Manhunt 2: Has Rockstar Games Gone Too Far?

Perhaps you've heard of the controversial games Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto. In 2003, Rockstar North released Manhunt. The game was rated M for Mature (ages 17+) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) for intense violence, strong language, blood, and gore. The back of the case read, "This is a brutal blood sport." This game was about a company called "Valiant Video Enterprises," Which records videos of a person trying to stay alive, by killing anyone in his path in any way possible. The player acts as the character James Earl Cash, a prisoner whose execution was staged so that he could participate in the "movie." Players go through the game and kill everyone in sight. If you don't kill them, they will kill you!

The controversy is all about the killing and the different ways that you can kill in this game. The players have a large array of weapons at their disposal. Even the instruction booklet for this game is made to look like an order form for the weapons that you use in the game and other violent movies. They may use plastic bags, glass shards, bats, guns, chainsaws, axes, nail guns, and a plethora of other weapons. Shortly after its release it was banned in 3 countries: Australia, Germany, and New Zealand. The reason it was banned seems obvious, the extremely graphic violence and gore.

There was also a tragedy of an actual killing in the UK by a teen that had been playing the game. The parents of the teen that was killed said that their son was lured to a park by a 17 year old player of Manhunt, and then stabbed and beat to death with a knife and a claw hammer. Rockstar denied any association between Manhunt and the killings. They then went on to say that the game was intended for players over the age of 18, and shouldn't be played by minors at all.