"The ban on controversial video game Manhunt 2 in the UK has been lifted and the game will now go on sale. " http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7296278.stm
Yay? Oh, wait, no - by all accounts it was a mediocre game to start with relying on the very controversy that backfired on it.
Great: after a dozen legal hearings and endless tabloid raving, a couple of sociopathic teenagers will finally get their splatter-gore torture-porn fix. Hypocritically, though, I still champion the artistic merit of the original game. They were completely different where it counted.
It'll still sell far more now than if it hadn't have been banned. I bet the BBFC and Rock Star are in it together. Oooh, conspiricy!
Hmm, sure the game was mediocre, and it DEFINATELY used the controversy to sell itself.. But. I think that this is a good sign that the ban has been lifted. I didnt agree with the ban in the first place, and it wasnt because the game was good or not. I just didnt like the idea of being stopped to play a video game because its "violent".
I dunno, there's a difference between violence (i.e. shooting things, running down corridors, grabbing medkits) and Manhunt (ripping the contents of peoples' skulls out with claw hammers). It's torture porn in its purest form. Interesting, but I think the authorities are worried by the implications of people enjoying it. And they should be, because nobody else seems to give a crap.
