Another nail has been hammered into the coffin of Manhunt 2. First the BBFC refused to grant the game classification in the UK, effectively banning it from stores. Then the US’ ESRB followed suit by giving the game an Adult Only rating. While this isn’t the same as the BBFC’s ban, many of the largest stores in the US will not stock Adult Only titles, which would severely inhibit sales of a game. But what many people did not realise is that both Sony and Nintendo have corporate policies of not allowing AO rated games on their systems. The one exception to this was Rockstar’s GTA: San Andreas, which was given an AO rating retroactively after the infamous Hot Coffee scandal.

The upshot of all this is that where it once believed that serious Manhunt fans would be able to get their hands on a copy of the game by using import traders, Sony and Nintendo won’t even be allowing Take Two to release it for their platforms in the US. This leaves Rockstar with two options: either successfully appeal the decision with the game left as it is, or reengineer the game content to meet with ESRB and BBFC approval.

I’m guessing the latter is the most plausible option, but Rockstar is going to have to be very careful to remove the more gruesome scenes from the game content. It will be no good if another intrepid hacker manages to unlock hidden content à la Hot Coffee. Somehow I’m still confident that if anyone can turn all this controversy into excellent publicity, it’s Rockstar. I’d put money on Manhunt 2 topping games charts at some point soon.

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