UK continues Manhunt 2 ban

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 09 October 2007 07:50

Your IT - Entertainment

Manhunt 2 has again been rejected by the British Board of Film Classification, which means it cannot be legally sold in the UK.

Following an initial rejection by the BBFC and by the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the US, Rockstar Games made changes to the game that allowed it to receive a M rating from the ESRB.

The BBFC did not feel the changes were enough to permit it to grant a classification to the long-awaited game.

"The impact of the revisions on the bleakness and callousness of tone, or the essential nature of the game play, is clearly insufficient," BBFC director David Cooke said in a statement.

For their part, Rockstar Games officials said "The changes necessary in order to publish the game in Britain are unacceptable to us and represent a setback for video games."

"The BBFC allows adults the freedom to decide for themselves when it comes to horror in movies and we think adults should be similarly allowed to decide for themselves when it comes to horror in video games, such as Manhunt 2."

The original Manhunt was initially rated MA by Australia's Classification Board, but was subsequently refused classification by the Classification Review Board following an appeal by the Attorney General. It therefore seems likely that Manhunt 2 would also be refused classification.

Manhunt 2 will ship in the US on October 31 (Halloween) for the PlayStation 2, PSP and Wii.