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Take Two Vows To Publish Manhunt 2
Despite Manhunt 2's bad reception in both UK and US, Take Two has publicly announced that it will publish the game at some point. Backing the title as art, once again, the company vowed to see the game released in some capacity or another. "The chairman added that Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar Games, which publishes Manhunt and the Grand Theft Auto series, sees itself as a producer of games rated M for Mature. However, Zelman did say Take-Two would stand by its game, even if it bore the dreaded AO for Adults Only rating. 'We don't see ourselves in the Adults Only business,' he told analysts listening to the call. 'Having said that, if we find ourselves in the Adults Only business, it would be because we have a title that we consider art and entertainment, that we consider if appropriately labeled AO, and that we would like to bring to market.'"
Then its all OK.
Just put people in turbans.
Problem solved.
After being given the AO rating, do they get a chance to tone down the objectional content and resubmit the game for a new rating? Or is the rating once and forever?
In some capacity or another, eh? Come on collectible card game!
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
You don't spend that much money making a game and advertising it only to go "well it got an AO rating, lets just drop it" They'll go back and like change people to Nazis, zombies or whatever. Maybe remove a few of the ways you kill people and tone down the blood to get a M rating
I wish AO would be treated just like R ratings for movies. Wal mart et. al. don't refuse to sell R rated movies, but have this problem with AO?
Anyway, I'll probably pick it up just to say hey, there is a market for this!
"Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time." Danny Vinyard -American History X
Just as there is a vast porn industry, there can be the same for grotesque violence and lewd sexual content. Take Two probably realizes this as well. I personally would try such games out of curiousity to see what kind of "Art" it really is.
It kind of already exists in the form of Hentai games, except that I have never tried one. Perhaps if there were a way to find an english translated one...
hmmm
If i wanted to hear bullshit, i'd go to church.
It's nice that they're determined to get the game out, but how is this going to happen if the Sony and Nintendo won't approve the game for their consoles? And I don't recall there being a PC version of the game. Of course they could port it to the PC and then just sell it online, maybe even with Steam. But unless they were planning this contingency all along, it will take time to port the game. Another question is whether Microsoft would allow the game on the 360. If they have to take the time to do a PC port, then a 360 port almost comes for free. Manhunt 2 as an Xbox 360/Windows Vista exclusive might actually make sense. Not only that, if they're successful, it could put a whole new spin on the AO rating issue. It might just remove the curse.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Sell it direct. Take Two's problem isn't that it's banned. The problem is that they can't sell it at Target and Wal Mart with an AO rating. Going direct eliminates this problem.
Take 2 vows to try and eke some income out of a product they've already spent money on!
Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
Think of it....
I think I speak for a lot of people that would _love_ to see the AO rating go from "the dreaded" to the "hells yeah!" rating. I mean we all want these kinds of titles - we are growing up but dammit as much as I love nintendo I want my games to grow up with me. Honestly I cant figure out where the real problem is. Distributors refuse to carry it - why? I know the fact that Wal-Mart wont carry it is a real problem when you are looking at your bottom line - but thankfully they looked at a bottom line of zero and are deciding to go ahead.
What I could see this as doing for the future is this being remembered as that first title that said 'the hell with it' and went through with the AO rating and made the Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft's realize that there is a market here and it is worth expanding our definition of games. Take Two is an utter mess at this point - but that desperation is great for doing something crazy that just might work. Dont tone down the game - throw in those few bits you were scared would originally garner an AO rating and just sell the damn thing.
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Did anyone else read the headline and misconstrue it that way, implying that the company that was going to publish the game had previously vowed to publish a particular game and then suddenly did so again, as if pledging the first time wasn't sufficient?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
just my two vows
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
There is a market demand for savagely violent games such as yours. I will buy it, and I promise not to go Postal at work.
No.
I lol'd.
Go ahead and remove the ultra-violence so the consoles will license it, all the while porting the original version to the PC to rebrand as "Manhunt 2: Director's Cut"
Technoli
I'd order it directly from them.
A niceish move, although I'd really have preferred to see a MUCH better AO game get published rather than this one which might do ok, but nothing spectacular I suspect even with all the controversy(free hype) surrounding it...
Running With Scissors has made a nice niche market for itself with it's Postal series, which I love. They are so in your face in everything they do that the media all but ignores them now. So what if you can't sell them at Wal-Mart or Target, if your target demographic knows about the game & it doesn't out & out suck, people will buy it.
There is a war going on for your mind.
I wasn't aware that graphic murder was an art form. I'm curious as to who they believe will buy this? Usually over the top violent games appeal to angst ridden teens more than any other segment and removing that from the equation leaves either the fractional market that is "hardcore" buy anything controversial adults, the overly curious (who will most likely rent) and maybe the already psychologically disturbed (which will just lead to the next Jack Thompson lawsuit). I could be wrong but I would guess that most "grown-ups" wont buy this game.
AO does not mean the game is banned, it means that it has to carry an Adults Only rating. Several businesses such as Wal-Mart and Target refuse to carry AO titles, they also refuse to carry Adult Films and Porno Mags as well but those genres continue to thrive. If the game is good enough to stand on its own merit then it should be able to find an audience even if it ended up as a Gamestop exclusive. The bigger hurdle is that Sony and Nintendo refuse to carry AO titles, they are the ones being the nanny here not the ESRB.
The sad thing is that Rockstar and Take Two knew this from the beginning and set out to make a game as over the top as possible. They seem to relish in their position as the bad boys of gaming seeing that the only game they have published that was not mired in controversy was that Table Tennis game that completely flopped. This is another way to grab headlines and get some press, don't feel sorry for them. In the end the game will probably have a few cut scenes removed that they never intended to publish anyway and the game will get an "M".
They should release the damn game with full content on PC, AO games can actually be bought on PC.
Sell an edited version to the Wii and PS2 crowd and be done with it.
I want my murder simulator, yes I said it. I want to brutally murder people for fun in a video game.
Someone quick call the cops! I'm a pixel splatter junkie!
If target, walmart, etc. won't carry AO games or porn, why not sell AO rated games at porn stores?
There's always the Steam option for PC's. If Take Two wants to really start putting the hurt on GameStop and EBGames who're letting themselves get pushed into the censorship game, they can just take them out of the loop entirely. Then again, not like you can get PC games there anyhow.
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
take two vows and see me in the morning.
I was thinking of an Aqua Teen episode where someone was decapitated and a rainbow poured out of their neck, because blood would have been "f***ing offensive." If they did this to Manhunt 2, it would eliminate all the gore from the game (and play into the insanity theme), despite making the violence even more casual. This would be similar to UK's Carmageddon having zombies instead of humans. I'd be interested in seeing what rating the game got then. For that matter, I'm interested in seeing what rating Grasshopper Manufacture's "No More Heroes" gets, since Suda 51 pretty much promised more gore than Manhunt 2.
What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
What do we consider art now, anything that we deem to be art. So does this mean that pr0n is art to, so why not mass murder is all stimulates the mind, right?
There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum. --Arthur C. Clarke
Is the distinctions between M games (for 17+) and AO games (18+), i mean c'mon, what happens in that year.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Yes, they have.
Though Manhunt 2 isn't slated for any of Microsoft's systems, the company has also confirmed that it does not allow AO-rated titles on the Xbox or Xbox 360.
gamespot.com
very nice game.. :)
Couldn't they just release it toned down but make the original available as an "easter egg" or something?