Manhunt 2 has become the only prohibited game in the country after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) condemned its “unremitting bleakness” and encouragement of “casual sadism”.
It is only the second game to have been refused classification since regulation of video content became compulsory in 1984.
Created by Rockstar Games, the software developer responsible for Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt 2 involves a deranged character who must escape from a mental asylum, find the people who put him there, and then sneak up on them and bludgeon them to death with axes and sledgehammers.
Nice.
Rockstar, which is owned by Take 2 Interactive, an American company, had this to say,
"The adult consumers who will play this game fully understand that it is fictional interactive entertainment and nothing more.”
Bullshit.
The first Manhunt game was withdrawn by some retailers in July 2004 after the parents of a 14-year-old boy who was murdered with a claw hammer claimed that his killer was obsessed with the game. No link was proved, but studies have suggested a link between video game violence and aggressive behaviour in children.
Long may these nihilistic and sadistic games be banned. Of course there are some unstable kids out there who watch them and are influenced by them. Any idiot could tell you that. How the fuck these games developers sleep at night is beyond me.
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