Manhunt Violence Story Sees Updates, Threats

Thanks to Blue's News for covering the latest developments in a UK videogame violence story, in which the Rockstar North-created game Manhunt was very allegedly implicated in "a grisly murder" - it's revealed: "The game was present in the victim's home, not the killer's... This may present a problem for those looking to turn this case to their own ends." Nonetheless, previously mentioned attorney Jack Thompson is jumping straight on the case, even from an continent away, according to GameDaily, as he rages: "We are going to destroy Rockstar, you can count on that... [ESA head] Doug Lowenstein makes Saddam Hussein look like a post-reformed Pinocchio." Finally, Gamesindustry.biz injects a thoughtful note into the mayhem, arguing: "Rockstar do not emerge from this affair smelling of roses... game makers could help the case a lot by trying to push the boundaries in terms of gameplay, rather than gore."

"Pushing boundaries of gameplay instead of gore"

[gabec]

I don't know about you guys, but I for one consider GTA to have been revolutionary in its gameplay experience. That's all GTA is about! The gameplay! They immerse you in a wild world with, it so happens, moral ambiguity.

Feel free to jump on the morality bandwagon (or create one if you can't find it). I for one will continue blithely on, cackling with glee at a world that lets me do everything I would never consider doing in my own.

Bah to idiots

[Turn-X Alphonse]

If someone wants to play a game about killing Hell spawn demons (Doom 3 refrence : check), eating babies (Dunno :check) or stabbing old ladies then they should be able to. It's not their fault if some nutter goes off the rails and ends up killing someone.

I'm sick of hearing "GAMES DID IT!" because it's a cheap excuse for a fucked up society. You can't blame the car makers for a drunk driver so lets not blame the Playstation for the fucked up little kid.

Mod me troll if you wish, I don't overly care for karma compared to my opinions on this topic. I think the world is fucked up and blaming my hobby, I can earn Karma back but I can't earn back ignoring my opinions and staying silent in a discussion I feel important.

Shades of the D&D AD&D witch hunt

[DAldredge]

"Thompson: There have been dozens of murders that have been tied to their products throughout the world, so it's just a matter of piling on, and we will do that. "

IF their have been over 24 murders that can be linked to rockstar why doesn't he name ONE?

THis is just like the crap people like this pulled concerning D&D and Heavy Metal.

Re:Mod Down if you Must, But...

[toddhunter]

They may look awful, but looking awful and being responsible are two completely different things.
You wouldn't recommend the game, thats fine. (Either would I, but only because it was so boring imo). But everyone should have the right to decide if they want to play it or not. Just the same as parents have the right to let their kids play the game or not.
If the parents in this case let their kids play the game, they are the ones responsible. (Assuming some link between violent games and real life violence can be established). Simple as that.

With a lawyer like that...

[Phleg]

With that guy representing the other side, I don't think we have anything to worry about. Insinuating that Doug Lowenstein is even lower on the moral scale than Saddam Hussein is all but a dead giveaway that the man possesses no faculties for logic, reasoning, or intelligent discourse.

Mod Parent Offtopic

[MMaestro]

It's awful. I wouldn't recommend the game to anyone

Well, whats your point? Yes I've played the game myself and yes I think the game is just plain awful, but that doesn't mean Rockstar should get sued because someone killed another person. Could you imagine the implications following after that? We'd have to sue car companies because someone drove their car while drunk. We'd have to sue steak knife companies because some kid ran around with it and stabbed his little brother. Etc etc.

If the game went around saying 'kill people, kill people, its all just a game' I could see why people would start pointing fingers at Rockstar, but when you consider the context "con gets pulled off deathrow without permission to play a game of cat and mouse" why not? When you think of it that way, you could say the main character is acting out in self-defense.

18 certificate - where are the parents?

[Anonymous Coward]

The game has an 18 certificate... the kids weren't 18.. And the parents don't want to accept any small portion of responsibility? WTF?

"Oh, he's in his room on his computer" .... once again, the computer is seen as a modern replacement for proper parenting...

Re:"Pushing boundaries of gameplay instead of gore

[ALeavitt]

The amazingly revolutionary thing about GTA was that it was just as violent as you were. If you wanted to hop in a car and drive around, completely obeying all traffic laws, and not participate in any violence, it was possible. Granted, there were some missions that required violence, but the missions themselves weren't required to actually play the game. Sure, you have the freedom to grab a baseball bat and beat a hooker to death, but you also had the freedon not to. The game is only as violent and depraved as the person playing it. So many of the heinous acts that people complain about in GTA weren't a necessary part of the gameplay, they were simply not prohibited by an artificial set of rules. It isn't the violence that people are afraid of, it's the freedom to commit violence and what the absence of restraint allows them to do when they don't feel like restraining themselves.