Child advocates are urging parents not to buy "Manhunt 2," a video game whose characters kill and torture using implements ranging from glass and shovels to a fuse box and a toilet. The title goes on sale Wednesday -- Halloween -- rated "mature," appropriate for people 17 and up, for about $28. In the first-person killer fantasy, the players take on the role of a man escaping from an insane asylum.
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CBS News investigates Manhunt 2. Daniel Sieberg talks to a gaming enthusiast and a child psychiatrist about the controversial video game targeted for teens.

Katie Couric also comments that she believes the game can be dangerous for kids who play it, and could be dangerous to others because it will make these kids violent. She encourages parents to not let their kids play this form of "entertainment". This additional video can be found here: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3432308n
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As the Manhunt 2 launch draws near, the hurly-burly over the controversial game shifts to San Francisco where watchdog group Common Sense Media will hold a 10AM press conference at City Hall.

On Friday GamePolitics reported that the organization was urging parents to boycott Manhunt 2. The game is scheduled to arrive in stores tomorrow.

There was a bit of an oops in CSM's Manhunt 2 bashing, however, as GP's Friday coverage pointed out. At least one gory scene detailed by the group - that of a police officer being decapitated by a shovel - apparently came from an early build of Manhunt 2 which was leaked online by an SCEE employee in September. A Rockstar press representative told GP the scene did not appear in the M-rated retail version of the game.

At today's press conference in San Francisco, CSM will be showing video clips from the leaked version. From the CSM press release:

Common Sense downloaded a version of the game that is available online, and will be showing illustrative clips of that version to the press a day before the official title is scheduled to hit stores on Wednesday.

GP asked CSM if the location of the press conference at City Hall indicated that the San Francisco government was somehow getting involved, but a CSM representative nixed the idea. However, another source told GamePolitics that SF Mayor Gavin Newsome's press secretary is a former Common Sense Media employee.
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Jeronimo Barrera, Rockstar's vice president of product development, has stated that Manhunt 2 wasn't neutered in order to receive a revised rating and secure a US release.

The controversial game, which went on sale on Tuesday in the US for Wii, PS2 and PSP, was initially given an Adults-Only rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), effectively barring it from release on Sony and Nintendo platforms, and blocked from sale in the UK after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) failed to grant the game a rating due to its "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone."

In Manhunt 2 the player assumes the role of Daniel Lamb, a tortured man who wakes up to find himself in a mental institution he must escape. What follows is a murder spree using weapons including guns, plastic bags and shovels, in locations such as graveyards and red-light districts.

While a revised version of the title was granted an M for Mature rating (17+), Barrera told MTV that the company's artistic vision wasn't compromised by the revisions, and insisted there was more to talk about than just the violence in the horror title.
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The title that was banned by the BBFC hits US retail today.

For the time being there seems little chance of Rockstar's Manhunt 2 arriving in the UK, but US gamers will from today be able to purchase the controversial title in games stores following its official release.

After initially being granted a restrictive Adults Only rating by North American trade body ESRB, the title was instead given a more lenient Mature certificate on appeal, meaning it will be widely available to the public.

In the UK, however, the same version that hits US retail today was denied a release by British body the BBFC.
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GamePolitics writes: "Not suprisingly, watchdog groups are weighing in on Manhunt 2 as the game's Halloween launch draws near.

San Jose Mercury-News scribe Mike Antonucci reports that Common Sense Media has issued a press release urging parents to boycott the game. Not bad advice, actually, since no one under the age of 17 should be playing Manhunt 2, anyway".
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Oct 25, 2007 Rockstar's Manhunt 2 could release in the UK, but as a digital download, it's emerged. It's all to do with a legal loophole in the UK's 1984 Video Recordings Act, which only covers physical products. An age-certification rating is apparently not required for online digital ... » Read More

Oct 25, 2007 We're still waiting to discover if the BBFC will ever allow Manhunt 2 to be released in the UK, but our lucky (or unlucky?) American bretheren can indulge in Rockstar's murderous romp this Halloween. Which is why this new trailer is doing the rounds. Feeling ill yet? No doubt Rockstar is working on a way to release Manhunt 2 in Europe, but until it announces its plans, or the BBFC relents in its refusal to offer a certificate, we'll all just have to watch on with interest as ... » Read More

Gory game Manhunt 2 can legally be sold to UK consumers as a download, despite the refusal of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to grant the title a certificate for sale as a physical product in shops.

The latest twist to the tale of the controversial title is the result of a loophole in the UK's 1984 Video Recordings Act, spotted by Phill Carnell, a lawyer with legal firm CMS Cameron McKenna, and revealed to Register Hardware.

Downloaded games, he said, do not need an age-suitability classification, such as 15 or 18, because the Act, which mandates the BBFC's certification programme and forces retailers to obey the classifications, only covers physical products.
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Oct 22, 2007 Rockstar parent Take Two Interactive has released a statement concerning the recent leakage of Manhunt 2 to the internet. Back in early September we reported that a version of Manhunt was cracked by hackers and leaked to the internet. Question was, where did it come from? Seems like Sony was to blame and not ... » Read More

After following up on available clues GamePolitics has learned that the leak came from PlayStation Europe.

Last week GP reported on a panicky Sky News piece which saw impending doom in the leak of the early PS2 build of the controversial game.

The leak itself wasn't news to the video game community, having been widely reported in September. However, its backstory was. Beyond the original cracking claim by the mysterious Team Slonik, no one was saying much about how the controversial game found its way onto the Net.
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The BBFC has gone on record to say that the Manhunt 2's use of the Wii motion-sensing controller had no impact on its decision to ban the game.

In the past few months, the Rockstar London horror game has snared headlines in the US and across Europe as publisher Take Two and its development teams were confronted with Adults Only ratings from the ESRB in America and banning by a number of European countries.

The game has since been altered and re-rated by the ESRB, gaining a Mature rating and imminent release in the US - however the British Board of Film Classification has maintained its ban on the Wii, PS2 and PSP game, despite Rockstar making alterations.
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As reported by GamePolitics and other outlets, an early PS2 build of Manhunt 2 was leaked onto the Internet last month.

For its part, the gaming community seemed to take the news in stride. It was, after all, not a finished product, only one of several planned versions, and not accessible without some extra effort and technical knowledge. Great Britain's Sky News, however, jumped on the story in a big way today.

Despite the sensationalism, GamePolitics did extract one kernel of what is believed to be new information from the Sky News coverage: "[Rockstar Games] accepts the game was leaked onto the web by an employee of a different company who had access to the preview copy. That person has been sacked."
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It's been revealed the version of Manhunt 2 that the British Board of Film Classification turned down earlier this week in the UK, is exactly the same as the revised edition that's been granted a mature rating by the ESRB in North America.

This revelation comes from UK trade magazine MCV during an interview with BBFC spokeswoman Sue Clark. She defends the board's decision saying that the organisation isn't any tougher on videogames than it is on movies. "Manhunt 2 is the second game we have rejected in 23 years. I'd hardly call that draconian," she said.
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Rockstar has issued an official statement following this morning's decision by the BBFC not rate the revised version (read that as toned down) of Manhunt 2.

"We are continuing to appeal the British Board of Film Classification's (BBFC) decision to deny the edited version of Manhunt 2 an 18+ certificate and thereby ban its release in the United Kingdom. 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."
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Oct 8, 2007 After its already massively controversial Manhunt 2 was refused certification for a second time by the BBFC today, Rockstar is - as you'd expect - a bit peeved at the decision and the publisher has made it pretty clear that it isn't prepared to make further edits in order to appease the censors. A statement released by Rockstar reads: "We are continuing to appeal the British Board of Film Classification's (BBFC) decision to deny the edited version of "Manhunt 2" an 18+ certificate ... » Read More

The BBFC has rejected a revised version of the video game Manhunt 2. This follows the rejection of the original version of the game in June. The distributor had set in motion an appeal to the Video Appeals Committee against that decision, and this was suspended while the revised version was considered for classification.
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Oct 3, 2007 Clearly, the Wii's slab like design makes it a perfect blunt instrument. Thanks to modern day wonders like laws against reckless killing and workplace health and safety guidelines, though, we can guarantee that, despite its gruesome appearance, this goreflecked Wii won't be appearing as Exhibit A in any upcoming murder trial. Far from being a hastily improvised weapon, this Wii is actually a Rockstar-designed prize to celebrate Manhunt 2's Halloween release in the US. So, by ... » Read More

USA Today reports:

The horror title Manhunt 2 will hit stores on Halloween for Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 2. Since the Wii version uses the motion-sensitive controllers, it literally gives players the hands of a killer...

Players take the role of a psychiatric escapee who has murderous rages as he tries to uncover his past. On the Wii, players physically make killing motions with the controllers - slashing for stabs and lifting to strangle - rather than simply pushing buttons...

"It is a technological fit, and the gameplay works," says Newsweek's N'gai Croal. "But culturally, it's not a fit."

. . .
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Rockstar Games released an exclusive web-only companion prologue to the events of Manhunt 2 featuring key backstory revelations. The Daniel Lamb Session was scripted, directed, and recorded by Rockstar on vintage analog equipment, in order to capture the grim, thick atmosphere of Manhunt 2.
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