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Hackers Uncensor Manhunt 2

Posted by Zonk on from the i-have-a-feeling-the-esrb-may-have-something-to-say-here dept.

Less than 24 hours after the release of Manhunt 2, you can already play the full and uncensored version thanks to some enterprising hackers. The news for Rockstar is just ... bad: "The game has been censored in the US in order for it to receive an M rating - and therefore a release - rather than the original AO rating it was given by the ESRB. The illegal exploit of the original PSP code indicates that the scenes that were cut in order to secure an M rating were not removed from the full game, rather disabled, much like the Hot Coffee mini-games in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." This is also exactly what prompted the re-rating of Oblivion and Halo 2 for the PC. We should expect to see an ESRB response to this very soon, then.

10 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. When will they ever learn by davidwr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You wait until AFTER the game has been out a week or two before posting the AO-hack.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  2. Rockstar, you fscking idiots by p0tat03 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Didn't you people learn *anything* from the Hot Coffee debacle? Heck, the Hot Coffee components of San Andreas weren't even *well publicized* and people s till managed to dig it up. What did you THINK was going to happen? You've already got congress breathing down the necks of the entire industry and STILL you think layering gruesome, brutal scenes that would have resulted in a higher rating over a simple... screen flash?

    I realize this shouldn't be as big of an issue, society and violence, blah blah, but the truth remains that the industry remains under tight scrutiny, and Rockstar isn't doing anybody any favours.

    1. Re:Rockstar, you fscking idiots by AmaDaden · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Didn't you people learn *anything* from the Hot Coffee debacle?
      Oh hell yes they did. They basically were able to release an AO game with a M rating. So they got the game out the door on most systems AND did not have to actually cut anything out because they knew the hacking community would find it. I bet the everyone but the legal department is laughing their ass off over at Rockstar right now.
    2. Re:Rockstar, you fscking idiots by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You have to understand that it's near impossible to redo half of a game after it's gone gold. Unless you want to push the release back another half year.

      So the choice was, either to do a half assed attempt to shove it out the door or back to the drawing board. Question for 200: Which route will the average game company take? Take into consideration that it's November and the XMas sales are at stake.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Rockstar, you fscking idiots by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "I realize this shouldn't be as big of an issue, society and violence, blah blah, but the truth remains that the industry remains under tight scrutiny, and Rockstar isn't doing anybody any favours."

      Rockstar was faced with an injustice in the first place. Cry me a fucking river.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  3. Stupid by Sciros · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The re-rating of Oblivion was insanely stupid. Ooh, you can mod it to include some nudity. Okay.. you can MOD a ton of games to include whatever you want! That doesn't change the fact that unless you go in changing things as (or via) a third party, the game remains the same as when it was originally rated by the ESRB.

    In all of these cases, the rating should not change. A third party mod can add content, unlock content that otherwise cannot be accessed, etc. I don't see any logical, practical reason why in one case the rating shouldn't change and in another it should. Really, in all cases it shouldn't.

    --
    I like basketball!!1!
    1. Re:Stupid by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I played Drawn To Life (http://www.thq.com/games/gameinfo.php?id=1283) with a naked main character. Not to mention the kind of depraved stuff I drew as "clouds". ESRB should rate Drawn to Life AO.

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  4. Illegal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    How exactly is the hack illegal? Shouldn't you be able to look at all the data on the disk you bought?

    1. Re:Illegal? by jandrese · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Are you still living in 1997? Clearly you don't own anything anymore, you merely have some permission to use the publisher's sacred content in the one way they deem fit. Your concept of owning stuff you paid for is laughable.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  5. Re:Crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    the day I buy a Microsoft console is the day that Steve Ballmer starts caring about people rather than money..

    I take it you don't own any game consoles, then?

    And you built your computer from parts that you fabricated yourself using copper you mined and silicon you fired?

    And you sew your own clothes and grow your own food?

    Or, perhaps, every company except Microsoft is exempt from that "cares about people rather than money" condition you've set for doing business?