killkev

WK016

...and for all I know the current one could be just as good. Sadly though, it's getting promoted by 99% shock value in a very calculated way, and I think we should just ignore it unless it actaully breaks a little ground for something other than graphic violence...

fuchikoma

The refusal to publish by Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo IS censorship on the other hand by not making the content available at all. That's a bit different, though.

Evil J

That's two retailers on the banned shopping list.

For those counting:

1) Walmart
2) Target

Censorship is bad. So is making manufacturing companies move out of your country to cut costs.

JohnnyHundo

UncleScrotar

And Postal (the original) was awesome in its own little way, tyvm.

Molotov cocktails to a marching band will never erase itself as a memory from my mind, ever.

Komrade_Kayce

That means you, MikeZombie777, who went so far as to think I must be from outer space or something to have thought it was a crappy game. Cause looks like most of the commenters here, and reviewers, agree. Its not that wonderful or even that shocking, at all.

Rockstar, I implore you. Quit trying to be the new Marilyn Mansons of video gaming. Look where his career is right now. Shock value only works for so long before people aren't shocked anymore, or don't care. Your table tennis and gta series are fine games... why not just stick to the plan and make em awesome? If Blizzard can make a gajillion dollars out of putting all their development focus into two IPs, so can you.

Komrade_Kayce

necrozen

Unless there is new content discovered, we should just declare it deader than gaming cakes, but not half as interesting... I never thought I'd say this, but let's go back to Master Chief 24/7... what's ol' shinyface up to now? Shooting aliens, I bet... let's hear about it!

Really... I was hoping "OMG, video games with blood?!" stopped back at Mortal Kombat, but someone's always around to lower the bar. If they want to make a game like this, cool, but do they deserve this much attention for it?

fuchikoma

If anyone actually looked into this, they might notice that there are lots of games they don't stock. At least that's how it is at my target. SO them not stocking this one may not be an act of censorship, but business as usual, since normally they only seem to stock the "popular" games, and let Toys R Us and Gamestop handle the demand for the less popular games.

necrozen

JIB i dont comment much

Tuxy79

At least with the first one, there was something resembling a compelling storyline that somewhat justified the violence. In this one... you're an escaped mental patient. Wow. Just... wow. This is like one of those parodies of video game violence that points to the absolute needlessness of it.

Of course, I'm not the target audience. I'm not a big fan of "torture porn" since it's not inventive except while trying to shock (Wolf Creek comes to mind... everything about the movie was lazy except the torture, and even that was just... lazy). Violence and even some "torture" elements can be appropriate in the context of a game (The Punisher being an example, and if I recall, that had an initial AO rating and had to be modified), but this... just seems without merit.

Again, glad that people who want it can get it, but I think that it's the right move for some retailers to pull it from their shelves.

I'm more pissed at Rockstar for putting it out, though, because it just makes growth in the medium more difficult. We're on extremes here, where some people think that video games are just for kids and the other end thinks that they're evil and way too violent for general consumption by any body, and this does nothing but reinforce negative steriotypes about gaming.

Evil J

FreeJack

Evil J

Vecha

Evil J

It's not really "censoring" any more than a theater chain choosing not to show an NC-17 movie in their theater... it doesn't destroy the content, it just says "go elsewhere if you want it, but we're not going to show it."

In any case... the amount of people that this decision affects is probably minimal. I've said it once and I'll say it again. If it hadn't been for the AO stuff and the UK banning, this would have met as much fanfare as State of Emergency 2. It's a crappy sequel to a mediocre original title (again, Brian Cox=Win).

Evil J

thenino85

BodyOfTheMany

BodyOfTheMany

BodyOfTheMany

Oh and Gears doesn't suck. That's another plus.

Ken

Whether or not Manhunt 2 is a good game or bad game is absolutely and entirely irrelevant to the censorship issue.

@TalKeaton: To be fair, the chainsaw kills in Gears of War are ridiculously kickass.

Mister Adequate

Manhunt 2 is a bad game on many levels, it is only in principle that the game should be sold. Just to make the idea more palatable, say this was an effort to get a game like Crackdown, GTA, God of War, or Gears of War banned. It would be nice if video game publishers would act together and tell companies like Target, "Sure, you don't have to sell _____, but we also won't let you sell any of our games."

Imagine EA, Ubisoft, and Activision...and hopefully also Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, all refusing to release games to stores that sell Saw but refuse to sell Manhunt.

(To bad this will never happen, but I can dream right?)

Sparkamus

I think alot were led to think this would be a AAA, nope, not the case....maybe a C+ title. The reference to Splinter Cell is all I can come up with, I could care less about the killings and find myself thinking it's overused.

Mostly while playing this game I can't help but have the feeling that this is exactly why 3rd parties fare poorly on N consoles....it's just nowhere near up to snuff ( :P ) as their software and makes me think that R* should be sentenced to play all of Nintendos AAA titles before making another game.

A bad game though? I can't really agree with that, for sure a game that has sealed R*'s fate with me - I won't buy another game of theirs, simply because the quality level I expect is obviously lacking.

In the end for me this is a passable title to tide me over until Super Mario Galaxy comes along and rips Danny Lamb a new asshole. Then I prolly will not play the game again for years, and when I do...it will look super dated due to the fugly graphics and sloppy camera controls.

But I've played and bought far worse games, haven't you? :)

sadkermit - soon to be banned for standing up to the ummm nazi.

I am also disgusted by the torture-porn trends in movies a la Hostel and Saw. I am not a fan of human suffering.

kNZA

Earthslide

this is how this works. manhunt 2 is hated by all. target wont sell a lot of them
target decides to ban manhunt 2 to get free media attention
billys mom thinks target is a good store that doesnt sell murder simulations
target has aquired billys mom as a customer and sells a lot of new spyro games
target has now made more money and has had free advertising.

Latonone

THE-HATER

A) Rockstar sells on shock value. I'm glad some retail store says, "Sorry, no. Take your business elsewhere"

B) The game serves no other purpose but to show the most morbid death scenes in gaming. it's a garbage title (yet another from Rockstar) that forgets about gaming and just sells it as "OMG MOST. CONTROVERSIAL. GAME. EVAR!"

Rockstar can stop making games any day now and I would all be pleased just for the bad light they have cast over gaming giving an even bigger stigma against gamers. Get over it, it's Manhunt 2. Shouldn't you be more worried about Mass Effect, Assassins Creed, Call of Duty 4, Uncharted, Haze, Unreal Tournament III...

Ken

I think that Target's move is the first of several retailers who will likely do the same thing, if for no other reason than to "play it safe". I mean... do Wal-mart or Toys R Us even stock the game?

I'd imagine Best Buy and Circuit City will still stock the game, because they're not trying to be a family-friendly experience.

That said, I do find this at odds with Target's usual strategies that include stocking unrated versions of movies like Hostel and unedited Parental Advisory CDs.

Evil J

I did play the game, and I really didn't enjoy it even when I did try to give it a chance. Don't accuse me of jumping on a bandwagon just because I have an opinion that happens to agree with the hordes of internet r-tards that happens to say the same thing. If you enjoyed the game then more power to you, but this sort of half-assed game design only waters down the quality of gaming in general.

EloquentZen

But of course that isn't going to happen but publishers are scared as hell of retailers and the retailers know it.

LxLegend

kevinski

i guess i partly share your opinion, as i have absolutely no urge to go see Saw 4. or hostel.. or any of those other movies that rely so heavily on the gore factor.

but at the same time.. do i have the right to tell someone who loves saw 4... "HEY... you should NOT watch that movie. it is bad for you!"

no, i think not. i would probably try to recommend that people don't let children or impressionable teenagers don't watch it, but when you are over 18, i think you are old enough to know WHAT you are going to see, you know its makebelieve, you know its all just fake and fantasy, and you know not to copy those actions, etc.

so, in that sense i feel the same way about manhunt 2. i don't want it. i don't want kids playing it. but if you get a thrill from the crazy gore and violence of it.. all the power to you. if the game is going to make you go crazy and kill people.. you were PROBABLY going to go crazy and kill people anyways..

i don't personally appreciate when stores try to tell me whats right and wrong.. but at the same time... if a store owner feels strongly about something being immoral.. can you really ask him to sell it in his store?

i think as long as there are other alternate places to buy the game.. maybe thats fine.

joelface

not_tom_brokaw

Rather than ban it from store shelves, we should probably be moving toward less games involving violence and gore simply for the sake of violence and gore, because it's not really healthy.

I'm not saying all violence in video games is bad, I'm just saying there comes a point where the designers start adding unnecessary violence, such as dramatic, bloody chainsaw deaths because they're 'cool'- THAT's the kinda stuff we don't need.

TalKeaton

My only let down (6 hours in) is the game just isn't scary, which is what I wanted and thought it might be a little scary.

Think for yourself, this herd nonsense is old. OLD!

sadkermit - soon to be banned for standing up to the ummm nazi.

Zaxxon Q Blaque

You mean... a bad game?

Bad games deserve whatever they get.

badasscat

Yeah, it's that bad in every aspect. Never thought I'd find a game with absolutely zero fun factor in it.

EloquentZen

stuminus3

splines

I think Penny Arcade have it right

[www.penny-arcade.com]

Repsode

Dimipapa

zany_ninja

Stormrider

Thassodar

hella true. that would give me a newfound respect for the company, though. i mean, the industry needs to stick up for itself if it's ever to be taken seriously.

i mean, wtf would have happened if a certain movie theater company decided not to show the saw series? the movie studios would pwn their ass, i'm sure.

here's hoping rockstar does stick up for themselves and sets an example for the rest of the industry.

coin_operated_boy

madman83

El-Suave

NewSc2

That all being said, I would really love to get this game...too bad its not on a PS3...or for that matter available for sale here...

sander_dutch

You know, I actually do buy most of my games from Target. Apart from Costco (which doesn't stock anything but the mainstream games), Target tends to have the best release date deals and actually have stock of said game. I also remember checking on sold-out Best Buys and Gamestops for an extra Wii controller and Wii Sports, and Target had dozens in stock.

Of course, Target doesn't carry most 2nd or 3rd tier games, so I have to go looking for those elsewhere.

NewSc2

Rabidsquirrel

Now I just order most of my games online, because I don't have a car.

Stormrider

But honestly, it's Target.

I don't get up and decide "Hey, I better go to TARGET to pick up this game!"

AnEternalEnigma

Black-Dog-Howls

kojirodensetsu

Timers on consoles? Check.
Banning everything aimed at adults? Check.
Suing adults making adult games for adults? Check.

What else can we do to bubble-wrap society so parents don't need to parent?

G-Rate porn, maybe? Man arrives to clean pool. Man cleans pool. Woman pays man for a job well done. Man leaves. Woman bakes cake.

That adult entertainment... If you can't give it to kids, who can you give it to?!

elevenoverzero