Manhunt 2 Back On for October 31 Release

By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews

August 24, 2007, 1:55 PM

After postponing the release of Manhunt 2 for the PS2, PSP and Wii back in June, Rockstar Games said Friday that it would release the game on October 31. The move follows an announcement by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) that it would rate the game "M" for Mature. It previously had been marked with an "AO" rating, for Adults Only.

With such a rating, the distribution of the game would have been severely limited. Both interest groups and review boards took issue with the extreme violence in the initial version of the game, which puts players in the shoes of a deranged man who kills his enemies in search of answers regarding what happened to his family. While the rating change only affects the North American release, no announcement was made about the British rating, which also was an "AO."

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By fadeblack

posted Aug 25, 2007 - 8:18 AM

FREEDOM

Score: 0

By JonathanD

posted Aug 24, 2007 - 10:22 PM

As usual I have mixed feelings :)

On one hand I am happy they are making more adult type games, I think they can provide a different experience for those mature enough to handle the content.
On the other hand I know many many copies of this game will end up in childrens hands....

Score: 0

By unistyle

posted Aug 25, 2007 - 5:06 PM

so we should not allow games like this because they might end up in children's hands? if parents would actually pay attention to their kids and what they are doing, then there should be no copies in kid's hands.. it's not the developers fault that some 10 year old, who's parents would rather ignore their child and what he/she does, plays the game.. let the movie/music/game developers make whatever they want..

Score: 0

By kronix2

edited Aug 24, 2007 - 9:14 PM

"While the rating change only affects the North American release, no announcement was made about the British rating, which also was an 'AO'."

Nice journalism. Manhunt 2 was rejected by the BBFC, meaning it wasn't awarded any classification. There is no AO rating in the UK, either. Its equivalent, the "18" classification, isn't effectively banned, unlike games rated AO by the ESRB.

Score: 0

By testman

posted Aug 27, 2007 - 5:44 PM

Exactly. Spot on, kronix2. Factually incorrect info about the British rating, when there wasn't ANY British rating.

Score: 0

By tankist

edited Aug 24, 2007 - 5:42 PM

why are they keep making such cruel games? how about something cute and cudly with pink bunnies in it instead of pcychotic freeks?
we need more games like Conker reloaded, it has such a cute squirel...
what?
wait a munute...
Muhahahaha!!!

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Aug 24, 2007 - 10:26 PM

Those kinds of games are generally reserved for Nintendo consoles. :)

Score: 0

By Secret Agent Man

posted Aug 26, 2007 - 8:50 AM

Like Viva PiƱata!

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Aug 24, 2007 - 2:53 PM

Oh, FFS.

Did they change anything?

Did the ESRB cave?

Is it too much to ask for even a "further details were unavailable at press time" so we at least know you *tried*??

Score: 0

By dlab21

edited Aug 24, 2007 - 4:22 PM

that would imply that they tried...[sarcasm] this is only a re-cap article of what the problem is, nothing new about the actual rating change... right?[/sarcasm]

Score: 0

By terminalx

posted Aug 24, 2007 - 3:58 PM

True, but he does make a good point. The article has the bare minimum of facts; nice to hear its coming out but what if anything was taken outto get moved down to an M rating.

Score: 0

By dlab21

posted Aug 24, 2007 - 4:21 PM

i forgot my sarcasm tags again.

Score: 0

By dlab21

posted Aug 24, 2007 - 2:33 PM

hope there is a oneline code i can put into my gameshark and play the game in full.

Score: 0

By unistyle

posted Aug 25, 2007 - 5:09 PM

the uncensored version will probably leak online at some point..

Score: 0

By testman

posted Aug 24, 2007 - 3:56 PM

Not if they changed the game there won't.

Score: 0