Rockstar appeals UK Manhunt 2 ban

Rockstar appeals UK Manhunt 2 ban
Company makes an eleventh-hour appeal to the Video Appeals Committee to get the game’s British ban overturned.
By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UK
Posted Aug 1, 2007 9:25 am PT

When Manhunt 2 was sent to the British Board of Film and Video Classification, it received the dubious honour of becoming one of only two video games that the body had refused to give a rating to, effectively banning the title within the UK. Reasons given included the “sustained and cumulative casual sadism” of the game, along with its “unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone.”

The BBFC announced its decision with a statement on June 19, which gave Rockstar Games six weeks to lodge an appeal against the decision. For a long time, the company was “reviewing its options,” but has finally decided that it will be fighting the ban.

A statement from Rockstar simply read, “Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. confirmed today that Rockstar Games has appealed the British Board of Film Classification decision that prohibited the release of any version of Manhunt 2 in Britain.” Take-Two Interactive is Rockstar’s parent company.

A spokesperson for the BBFC confirmed that the company had lodged an appeal, but said that since it was now a legal process, no further comment could be made.

What will happen next is the VAC’s chairman of appeals, John Woods, will pick a selection of people to sit on the panel and vote as to whether the ban should be overturned and the game issued a certificate.

The BBFC spokesperson said she could not give any indication of how long the appeals process might take in this case, but that a statement would be issued once a panel selection had been made and a date set.