Violence in Videogames on the Verge of Going Too Far

When Rockstar Games first released the sadistic, edge-of-your-seat videogame horror experience of the original Manhunt, things were just barely acceptable for people to accept the game and it's brutal premise. With September 11, 2001 three years past in the minds of most people and critics of videogame gore and violence rife with anger towards such extremes in interactive material, it's no surprise that the game was kicked out of so many places in the world, perhaps most notably in Austrailia.

But after the Virginia Tech massacre, such sadism in videogames is no longer acceptable no matter where you live. Incidents like this, combined with even those nonlethal ones involving Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton and Don Imus, bring such glorified extremes into an entirely diferent reality where they are just not excusable anymore - much less even tolerable.

So it comes to pass that the British vote to outright forbid release of the even-more-violent Manhunt 2, and the ESRB here in the 'States esentially does the same thing by slapping an Adults Only sticker on the game - making it essentially illegal to buy the game even in the American marketplace due to retailer rules that practically forbid sales of such erotic material off of any videogame shelf! Clearly, it is evident that violence in modern videogames has gone way too far - and this it's about time somebody draws the line on what is acceptable in videogames.