Manhunt 2 gets kiss of death, ESRB rates it AO

[ddobson]

Rockstar's dedication to pushing the envelope may finally have reached its limit in the current political/cultural climate.

It seems they have two choices:

1) Release the game AO for the hardcore audience and lose money on it (maybe make it mail-order only? That would probably satisfy the audience that wants it uncut, without having to deal with the retail resistance)

2) Tone the game down (if that's even possible) to get an M rating

I expect we'll see a delay (it was scheduled for 7/10 release) while they figure out if they can make it more clearly a hallucination/fantasy or reduce the gore somehow to take the edge off of it. I don't know if that's really possible. I just have a hard time imagining how they could trim back the content - it really seems to be the whole CONCEPT of the game that's producing such a strong reaction. I suspect if Majesco released "Murdering Mama" it would get a similar response, even with simple, obviously non-realistic graphics.

I'm not sure how I feel personally about this one -- I was planning to pick it up, more as an over-the-top "THIS one takes the cake" conversation piece than a game to sit down and finish. But it has gotten good reviews, and I'd rather see it make it out uncut than bowdlerized. Maybe they can appeal the rating and work it out with the ESRB somehow.

What this indicates is that the "M" rating isn't really doing its job -- kids are still getting ahold of games they should not be allowed to play, and so the "AO" rating is being called into service.