If you still care about this saga, you may wish to know the Video Appeals Committee has voted four-to-three in favour of Rockstar. The publisher had been appealing against the BBFC's decision to ban
Manhunt 2 in the UK.
In response to today's judgement, the BBFC has issued the following statement:
"The BBFC exercises great vigilance and care in ensuring that all violent games which are submitted to us are correctly classified. Our decisions are based on published guidelines, which are the result of very wide public consultation. The Board also provides very full content information to the public, including parents, about the videogames which it classifies. We recently launched a new website for parents, PBBFC, in addition to the main website and our websites for children and students.
"The BBFC twice rejected
Manhunt 2 for its focus on varied and cumulative killings. We recognize that rejection is a very serious step, in which the desire of publishers to market their games, and that of gamers to buy them, must be balanced against the public interest, including the full range of possible harm risks to vulnerable individuals and to any children who may be wrongly exposed to such games. Such balancing judgements are inevitably complex and multi-faceted, and are made only after very careful consideration of the contents of a work. We played
Manhunt 2 for well over 30 hours prior to our decision.
"The Board recognizes that the available research findings on the effects of video games (including positive as well as harmful effects) are varied and contested. But we continue to believe that a broad approach to the possible risks is needed, which goes beyond purely behavioural harm, and which also takes account of other possible effects on the sensibilities and attitudes of individuals."
So there you have it. The BBFC says it will now carefully study the judgement of the Video Appeals Committee once it becomes available.
We say that, principles aside, our experience of the
US version of Manhunt 2 confirmed our belief that we're better off without what is, ultimately, a disappointingly average experience.
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