Looking slightly two-faced are Sony and Nintendo, both of whom desperately wanted Manhunt 2 on their systems, right up until the blood spatter hit the fan. The game industry surely hasn't heard the last of Dr. Still, the CCFC is more organized and effective than any of the other video game watchdogs. The group, which reveled in its censorship of M-rated game ads on public transit in Boston a few months back, was reduced to urging its followers to "keep the pressure up" on the ESRB. Later in the day, word leaked out that the ESRB had already tagged Rockstar's controversial game with an AO, completely taking the wind out of CCFC's sails. The timeline went something like this: while banging out my Tuesday morning GamePolitics story about the CCFC's AO demand, an e-mail arrived with news that Manhunt 2 was banned completely in the U.K. As it turned out, the watchdog group's power play was crushed between a pair of gaming thunderclaps. But the news cycle can be a harsh and unpredictable master. As dawn broke on Tuesday morning it seemed like the CCFC's unexpected demand that the ESRB assign an AO to Manhunt 2 would be a huge story. Mostly this was due to incredibly bad timing. Ironically, watchdog group the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood didn't fare well during this week's remarkable turn of events. By that time the interactive gore-fest was pretty much in the can. Zelnick and his band of merry men inherited Manhunt 2 when they seized control of the Take Two board in March.
The game was green-lighted during the troubled reign of bumbling former CEO Paul Eibeler. Beyond that, new chairman Strauss Zelnick and his team are absolved of blame to a large extent by the fact that Manhunt 2 was never their project. Designers who can't deal with the realities of the market are welcome to go the Ryan Lambourn route.Īnd while Take Two will bear the financial brunt of the AO rating, it could have been a lot worse for the publisher whose most probable avenue of escape involves editing the game down to an M rating. There needs to be a certain amount of public trust. While some content creators will understandably chafe at any sort of limits, the fact is that video games are not only big business but a form of entertainment which people invite into their homes. And - bonus cliché - the proverbial line in the sand has now been drawn. The bottom line is that the industry comes out smelling like a rose.
In any case, Gallagher and Vance did what needed to be done. Surely new ESA top dog Mike Gallagher was in on the final decision as well. By assigning an AO to Manhunt 2 ESRB president Patricia Vance certainly did just that.
MANHUNT 2 AO CRACKED
Just as new NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently cracked down on thug players for the good of the sport, the ESRB needed to prove to parents and politicians that the video game industry could police itself. That may seem like a bad thing, but it's not. Start with the Adults Only rating that the ESRB slapped on Manhunt 2. And in the case of Manhunt 2, it's not as easy as you may think to pick out the winners and losers from this week's craziness. Perception is reality, except when it isn't.