Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Latest on Manhunt 2

I typically don't keep abreast of the latest video game happenings. I love gaming, always have, but I'm a classic gamer at heart and I've always been on a strict budget, so it's very vary rare that I buy the newest release. But this Manhunt 2 story intrigues me. The latest news is that the sequel to Manhunt apparently got re-edited, and its initial rating of AO (Adults Only) by the ESRB was brought down to a more marketable (and release-able, since Sony and Nintendo won't permit AO games to be published) M rating. Now, the M rating still makes it perfectly clear that the game isn't for kids. But that's not good enough for the crybabies at the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, who want the government to hold their hands in deciding what games to buy for their children. They're now saying that the ESRB hasn't described what led them to change the rating. What does it matter? This is just grasping for straws now.

As one poster commented on Game Politics, you're now seeing these organizations come out of the woodwork to attack games. But they aren't attacking offensive lyrics in music, or graphic violence in movies, because those aren't hot-button issues anymore. They're taken for granted now. Someday, violence and adult situations will be common in games too, and no one will care. This is just a device for a few groups to get notoriety.

No comments: