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.

Comments

Rockstar - trainwreck?

[DrXym]

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.

Re:Rockstar - trainwreck?

[Steeltalon]

I would venture to say that they got caught up in their own Jack Thompson supplied publicity machine. The thing that got them on the map, and kept them there for so long, was Jack Thompson coming after them every time they released a violent video game. Enter Manhunt 2: The game that is incredibly violent but devoid of any of the other things that made the GTA games entertaining. I would say that, yeah, they're screwed if they don't get GTA IV in good form, but the sad thing is that you know that Jack Thompson, Katie Couric, and everyone else who's gone out of their way to "highlight" games like Manhunt 2 will probably take credit for their downfall.