The upcoming violent video game Manhunt II faces an uncertain future after being banned by at least two countries and facing a ratings controversy in the United States.
But the game’s publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software, said it is determined to bring the title to market.
”We intend in the days ahead to continue to explore all of our options with regard to the rating of this extraordinary game,” the company said in a prepared statement at the end of last week.
The controversy comes after Britain and Ireland banned the game because of concerns about its violent content. It depicts the escape of an amnesiac scientist and a psychotic killer from an asylum and their subsequent killing spree. In the Nintendo Wii version, the console’s motion-sensitive remote is waved around to control a virtual murder weapon.
In the US, the video game industry’s self-regulated ratings board has given a preliminary version of Manhunt II an ”adults only” rating instead of the more lenient, and far more popular, ”mature” rating for ages 17 and up.
Slapping Manhunt II with the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s (ESRB) most stringent rating would likely doom sales. Large retailers including Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart Stores won’t stock AO-rated games.
At the same time, Nintendo and Sony said their policies bar any AO-rated content on their systems. Microsoft has a similar policy, but Manhunt II wasn’t planned for the Xbox 360.
There are no such restrictions on games for personal computers.
Rockstar has 30 days after receiving the ESRB’s suggested rating to present an appeal or make changes to the game. The official website for Manhunt II still says ”coming July 2007”.
Rockstar and Take-Two have long been a focal point for debate over the effect of video-game violence on children.
Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series features characters who develop underworld careers through bank robberies, assassinations, drug-dealing, pimping and other crime. Two years ago, Rockstar was forced to replace its first edition of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas after a hacker discovered a password-protected game inside it that involved a sexual encounter. — Sapa-AP