEW?

[Transcendent]

That's the problem with making a game where your character is free to do EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. It's hard to make another game with anything new to do.

for one, you cant do EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in GTA. Sure killing people and stealing cars may be your universe, along with doing jobs for mob bosses and such, but I'd hardly concider that EVERYTHING.

Stealth Marketing?

[_iris]

I don't know where simoniker got this notion of "stealth marketing" from. This was all over the radio while I was driving around in GTA 3 :]

Re:Stealth Marketing?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, you're right! "Liberty City Survivor!" Although I doubt they can actually call it that...

But then again, it is pretty "stealthy," as only the folks who're running over grannies in their Cheetahs are going to hear the same message over and over enough to actually *remember* this... oh wait, that means me...

Re:Stealth Marketing?

[MicrowaveJesus]

I don't think that Liberty City Survivor and Manhunt have any connection. Manhunt, according to the article at Gamers.com is more about stealth. Whereas the advertisments for Liberty City Survivor in GTA3 seem to be about a much more chaotic game.

Re:Stealth Marketing?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was so excited, I didn't even notice I'd been hit!

After that I was hooked on Liberty City Survivor. I watch it every day in the hospital :)

Well...

[Bagels]

From what they've revealed so far, it does at least make me wonder what the main character would be on death row for. Of course, any character in the GTA games would probably go straight to death row if caught (or just life in prison, depending on the state's position on capital punishment), so it's not too hard to imagine. The whole premise of the game sounds a bit shaky, though - I'm not involved in the legal system, but I seriously doubt that there would be any way to "fake" a lethal injection.

Re:Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a lot like faking an orgasm, so says my girlfriend / executioner.

Re:Well...

[YomikoReadman]

Actuallay, IANAD, but I'd imagine that it would involve replacing the chemicals themselves with a saline solution or IV fluids.

Re:No Marketing Needed..

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do they even bother? All they do is endlessly promote games that may not be any good anyway.

Maybe you have not been paying attention, so let me refresh your memoriy. GTA3, Vice City, Max Payne, Midnight Club 2, are these the games which 'may not be any good?'

Keep to what your good at, trolling on /. and R* will keep to what they are good at, making some of the best games on the planet.

Re:No Marketing Needed..

[CashCarSTAR]

Sorry, I was unclear. I was talking about the phenomenon of gaming mags and sites pushing games that suck. (the new Tomb Raider? anyone?)

Rockstar is one of the most innovative companies in the business. Myself, I appriciate their effort, but think they need to work on controls a tad bit.

Reeeeeehaaaaaaasssh.....

[Mulletproof]

State of Emergency, anyone?

Damn

[SuiteSisterMary]

I was hoping they'd picked up the old Manhunter license from Sierra.

Re:Damn

[Anonymous Coward]

That would have been great...I miss that game.

Re:No Marketing Needed..

[Anonymous Coward]

You probably aren't aware of it, but Rockstar has published some right stinkers in the past few years:

• The Italian Job (40%)
• State Of Emergency (58%)

Maybe *YOU* have not been paying attention, Rockstar sheep? Not everything they touch is gold - I know I'm going to wait for the reviews on Manhunt before buying.

Sounds pretty cool

[dswensen]

Guns are the top of the food chain and very rare, while baseball bats, machetes, shanks, garrottes, and even a plastic bag are the more common (and messy) options. As in Tenchu and its descendents, every weapon can be used for an automatic kill if you approach the target undetected. In a neat twist, though, the ensuing death is presented from the Director's perspective, forcing the player into his unpleasantly voyeuristic role.

Hype or not, this sounds pretty cool. I've been pretty impressed with what Rockstar did with the GTA series. Some companies go for "shock" value and have nothing more going for them; Rockstar, with GTA at least, has done a fine job of both shock value and quality gaming. I'll be looking forward to this title.

Rockstar or *Rockstar North*?

[robson]

Very important difference.
Rockstar is a publisher.
Rockstar North, formerly DMA, is a developer -- the people behind the Grand Theft Auto series.

Don't assume a GTA-level of quality just because Rockstar is publishing the game. One link within the article mentioned Rockstar North, but not in an official or definitive way. We'll see, I guess.

Re:Rockstar or *Rockstar North*?

[simoniker]

I've seen the game widely reported as being out of Rockstar North (actual GTA developers), and at one point I found the game on a release list from two or three years back, when they were still called DMA Design. So personally, that's why it intrigues me. We'll see.

Re:Rockstar or *Rockstar North*?

[robson]

I've seen the game widely reported as being out of Rockstar North...

Cool. I'll be watching for it, then.

Re:No Marketing Needed..

[ryarger]

Too right on State of Emergency, but the Italian Job you mention was published by Eidos, not Rockstar. Rockstar's Italian Job (for PS1 published a year or so ago), was widely lauded as one of the best PS1 games ever.

The correct link

Robinson's Requiem

[Jagasian]

Damn, I was hoping that someone was creating a modern version of Robinson's Requiem. That game was a true survival game, where your spaceship crashes on an earth-like planet. You then have to eek out a living, survive the elements, etc... The game was very detailed, medically, and you sometimes had to resort to things like self amputation of limbs in order to survive.

I was around 12 years old when I played that game. I would always start the game off by amputating both legs. Made movement really difficult. ANyways, that game was all about experimentation.u

I don't think

[luekj]

that keeping details of a game under wraps is really any way to keep a game from hitting the shelves 'unbanned'. The ESRB has to pay attention to something, that is unless they slip them a new pre-rendered sesame street pilot instead of thier game content. Big Bird: Manhunt Don't ask me why.

Re:I don't think

[YomikoReadman]

The ESRB can pay attention to the game all that they want to, however that does not change the fact that the ESRB is still a voluntary rating system and no publisher/developer has to submit a game to them. On the other hand its pretty much become fact that not submitting a game to them sounds your death anyway.

Re:I don't think

[Anonymous Coward]

ESRB doesn't ban games. Governments ban games.

If Rockstar hypes the game for its shock value, governments will take notice and possibly ban the game. By flying under the government (e.g. Australian) radar, Rockstar can get this game on shelves despite having bannable content.

Re:I don't think

[YomikoReadman]

I didn't say anything about the game being banned, but from reading your post, it would seem that you live in Australia. Here in the US, if a company doesn't submit to the will of the ESRB, then they usually don't get a lot of shelf space in stores, which is pretty much a death knell for the game. Most Large chain stores, like wal-mart, toys-r-us, etc. won't carry a game that doesn't have an ESRB rating at all, and most smaller stores will stuff them in a dark corner if they carry them at all. But banning games? I didn't say anything about that.

xbox exclusive

[Anonymous Coward]

this game is xbox xclusive. old news.