Manhunt 2 exposes dark side of Wii

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 20 June 2007 10:23

Opinion and Analysis

{moloadposition stan}Manhunt 2, from Rockstar Games, is due for a July 10 release on Nintendo Wii and Sony PS2. However, the British Board of Film Classification has issued a ban on sales in Britain, the first such ban in 10 years, saying that the game "constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing."

Meanwhile in the US, child advocacy group Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood (CCFC), is putting the pressure on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to slap an Adults Only, 18 years and over rating on Manhunt 2. In an open letter to ESRB President Patricia Vance, the CCFC expresses particular concern about the Wii platform because of its association with children and its unique motion sensitive controller.

The CCFC letter states:

"In Manhunt 2, players can mutilate their enemies with an axe; saw their skulls in half castrate them with a pair of pliers; or kill them by bashing their head into an electrical box, where a power surges eventually blows their head apart.  On the Nintendo Wii, players will actually act out the violence.  One review of the game describes using a saw blade to "cut upward into a foe's groin and buttocks, motioning forward and backward with the Wii remote as you go."

"Manhunt 2 is clearly not a game for children.

"Please give this unprecedented combination of video game violence and the interactive Wii platform your strongest and most unambiguous rating.  Anything rating less than AO will signal  ESRB's endorsement for marketing Manhunt 2 to children, and pave the way for future brutally violent games designed for Wii to be targeted to children as well.

The release of adult videos with violent or sexual overtones for the Wii could highlight a growing philosophical and marketing dilemma for Nintendo. on one hand, the company has been wildly successful in widening its user base beyond the children demographic. On the other hand, the Wii remote lends itself better than the PlayStation and Xbox platforms to a more realistic and active feel for games of violence like Manhunt 2.

Nintendo has been marketing the Wii as a console for the entire family. However, the fact that developers such as Rockstar Games, creator of Grand Theft Auto and Bully, are now targeting the Wii, shows that the platform has also attracted a hard core adult gamer demographic. It's a market that Nintendo will no doubt be happy to service. But adults may soon have to be careful about keeping some of their Wii games away from the kids.