They should cut back on the game technologically and send it out on the Dreamcast.

Lol sony doesnt have a spine either

Well, neither does Microsoft then. They don't like AO-rated games, either.

I hope all the "selling mah wii" morons from the last post read this.

People need to realize Microsoft does the same darn thing, no AO games.

Heh, I cannot believe Sony turns down a game.

@TheJordanator: - as it would probably sell better.

I was distraught so see Nintendo staying steadfastly anti-adult content.

Now, where will I go for my big boy fix?

Rockstar could always use the "art" excuse, and release it for PC.

Rockstar should fight the rating, if you ask me.

I hope all the guys supposedly selling their Wiis go ahead and sell all their consoles and stick to PC land ;x

R* only option now if they want to keep the game the way it is would be to release it on the PC. Whatever decision they make this game will be delayed for a while.

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I guess some of us will have to go thru other means to find the un altered game ;)

But I guess in NA MH2 will probaly get rated M (I hope) and if everything fails well...we start a petition :P

@ShirtNinja: I doubt they'd ban it. Is there any example of MS banning an AO game?

In Japan the ratings restrictions are more serious and MS allows games to be released under their most mature classification(Cero Z). In fact, I think they even had a demo event where they showcased Cero Z rated games specifically.

The only reason to buy this game anyway was going to be for the Wii controls.

This stinks. I was really looking forward to Manhunt 2 on my PSP. I hope some sort of compromise can be reached without destroying the original intent of the game. Is there any official word given why the game is receiving an AO? How much worse can it be than the original that got the M?

These pansies need to get a back-bone and tell the media to f**k-off! It's an adult video game, so what? I bought it with my money after showing my ID. Last time I checked Sony's DvD players played triple X movies, what's the difference!? I bought the console, game and I'm over 18! Don't censor me or my creative outlet of choice.

Since Sony and Nintendo are too PC, maybe Mircosoft will grows some and take a stance to help the liberation of games.

@Genfuyung: yeah, mebbe, i was hoping theyd allow it and somehow net the exclusive, hah.

This is fine.

It sets a limit.

If they were censoring art or a political idealogy, it'd be a different thing.

So are games art now? Does this supress the ideology of sadist? :)

If anything, the industry will look a little more mature to some people.

Lets see how this spins . . .

That 50 million they got from Microsoft is less icing and more cake now.

Rockstar should just forgoe the ESRB rating all together. If the demand is high enough stores would be more apt to stock an unrated than a AO rated game.

If blockbuster can rent unrated movies to avoid the stigma of an X, then why can't the game world be agreeable with an unrated Manhunt 2.

Because we all know that the moment they edit it buyers are going to feel they are getting a censored and hindered product and game interest will be neutered.

People forget that ESRB is an option not a mandate.

PS2 is a kiddy console. :D

Really, though..It sucks we'll never be able to play this version.

thnaks for stopping the shitstorm Crecente. Too badit'll just be a different shitstorm now...

Sony just said "Take that you GTA4 Episode bribe taking whores"

haha

anyways, do a couple quick censors and get the M rating... no big deal..

the producers definitely should have seen this coming... poor job not realizing the problem coming before hand

I thought this was an editorial kind of. Shouldn't Kotaku have some kind of stance on this, and by stance, I mean, some kind of push for the first amendment? AO games should be available for the people who want some good, unclean fun right?

Look, Sony and Nintendo hyped this game since it was announced. Turning their back on it just because it got a high rating (and it was always going to get a high rating - they knew what type of game it was) looks really bad.

The policy not to release AO games is to stop publishers trying to release a lot of porn on the systems, not to suddenly tell developers who you happily gave licenses and sold devkits to that they've wasted their time and money.

On Piratebay by the weekend?

The word of the day is...Irony.

The word of the day...Irony.

Things started to kick off in this thread too it seems. Odd how I don't get the vibe of frothing hate for Sony as with the one for Nintendo.

with gamers getting older and more (or less) mature I think the gaming industry as a whole should take a look at amending their current policy towards adult games for the adults that enjoy gaming. Not neccisarily to allow a game to be released but so that future artwork isn't hindered by the ratings when developing new content. Think about it this way, if they tried to release a game spin off of the silent hill movie with that gory ending or the scene with the chicks skin being ripped off while she was alive the game would likely get an Ao though the games before it only got an M rating. What makes Silent Hill any different from Manhunt in terms of adult content.

Sony is a

Oh. I thought Crecente already knew about this and purposely kept it out of his last post just to get everyone to fight. Lol. There sure is alot of arguing over at the "Nintendo Nixes Manhunt 2" post.

Microsoft won't do it as well. None of the 3 will. Stop thinking black and white and think all around here. This is politics. If you release a game that's AO on your console your going to have some raging mad political force against you. Not only that but you'll get some major bad hype for your console that could ruin ya. Think clearly for once geez.

This is not a time to be fighting politics for Sony or Nintendo or even MS. They are going to do the right thing in the public's eye and say no to any AO rated content. Rockstar would have changed it, if that was the last resort, even if they said that. An AO game was never going to happen.

Port it to the PC and release it as a digital download. Advertise it as "the game they tried to ban!" and it should sell well enough.

And if Nintendo don't allow AO games on their systems, why are they allowing Super Lolicon Witch Raper on the DS?

I really don't understand this. The game hasn't been banned (in US), it's simply been given an adults only rating. So let the system work and let only the adults buy the game.

Fools.

Sony is a liar...GTA was AO! I don't get it. What is the point of having a rating system if no one supports it?

@Tubatic: Anything can be art. Not all moves are art, unless you're saying porn is art, and if you are than you'd bet your porno-loving-ass MGS is art.

Well they could do some things, one is to give the player the choice to see blood or not or things like that, that support parental control wich all the next gen consoles have, or release it for PC...

@Spartan1308:
From the Xbox website:

Adults Only: This rating means what it says: The program or game is only for adults, meaning ages 18 and older. This is pretty straightforward. A game receives this rating if there are prolonged scenes of extremely graphic violence and/or sexual content. It is company policy that there are no AO games for Xbox® or Xbox 360.

[www.xbox.com]

Um... why the AO rating? I thought that the reason for the AO rating on this game, was because it would be realistic to act the murderous rampages with the Wii controls. That doesn't happen with the PS2, does it?

America is doing like what the FCC is doing to shock jocks...trying to shut them down.That's the government/the crying soccermom's and JT's plan.

Rockstar should just forego the rating process. Be like, okay, you don't want AO games? Well we won't rate it. Welcome to e-commerce, bitches.

Yeah, Rockstar doesn't have the balls, but they should.

And like I said, if they change the content, I will not buy it.

All of those people who rushed out to swap their Wiis for PS3's after posting in the Wii MH2 thread are going to be pleasantly surprised when they return home and read this gem.

@PhotoBoy:
Thats Nintendo Japan.

That kind of game is more common over there and there is not stigma or bad press for Nintendo to receive by releasing it in japan.

But if an AO game came out on a Nintendo platform here?
Suddenly you will have obese middle aged women screaming their chubby cheeks out on the television about how Nintendo is corrupting our innocent youth, and convincing soccer moms that buying a Wii for their kids is akin to giving them crack.

Damnit!!! What is in this game that's so bad/hasn't been done before in M rated games?

I have to wonder how serious this statement is. Is it just an official line to keep angry mothers off their backs? How can they block the content from being played on their systems if they didn't create the game?

Sony is a liar...GTA was AO! I don't get it. What is the point of having a rating system if no one supports it?

Didn't it become AO after Hot Coffee was discovered?

I do kind of want to see Rockstar Edit this so I can see the leed character cut large marshmallow filled rabbits in half with his razor sharp wit. Desperately trying to escape his evil incarceration in the land of crazy pudding.

they think that AO is a waste of money... everybody knows that underage kids want to play the game more than adults...(ok who knows)

if nintendo did it and sony did it, the game will definetely be tone down... i hope they release some kind of footage of how the game was supossed to be... before the unicorns and stuff

sorr y rockstar but, Nelson: HA-HA!

Haha, Rockstar wasted money making a game no consoles want.

I think we know what this means for Rockstar now...

No More Manhunt II.

Time to start working on Table Tennis 2.

Although the game was probably a horror-schlock fest, with all three hardware makers banning the game just because its rated AO, really torpedoes the "Games as Art" argument. Chris Hecker would no doubt call this whole farce a big pile of shit.

You can expect it from Nintendo's family friendly sweaty Mortal Kombat stance, but I'm surprised at Sony and Microsoft. After all, they are aiming for a more mature audience. If only hardware manufacturers would do the same kind of banning for just plain shit games.

If companies like Sony are going to stick to this "games are art" line, then they better have a fucking good reason for banning all AO games on their consoles from licensed developers. There are just some themes which minors (esp. American minors) can't handle, like sex.

Publications like Kotaku should definitely be hanging up the manufacturers words on this. Or are we still stuck in the dark ages, green blood for all.

@TokeYo: I hope :P

"The ultra-violent videogame Manhunt 2 allows you to rape a woman shortly after you beheaded her in the brothel level called Honey Pot. Members of the ESRB were shocked when Daniel Lamb used his male reproduction organ and simulated a penetration in the bloody hole. Other gruesome parts include microwaving a living cat to death and being a witness of necrophilia in a cemetery..."

@TRT-X: Lol I was just about to say something like that.

I noticed it was cool in the other post to start "selling" a console (the Wii) that you don't have for real cheap just because one little game wasn't going to be released for it. So?

WHO WANTS TO BUY A PS3???!!!! HALF PRICE!!! NO FORGET THAT! I'M SO DESPERATE TO GET RID OF IT, THAT I'M GIVING IT AWAY FOR FREE!!!!!!!!!

You fanboys are completely sad. Its funny how a post about a game getting banned is turned into an anti-Sony thread. Microsoft would do the same thing. It doesn't matter if they show AO content in Japan on either the PS2 or the Xbox. You need to remember that Sony Japan and Sony America are different in their standards. The US has never seen an AO game being sold and that is why everyone is pulling out on this.

wasn´t a gta game rated AO??

me thinks that sony it's getting payback for not getting downloadable bonus for GTA 4.....

@Barbara: Alright, Alright! Adults Only is fine - You can stop grossing me the hell out now.

This is hilarious. All the hubbub over a sequel to a game that wasn't that good in the first place?

They should can this game and say fuck it to all the damned whiny assed people that want to run our lives for us.

It's just gonna end up with Rockstar changing the game's content like they did with Bully.

This really chaps my ass... First off, why the hell do they act like playing an AO game on their system is such a sin? I mean, you have movies capable of being played on the PS3/PS2 that depict violence and gore, and you can surf the internet on your Wii, which porn can be accessed through for. I find this decision to be completely unnecessary. All I can say is wow... Rockstar must've really stepped it up since Manhunt 1.

@Hyrule_Outlaw: yeah, you guys are hilarious! The wii just lost one of the few exciting-looking third party games this year, and now, it looks like all of us lost it. but this, you can turn into nintendo propoganda too? jesus.