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Manhunt 2 Rejected By BBFC Again, Rockstar Appeals Again
Posted by
Zonk
on Mon Oct 08, 2007 01:34 PM
from the round-and-round-we-go dept.
from the round-and-round-we-go dept.
Gamespot is reporting that, for a second time, the UK's British Board of Film Classification has declined to assign a rating to Rockstar's Manhunt 2. And, again, Rockstar is appealing that decision. "As for why the edits weren't to the BBFC's liking, the board stated that the 'reduction in visual detail in some of the execution kills' was still not enough to bring the title in line with an 18 rating. The director of the BBFC, David Cooke, also said the organisation had suggested further changes to the game be made, although some requests were ignored. Rockstar responded with a statement shortly after the announcement, stating that it would also be appealing this decision, and that the extra changes it was requested to make were 'unacceptable.'"
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Manhunt 2 Banned In Britain 593 comments
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."
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Rockstar Appeals British Ban on Manhunt 2 56 comments
1up is reporting (via MCV) that Rockstar has decided to appeal the BBFC ruling on their uber-violent Manhunt 2 title. The 'next step' is to get a hearing scheduled, which will allow the game to be demo'd and arguments given. "Rockstar Games had been given six weeks to appeal the decision, and with that opportunity about to expire, the company lodged its formal appeal yesterday ... The appeal was filed with the Video Appeals Committee, which can overturn the BBFC decision. As noted in our first article about the ban, the VAC overturned the BBFC's ban of Carmageddon back in 1997, giving Rockstar a glimmer of hope in its current situation."
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What Would Make Manhunt 2 Acceptable To BBFC? 74 comments
MTV's Multiplayer Blog wonders aloud what would make Manhunt 2 acceptable to the BBFC. The BBFC rejected the game for a second time a few days ago, and now MCV is reporting that the version they rejected was identical to the US version approved for an 'M' rating by the ESRB. From the BBFC's response: "Unfortunately I cannot list the changes we suggested as this is a matter between us and the distributor and if they are not happy to give you chapter and verse I'm afraid I can't either. I can say, however, that the changes were to the level of visual detail in the kills and to some of the dialogue. As our news release said, 'The impact of the revisions on the bleakness and callousness of tone, or the essential nature of the gameplay, is clearly insufficient. There has been a reduction in the visual detail in some of the 'execution kills', but in others they retain their original visceral and casually sadistic nature.'"
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Rockstar Fights Back Against BBFC 47 comments
Rockstar has launched its appeal against Manhunt 2's rating rejection in the UK. At the first hearing on the matter, Rockstar representative Geoffrey Robertson took the British Board of Film Classification to task: "Robertson went on to accuse the BBFC of being 'simply ignorant of the gaming experience' and 'throwing adjectives with hyperbolic abandon at the game ... Their reputation is not at stake; if it were we could show how, over the last century, they've been derided for some of the most stupid decisions in censorship history ... But we're not going to go down that road.'"
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Well then... (Score:5, Funny)
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F&*! the nanny state (Score:3, Insightful)
Not the kind of game I would normally be interested in, but this ban makes me want to obtain this by other means, and donate a fair price to Rockstar (if this is somehow possible).
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What you're seeing is Capitalism at its most uninterrupted..
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This is how any ratings systems have come to be; whether for movies, music and now video games.
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When will people understand that power is power, regardless of whether it's in the private sector or the public sector, and too much power in one area leads to a few people with iron fists. Pure Capitalism deligates too much power to the private sector, and pure Socialism deligates too much po
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A private shop refusing to sell an item is not enforcing anything, no more than if McDonald's declined to include hard-core gay porn as prizes in Happy Meals.
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Umm, I fail to see how the British Board of Film Classification is in any way a capitalist entity. What do they sell? What do they produce? What are their quarterly net profits? What do they stand to gain or lose in the market by banning this game?
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The ESRB's interests are also very much tied into the industries. Since Wal-Mart sells the most games, if they won't carry many distributors won't either, and so the game industry tends to shy away not getting their games rated.
Re:F&*! the nanny state (Score:5, Insightful)
Because the BBFC are a government body whose job it is to tell adults which films they're allowed to watch and which games they're allowed to play.
Parent
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Don't you get it? Society demands censorship. Blame your neighbor, not big government, not big corporations. Does that make it "right"? I don't really think this is really a question of right or wrong. But censorship is an innevitable part of any society, if you don't like the current trends of censorship, then fight it, by all means.
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Well, let's start with the small point that Asda's marketshare of the computer game market (Asda being, so far as I'm aware, Wal-Mart's sole presence in the UK) is pretty tiny.
And then let's point out that two censors is not better than one. I'd rather Asda refuses to sell games 1, 2, and 3 of games 1-5, than Asda refuses to sell games 1, 2, and 3, and is unable to sell game 4, of games 1-5, because game 4 is banned by the government mandated BBFC. Especially as Asda can always be by-passed by, say, buyi
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Not that any of this makes it an any more acceptable decision; and I'll be emailing them [bbfc.co.uk] to let them know what I think of their nanny-stateist approach.
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If by "capitalism" you mean "the console manufacturers that don't want and don't need the grief that comes with being identified with a game like Manhunt 2," then she likes it just fine.
their platform, their choice.
if you don't like it, you can pick up your marbles and play elsewhere.
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The Dutch have ok'd it, and they're the same region as the UK. A solution presents itself.
Hell YES! (Score:2)
60 seconds later (including bootup) I realized the game was a steaming pile of shite. Nothing like censorship to wet my loins though.
How much public coverage of 'thwarted free-speech' will it take to get this game to #1? My money's on a pre-Christmas final release - nothing says "Baby Jesus Birthday Cheer" more than graphic dismemberment.
Just my $.02... (Score:3, Interesting)
As an added bonus, it would be a huge middle finger to the jackasses who think it's acceptable to "ban" a video game.
If they keep on appealing, it's just going to be a bigger money pit--and it probably won't get them anywhere. Time to cut your losses, guys.
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The reason I suggested making it free is that if everyone is free to (re)distribute the application, even if the BBFC does have the actual legal authority to censor stuff, they wouldn't be able to stop it. If the RIAA can't stop the torrents, I doubt the BBFC could.
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Rockstar (Score:4, Insightful)
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Rockstar (Score:2)
Rockstar defines "adult content" as the psycho killing spree which is Manhunt 2. Torture porn as video game entertainment. While the intense, visually splendid, and morally ambiguous Bioshock - an adult game by any reasonable definition - is released to rave reviews and sells 1.5 million copies with scarcely a hint of moral outrage from anyone.
Strange (Score:2, Insightful)
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We're talking about a game here, ok? Not that someone wants to own a nuclear warhead and insists in sleeping on the trigger. Care to explain how limitation of access to information harms civilisation?
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Care to explain how the limitation of access to information stabilizes civilisation? How does allowing this information (i.e. a bloody game) to get into the hands of adults bring civilisation to its knees? By "suggesting" something like this should be done? If people really feel like what's being done in the game is the right thing to do, "civilisation" has far, far worse problems.
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The point is, though, that it's still about freedom of speech. It's like with the Playboy (or was it Hustler?), I don't care about their opinion, but I want them to be able to voice it. Yes, even if it's not a
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The same applies to you and everyone else. You, and only you, should be the person deciding what information is "good" for you and which is not.
what the hell? (Score:5, Interesting)
Who the fuck are YOU to tell ME what is innapropriate in terms of SIMULATED violence?
Realize that some people actually enjoy simulated violence and that you are not their mother. Fucking hell.
They are the organization put in charge of doing (Score:2)
They are the organization put in charge of rating games and have the backing that un-rated games may not be sold, given to them by the politicians and perhaps ultimately the voter (who either voted for the politician because he thought that was a good idea, thought something else was a good idea and didn't think this important, voted because well his dad voted for this party, didn't vote, voted for the guy that lost)
Anyway, that is who they are.
A simple google could have told you that much more clearly.
P
Re:what the hell? (Score:5, Insightful)
WTF?
Parent
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You most certainly do not have the right to destroy your life in any way you see fit.
However, in this case, the solution is simple: digital distribution.
Rockstar should partner with Steam and allow the game to be downloaded with credit card verification. UK stores lose
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So when does the GW Bush trial begin?
1. No formal declaration of war
2. No concrete political objective to end the "war"
3. Unnecessary prolongation of the "war".
4. Classification of non-uniformed combatants as "terrorists" and claiming they are not covered by the Geneva Conventions since they are "unlawful combatants". Yet the military obviously can recognize them enough to shoot at them.
Atricle 44 of Protocol I:
3. In order to promote
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But seriously, the idea that teaching people how to be effective killers is somehow equivalent to creating a mass murderer is absurd. True, there was the ex-Marine clocktower killer, but the overwhelming majority of the military do not go on killing sprees. Hell, most rifle hunters are effective killers, but lik
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So does the army, pal.
Tired game ideas (Score:2, Interesting)
My real complaint is that ever since Tekken first ripped someone's spine out and dangled it in their face, games have been trying to out gore each other . It doesn't really add much to the g
Money (Score:2)
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I'm dead serious and not trying to be provocative, but honestly: Who died and made them king, and me a peasant, needing them to dictate what's "good" and "acceptable" for me?
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