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Manhunt 2 Banned In Britain

Posted by Zonk on from the wii-controls-make-it-that-much-squickier dept.

westlake writes "Rockstar's Manhunt 2 has been banned in the U.K. for what the British Board of Film Classification calls its 'unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying.' 'There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game.' The company has six weeks to submit an appeal. The last game to be refused classification was Carmageddon in 1997. That decision was later overturned via the appeals process."

3 of 593 comments (clear)

  1. Great advertising.. by EveryNickIsTaken · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Manhunt 2, available soon in the US on the Wii...
    GamePro gives it 8/10.
    IGN rated 9.5/10.
    British Board of Film Classification calls its 'unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying.' 'There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game.'

  2. Carmageddon by Glacial+Wanderer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Best physics
    Best scoring system
    Best audio
    Best gameplay

    Very possibly the best game ever! I think my entire floor in the dorms got addicted to this game (yes, it was an all male floor at an engineering school). I never would have guessed that senseless exaggerated violence with a buggy rubber band physics system could have been so much fun.

    --
    Hobby Robotics
  3. Re:Will it help? by Awful+Truth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Devil's advocate here:

    Suppose

    1) you really believe exposure to violent games leads to a more casual attitude towards violence. I think there's evidence both for and against that theory right now, so it's not an unreasonable belief, if still unproven. And

    2) You don't consider video games to be a protected form of expression -- that they're just toys, rather than artistic vehicles. Hey, they're called "games" for a reason. Maybe this is not a popular perspective on Slashdot, but again, not totally unreasonable.

    Sure, the kiddies are going to download this via torrents, but Rockstar won't make any revenue from these downloads. If Rockstar doesn't profit from this game, they won't produce violent ones in the future. If you believe these things to be true, then a ban is a very effective way of influencing the future content of games.