Thrik

The Metro in the UK is actually an entirely separate entity which did indeed debut in London.

Well, erm... of course they are. They're not going to just print millions of those full-colour papers, hire the staff to write them, and distribute them out of the kindness of their hearts are they? Granted, I've never read Metro, nor do I think I ever will as I enjoy getting an extra half-hour of sleep on the train, but I can see how giving all those passengers a free way of filling that half-hour+ with some reading material isn't exactly something to be lambasted. Even if it is kind of trashy and kind of 80% ads. Nick's opinion FTW.

I didn't really mean in the sense of it having a bearing on the rating n0wak, I just meant I think it's perfectly likely that Manhunt 2 as a general package is a lot more disturbing than its predecessor (in response to you not thinking the casual sadism has been scaled up). I still think it probably has been, and the Wiimote actions would just add to that.

I don't think it's really much of a stretch to assume that the game's ended up being significantly more obscene an experience overall than than its predecessor. Especially when you factor in the Wiimote being used. Guess none of us know except the raters, though.

I can't remember, actually. There was some post on some site at some point about a Pac-Man skeleton being found, and of course as soon as I saw the title I knew I'd have to use the photo if there was one.

Well, it won't be much good if we look like this!!!!!

lol

Well, no. It is an age limiter, and the law backs that definition up. I completely appreciate your assertion that people could be suitable for an 18-rated film or game earlier than actually being aged 18, but it's unlikely to be too much earlier or too much later. It's rightfully considered the age at which extremely violence, extremely disturbing concepts, and extreme sexual content should be permissible for selling to a person based on the likelihood they can handle it. I think it's probably best we not steer this into a debate on rating semantics. I'm more referring to the more extreme ends of classificiation, which specifically is younger audiences playing older audience games. Once you get close enough so that the person's maturity affects whether or not they should really be allowed to watch/play it, it's no longer relevant.

Man, I never noticed you live in Nottingham. I'm in Nottingham right now!

Well I mean, I live in the UK which is where the BBFC have banned Manhunt 2, and I know for a fact that pretty much any young kid can get hold of these games if they want them. If it isn't a retarded shop assistant who gives it them (granted, GAME tends to be quite professional about this in Nottingham/Mansfield), it'll be a parent who simply doesn't understand that games contain genuinely disturbing content and think we're still in the days of Pac-Man. It's like just the other day my 10-year-old sister said she'd been playing on San Andreas at a friend's house that their parents bought (naturally thinking it was cool as fuck), although she'd never be allowed to play the likes of Manhunt or Grand Theft Auto at home. Bear in mind the friend in question is actually 9, and very possibly had it long before then too. Not the first instance of this, either. There's no way Manhunt or any game would be as disturbing if it were made in 1996 with ridiculously blocky 3D environments interspersed with low-resolution sprites for characters and effects. Games are growing up, and so is the level of seriousness the ratings have to be treated with by adults in general. Heck, even I was freely allowed to play games like Duke Nukem 3D when it came out, albeit after my dad played them first, him being as much a gamer as I've ever been. I wouldn't have been allowed if it had the level of detail on all that violence and the naked chicks as a modern game would, though. Most parents don't even know enough about games to make this distinction or observation, though. I realise my thoughts on this subject are becoming a bit fuzzy. It's something that's impossible to police and please everyone or not be a little hypocritical about, but something that does need addressing somehow. Whatever happens, things need to change so that censorship is never really an option. The other systems in place need to back that up though, so the release of an uncut Manhunt 2 wouldn't equate to "loads of kids will play this game".

Nah, not touching this with a barge pole. I'm really looking forward to it and want to experience the final, polished product as the developers intended. Every beta I've played thus far has been plagued with major balance issues, poor performance due to lack of optimisation, and general bugs all over the place. From what I've heard current beta testers saying, Quake Wars is no exception to this rule and runs like shit, has really choppy animations, some crazy balance flaws, and is generally not that great an experience. With that said, for the total enthusiasts influencing the final stages of balancing and whatnot is probably like a wet dream. I feel it's worth reminding those who are totally looking forward to this game that beta does equal frustrating issues, though. Of course the fact I'm also having a great time with Battlefield 2142 doesn't hurt, totally fulfilling my sci-fi massive team shooter genre needs for the time being. :tup:

Hee, well the Nintendo thing's not surprising considering the forced censorship of games like Mortal Kombat in the 90s. :~ I think we're far from completely out of the censorship shackles, although in recent times it's easy to think we are. Rockstar clearly likes to test the waters and I don't think anyone can really be surprised they've ended up with this happening considering their past history. Granted, every Rockstar game I've ever played has been great, but they seriously need to stop pulling down their pants and asking to be raped by politicians and censors. Of course I also have some personal contention with the fact that adult games are so freely available to every kid in this country (if you remember being a kid or have a younger son/daughter/brother/sister you should agree here), making the whole rating system kind of a joke. It wouldn't surprise me if they banned Manhunt 2 just to stop it getting into the younger hands, which is something I wouldn't oppose considering it basically epitomises game violence. I mean I don't think they banned this game just to be dicks, but a better approach would be to better educate parents so they realise that 18 means it's not for fucking children. Perfectly responsible parents just don't treat game ratings with the same seriousness they might if they were buying a film for their kid. I know PEGI tried to do this with their newish informative site, but it's not been circulated that well. In an ideal world, only people over 18 would play 18 games and they'd know what exactly was in the game that earned it such a rating beforehand; the decision of playing it would be their responsibility and the BBFC would never need to censor anything. Unfortunately, basically the opposite seems to be the case right now. It's no surprise the BBFC are trying to protect people from themselves. Buh! Messy subjects.

Hahahahaha, superb. :tup: Also, did they actually hype Spore or was it just the community going crazy over their demonstrations (which I don't think can be counted as hype)? I sincerely can't remember.

Hahaha, that's the stuff. A classic, and highly relevant to this thread! Need to start watching at 5:30 to fully appreciate it though, clearly. I really do need to download and watch all these series 1 Consolevania episodes some day. I only saw a scattered few of them.

Wtf. Someone needs to get this video, crop it out of the Consolevania episode it appeared in, and then put it on YouTube.

So, while we're on the subject of Manhunt, anyone got the BUMMED IN THE GOB video handy?! I just noticed YouTube doesn't have it!!

Probably still end up being holiday 2008 at the best.

Yeah, seriously. Just to briefly elaborate on my initial reaction to this news: Fuck off.

Is what went through my mind the second I saw the thread title.

What the fuck????????????????????

They've banned hardly anything as far as I'm aware. They might have been a bit excitable in the old days, but what they did about 30 years ago is hardly a good performance indicator of today. Those guys are probably all corpses now. Edit: Yeah, not that much at all since the early 80s. Ultra Edit: Quite a few more if you include videos/DVDs, which are almost all programmes and not films. The reasoning behind most of them is totally understandable if you ask me, and stuff like the various hardcore hentai rape videos on there not being released seems appropriate to me.

But yes, it really wouldn't surprise me if Rockstar decided it'd be a great idea to take the whole controversy even further and finally ended up getting completely arsewiped. This'll probably give at least one other country fuel to get it banned there too. The BBFC don't come across as a group who censor for no good reason, so the chances are Manhunt 2 is disturbing as fuck. Much more so than most against the ban realise, or anyone for that matter. I mean, the fact it's on the Wii speaks for itself.

Oh some on brkl, let's not get caught up on petty langua:- holy shit Rodi, did you just mistakenly use the word 'censure' instead of 'censorship'?!

Bloody students.

Strength of Wiimote gesture, clearly.