If anyone wants an idea of what the game is like, here's a summary of the only posted review so far:

http://www.gamesradar.com/gb/wii/ga...020611187444040

___________________
last minute disco dot net

Looks gooooood.

These god damn violent video games and the evil rap music make my blood boil. The government should ban em all

The U.S. is jumping on the bandwagon with an "Adults Only" rating, here's an editorial on it from the afore-linked blog:

quote:

Earlier today, I broke the disappointing news that Manhunt 2 was deemed too harmful for an overprotected British public, pushing back the progression of civil liberties several decades and making me wonder if I lived in the UK or communist China. With that in mind, it seems that America has no intention of being left out of the overreaction happy fun party as the ESRB has seen fit to slap an 'Adults Only' rating on Rockstar's much maligned boogeyman-in-DVD-form. While slightly better than an outright ban, the move will see popular chains like Wal-mart refusing to stock the game and will have a significant impact on Rockstar's earnings while movies like Hostel 2 will hit theaters with no such crippling restrictions in place. Many thanks to the ESRB who have pitched in and helped the illogical and childish enemies of the games industry pop another ill-gotten feather in their caps. We all appreciate it very much. Seriously, on behalf of gamers everywhere, thank you for making the quest for games to be viewed without prejudice and bias all that more difficult. Meanwhile, in the UK, the European wing of the Destructoid collective will continue to fight the BBFC's decision to ban the title. Stay tuned for news of a new campaign that will soon be unleashed so gamers may provide some much needed balance to the ridiculous demonization of our favorite hobby. I think I speak for all the sane ones among us when I say this - the bullcrap's getting ridiculous.

I don't necessarily think it's as bad as this individual thinks, but it is definitely a shame when considered in conjunction with the recent "Gore-ror" fad in movies.

Meh.

___________________
last minute disco dot net

lucky for global markets then isnt it? order from overseas and you're set.

classifications are necessary, but i havent played a game yet that i think should be banned.

___________________

the interviews i've read from the ESRB have said that they will never rate a game higher than M based simply on violence. The only thing that can cross this line is sexual content, which of course, this game contains. Is Take Two shooting itself in the foot to make a stand for artistic freedom?

___________________
Everything is beautiful. Let the music carry you. Baby I will follow you forever. Nowhere else I'd rather be when you're lying next to me. Let the music carry us together.
anti-JennyPie Alliance
SuspicionVandit: Are you God?
Paul Van Dyk 09-24-2009: No, but I can sign your sleeve under that name if you let me!

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN lucky for global markets then isnt it? order from overseas and you're set. classifications are necessary, but i havent played a game yet that i think should be banned.

Region coding, however, will make that an absolute pain in the ass for the average gamer.

quote:

Originally posted by SuspicionVandit the interviews i've read from the ESRB have said that they will never rate a game higher than M based simply on violence. The only thing that can cross this line is sexual content, which of course, this game contains. Is Take Two shooting itself in the foot to make a stand for artistic freedom?

I honestly don't know - maybe, but my guess is that the old saying "any press is good press" will ring true, and they'll at least make a fair amount of loot off the initial offering.

If the game is consistently well reviewed (as it was in the only review posted so far), I think they'll do alright with it.

___________________
last minute disco dot net

quote:

Earlier today, I broke the disappointing news that Manhunt 2 was deemed too harmful for an overprotected British public, pushing back the progression of civil liberties several decades and making me wonder if I lived in the UK or communist China. With that in mind, it seems that America has no intention of being left out of the overreaction happy fun party as the ESRB has seen fit to slap an 'Adults Only' rating on Rockstar's much maligned boogeyman-in-DVD-form.

I don't believe that we're "overprotected", this is the only video game i've ever heard of that has been banned.

I was in Virgin megastores today and I saw a kid who must have been about 5 years old getting his mum to buy a bunch of playstation games for him. One of these was Vice City - Grand Theft Auto, the Grand theft auto games have been some of the only games i've managed to play all the way through when i borowed my mates playstation and having a kid at the age of five seeing the things that you do repeatedly in the game makes me quite anxious.

Fair enough, it's slightly cartoony graphics but it must cause some form of desensitivity to someone at that age, especially when the kids will spend more time in front of a television than being parented. It's a mixture of the ignorance of parents and the violence in the games.

When you're killing monsters or dragons or whatever, fair doos, obviously it's easy to differentiate between reality and computer games at any age, but as graphics get better and you're killing more and more things that look human it might be easier for a child to become violent or frustrated especially when the parents are paying little to no attention to them and actions on television is how they're being taught to behave

___________________
Check out my Mashups on Soundcloud

quote:

Originally posted by ZeJayMan I don't believe that we're "overprotected", this is the only video game i've ever heard of that has been banned. I was in Virgin megastores today and I saw a kid who must have been about 5 years old getting his mum to buy a bunch of playstation games for him. One of these was Vice City - Grand Theft Auto, the Grand theft auto games have been some of the only games i've managed to play all the way through when i borowed my mates playstation and having a kid at the age of five seeing the things that you do repeatedly in the game makes me quite anxious. Fair enough, it's slightly cartoony graphics but it must cause some form of desensitivity to someone at that age, especially when the kids will spend more time in front of a television than being parented. It's a mixture of the ignorance of parents and the violence in the games. When you're killing monsters or dragons or whatever, fair doos, obviously it's easy to differentiate between reality and computer games at any age, but as graphics get better and you're killing more and more things that look human it might be easier for a child to become violent or frustrated especially when the parents are paying little to no attention to them and actions on television is how they're being taught to behave

One thing you may want to note is that the passage you quoted in your post was a post from some random gaming douchebags blog (although, the source is in general a fairly respectable gaming publication), so it's full of his asynine opinion that may or may not be a completely irrelevant.

Beyond that, I agree with pretty much everything you said - it's all about the parenting, censorship is balls.

___________________
last minute disco dot net

quote:

Originally posted by ZeJayMan I don't believe that we're "overprotected", this is the only video game i've ever heard of that has been banned.

you must be new to gaming then

quote:

Originally posted by ZeJayMan I was in Virgin megastores today and I saw a kid who must have been about 5 years old getting his mum to buy a bunch of playstation games for him. One of these was Vice City - Grand Theft Auto, the Grand theft auto games have been some of the only games i've managed to play all the way through when i borowed my mates playstation and having a kid at the age of five seeing the things that you do repeatedly in the game makes me quite anxious. Fair enough, it's slightly cartoony graphics but it must cause some form of desensitivity to someone at that age, especially when the kids will spend more time in front of a television than being parented. It's a mixture of the ignorance of parents and the violence in the games. When you're killing monsters or dragons or whatever, fair doos, obviously it's easy to differentiate between reality and computer games at any age, but as graphics get better and you're killing more and more things that look human it might be easier for a child to become violent or frustrated especially when the parents are paying little to no attention to them and actions on television is how they're being taught to behave

it made you feel "anxious"? why?

i dont remember feeling like a helpless little brat when i was a kid. why, as we get older, do we view children as helpless cretins that need constant parenting in every aspect of their lives? hell, by the time i was 7 i knew more about gaming and PCs than my dad did; yet i would've been the target of being told what i could play by the govt? fuck that.

i dont agree that improving graphics make things any worse. graphics is all about relativism. when i was a kid, we were convinced that



was batman sure, batman looks better now, but someone in 10 years time will say 2007 batman looks crap.

you're right though, gaming is all about parenting, and government's should label games so parents can make an informed choice. but it fucking infuriates me when mediums of other explicit content don't have the same controls. when games first started coming out they might have been for kids, but us original gamers are now adults and its bullshit to infringe on our gaming rights. you dont see anyone banning porn now do you? whats the difference?

if im ever unfortunate enough to have kids, they'll be able to play whatever the fuck they like. games arent reality, and any average child can tell the difference.

___________________

I totally agree with everything you've just said.

I've not got any real right to criticise this but games shouldn't be used as an alternative form to parenting. I'm not really giving the game makers a hard time here, it's just parents who go out their way to buy this stuff.

You're right, nobody is banning porn, but nobodies parent is going out to buy their children a porno when "the lastest and most vivid in porno entertainment" has been released. It's not the same.

___________________
Check out my Mashups on Soundcloud

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN games arent reality, and any average child can tell the difference.

your sig states that hope is the denial of reality.

yet, i can definitely see a kid hoping to stick a screwdriver in the back of some pimp to get some pay dirt and then actually doing it and obtaining his PimpCash in a video game.

was Raistlin wrong or are you?