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Take-Two Confirms PSP Hack, Snubs Devs
Gamasutra reports that Take-Two Entertainment, Rockstar's publisher, has confirmed the existence of uncensored Manhunt 2 versions available online. They defend themselves, in their initial statement, by pointing out you need a modded PSP in order to play the purposefully-hidden content. Meanwhile, the game news site also notes that Take-Two/Rockstar hasn't done a very good job of giving credit where credit is due when it comes to the development of their ultra-violent title. "Jurie Horneman, who was one of the producers on the title before Rockstar Vienna was closed and development on the game was moved to Rockstar London, where it was completed, commented in a detailed weblog post that he '...intends to correct an inaccuracy in the game's credits, namely the over 55 missing Rockstar Vienna employees who worked on the game from January 2004 until the studio was closed down on May 11th 2006.'" Update: 11/02 19:52 GMT by Z :An ESRB investigation has cleared Rockstar of involvement with the hacked AO version of the game. IE: The AO content is not an element on the PSP disc. Title of post changed to reflect that.
Rockstar also admits most the pixles used in the game are imported from china and covered in lead paint. The game disk lable is also printed with lead based paint. Rockstar states that all children under 18 should lick the disk prior to playing for the game to have maximum effect on there youn minds.
-FataL
Unacknowledged dev's use their inside knowledge to give their former employer a black eye. It's almost as good as the one where the developer actually releases it themselves to try to drum up publicity for a game that would probably fade quickly away otherwise.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
"Oh gee oh what has happened! Did we accidentally prolong the current media frenzy, keeping Manhunt 2 in headlines for another week? The shame of it all!"
The opinions stated herein do not necessarily represent those of anybody at all. Deal with it.
A few years ago Rockstar could do no wrong. Now it seems to be one expensive fuck up after another. And Manhunt 2 is the biggest fuck up of all. They had better produce the goods for GTA IV or they're doomed.
This seems to be what their defense would be, to unlock the content you have to break the law, via DMCA, ergo it is not our(Rockstar's) fault.
Not sure if thats going to fly, I think it should however.
If we have to start condemning every game company for the modification of their games, whether the content is buried in the game by the company themselves or not, then we will be putting undue pressure upon the developers.
No longer will cute/scary/demented easter eggs be found in the content of our media when the developers have to submit every harebrained idea and failed development path they every had to the censors, oops I meant ratings boards.
Where does the line of responsibility end? Why do the content producers have to be responsible for everything the users do?
Manhunt 2 will not generate nearly as much heat on this as the original hot coffee. First, hot coffee was about leaving sex content in a game known for violence. This is leaving excessive violence content in a game that is primarily about violence.
Second, Hot Coffee was big news because the game was a huge seller. Unless Manhunt 2 can generate similar sales (which has not happened), it will not be as big a story.
This is nothing more than an echo of the original hot coffee.
END COMMUNICATION
If they want to put hidden content in their game, they can, its their game for crying out loud, i don't think they have to give into anyones demands on violence and nudity, look at Conan for the 360 (High def titties).
Don't get me wrong, the PSP graphics are impressive for the size, but we're talking about the lowest quality version of this game.
"-1 Flamebait" on the article title. If you actually read the article that interviews Rockstar about the confirmed unlocked material, they make a huge point of stating that Hot Coffee was about sexual material that was not submitted for ESRB review, and that the uncensored materials, as well as methods for filtering, were submitted and approved. This is just about hackers removing the blur filters on the kill scenes, which is a bit more like Oblivion being rerated and nothing like the circumstances behind Hot Coffee.
That absolutely should work. Pick one or the other -- either it's illegal to do this, and thus not Rockstar's fault, or it's legal to do this, and thus Ubuntu can include libdvdcss.
Because OH NOES THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
Really, at least the content was here, this time. Compare it to, say, the Oblivion re-rating, where a completely third-party mod -- not an "unlocking", but an actual downloading of new content -- included nudity. (Think it was only breasts, anyway. OH THE HUMANITY.) Roughly equivalent to Firefox getting an NC-17 rating because you COULD be looking at goat porn.
But hey, in an era where the PSP gets nicknamed the "Playstation Pornable" by the press simply because it includes a web browser and wireless access...
I'll say no more. Or maybe... Yes! There's more!
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
To make those kind of predictions. Every Grand Theft Auto that has come out has massively altered the idea of what is even possible in a video game. I expect that to continue. But maybe it will suck. Just wait and see.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
PA said it best: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/02
A good friend of mine worked for Rockstar Vienna, he's a very chilled guy and I hadn't spoken to him in a while but I caught up with him the other day and asked him how it was going at Rockstar not realising it had closed - he was a Manhunt 2 dev. He told me the story about how it had closed but how he'd left not too long beforehand. To cut a long story short, it's the most worked up I've ever seen him essentially he absolutely despised it there saying that management and massive portions of the team had become completely and utterly incompetent and incapable of getting a game even half way through development let alone out the door. He also said it came as absolutely no suprise therefore that Rockstar Vienna had closed down shortly after he left.
As I have no reason to doubt his story (afterall, it did get closed and that type of thing doesn't happen for no good reason) I see no reason why the original devs. should get credited because it sounds like Rockstar Vienna had become a complete and utter mess that was doing little more than simply wasting money.