Rockstar has issued GamesRadar with an official response to today's announcement by the BBFC that it has rejected Manhunt 2 for rating.
"We are disappointed with the recent decision by the British Board of Film Classification to refuse classification of Manhunt 2. While we respect the authority of the classification board and will abide by the rules, we emphatically disagree with this particular decision.
The 2000s was a great decade for a lot of brilliant video games. Here are the ten best games of the 2000s that you may not have played.
You know usually when someone says "you may have missed" it's games that were lesser known, hidden gems, underrated games. These are all super high profile games that sold extremely well.
What is this list? These are all hugely popular games. I was expecting games like Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, Advent Rising, Arx Fatalis, etc.
I've only played 3 on that list. Part of me feels bad about how little I used all the consoles I've owned as a kid. One bright side is, there's over 30 years of games to experience for the first time.
GTA Underground combines the San Andreas, Liberty City, Vice City, Manhunt I/II, Bullworth, and custom maps into one big map.
Who was that guy recently who said Rockstar dont want to do just meaningless ports?
Cos something like this would be cool if you combine 3, SA and VC maps. Change characters a la GTAV style. Insert some quests in each game to tie in the connection between the three players and have post endgame content of all three games with more missions/heists.
Just a thought.
I've played a few mods like this way back when the only two cities were liberty and vice the fact the old 3d games still have active modding communitys shows that there's still a huge pull to these classics I hope rockstar comes through with proper remakes not just that really bad HD San Andreas and mobile anniversary edition of vc and 3
GI: "Over the past two decades, Rockstar Games has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the games industry. Rising up from quirky Scotland-based developers with a taste for pulp and crime fiction, Rockstar evolved radically, shifting into innovators and provocateurs, creating some of the industry's most influential and blockbuster titles. In the lead up to the eagerly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2, we came together as a staff to rank every single game that Rockstar developed (this means we excluded published titles like L.A. Noire and Smuggler's Run). From the humble top-down beginnings of Grand Theft Auto to the blood-soaked streets of Manhunt and the beautiful jaw-dropping vistas of Red Dead Redemption, you’ll find every single title put in its proper place in terms of influence, importance of innovation, and just plain fun."
Ranking games on best graphics and best game play and best soundtrack is one thing, but I rank them in terms of when they came out and how they made me feel at the time. For me GTAIII is the best GTA game of all time. Because of how I felt while playing it in 2001/2002. It gave me the most fun, wow factor and joy I can remember of all the games. There's nothing like your first.
23. Wild Metal
22. Midnight Club: Street Racing
21. Manhunt 2
20. Rockstar Presents Table Tennis
19. Midnight Club II
18. Grand Theft Auto
17. Red Dead Revolver
16. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
15. Grand Theft Auto 2
14. Midnight Club: Los Angeles
13. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
12. Midnight Club III
11. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
10. The Warriors
9. Max Payne 3
8. Manhunt
7. Grand Theft Auto IV
6. Bully
5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
4. Grand Theft Auto III
3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
2. Red Dead Redemption
1. Grand Theft Auto V
"We respect those who have different opinions about the horror genre and video games as a whole, but we hope they will also consider the opinions of the adult gamers for whom this product is intended."
i completely agree with R* and think that they should allow Manhunt 2 to be sold etc, i have Manhunt 1 on PS2 and i thought it was pretty cool. these games are not ment for kids thus the 18 certificate. and well as we (especially here) how want this game are 18 or over, we should be allowed to buy it, also i bet there is alot worse in films like Host then this game, and well it didnt get rejected.
oh and if you havnt, i recomend downloading/buying/renting Evil Dead1/2, evil dead 3 wasnt as good, and yeh they got the same treatement as Manhunt 2 untill recently when it was allowed to be sold.
Of course they are disappointed. No one likes to lose money and having their user base just cut off like that is disappointing.
If they pull Manhunt 2, they should pullevery horror movie and survival horror game from the market. Personally, I do think having Wii controls in a game like Manhunt to be a bit much, but it's meant for an adult audience and it's to everyone's personal discretion if they wish to buy the game. Like someone mentioned, free market.
This just sucks ass for the people who can't or don't know how to import games.
The UK Classification board have probably banned this just because of the whole controversay of the first Manhunt and the murder that took place.
All this will lead to is more people modding there consoles, and eithre importing or god forbid pirating a copy of Manhunt 2.
I'll be importing a copy for my PS2 from the states, but overall, I thought this would never happen in the Uk, because when it comes to movies, games and music we are way way more tolerent than the US.
You can get some TV program on Terestrial TV in the UK at 9pm at night with full blown nudity, gore and anything else remotely shocking!
I thought the whole point of the Board of Film Classification (note last word) was to classify films - denoting which category they belonged in. They can't actually ban it, as far as I'm aware, they can only deny it a certificate. For films, that meant that they couldn't be shown at a standard cinema, but were allowed to be shown in private clubs. Don't know how that's meant to work with games. Maybe it means they can't be sold in shops, so they'll have to buy it direct from Rockstar, with a note on the packaging saying that it remains unclassified.
Their rulings are not binding, or legally enforceable. Their own website points out:
"To this day the Board's decisions can be over-ruled by local authorities."
So if the city council say the local shops can sell Manhunt 2 then I don't see what the problem will be.
Feel free to correct me if you have proof otherwise as this is just what I gathered from reading into the situation.
@4.1
No doubt this is in the slim to never gonna happen category, I was just trying to see if they actually have the power to "Ban" a game. As I know the ESRB does not have the power here in the states. So after some reading I found that technically they don't have the power, But as you say good luck finding a guy with the stones to stand up against this decision.
Rockstar does have the right to appeal the BBFC’s decision but it can take ages!.
if such an appeal goes ahead it's upto a committee to assess the reason for the BBFC's ban.