Watchdogs Boycott Manhunt 2 Because...Oh, Nevermind
In the unending brigade of knee-jerk stupidity that is the watchdog reaction to Manhunt 2, Common Sense Media has served parents with a press release urging them to boycott the game because of an image from the game of a character decapitating a policeman. Which might be an entirely valid reason to boycott a game, if it were true.
Common Sense Media has pledged to hold a press conference on October 30th in order to display the footage, which isn't even in the game. So a watchdog group will be having a public showing of an irrelevant simulated police decapitation for a game that nobody under the age of 17 is allowed to buy in the first place? That sounds like a great way to get away with showing mutilation of law officers in a public forum, but not much else.
GamePolitics covered the story, when it was a story, but the latest update from Take-Two renders all discussion of police decapitation pretty ridiculous:
Take-Two wishes to make it clear that the screen shot of Manhunt 2 shown in a recent Common Sense Media press release does not appear in the ESRB-rated version of the game that will be released on October 31. It has been speculated that they have used the unrated version that was leaked some time ago.
GamePolitics calls this news surprising, but I call it "duh." Leaked gameplay + a re-edited version of the game to comply with the ESRB's requirements to meet an "M" rating = plenty of opportunity for a total waste of time like this. Who sets up a public screening - who sets up a public boycott - who takes this seriously without at least asking if the information is at all accurate?
If you're gonna make a mountain out of a molehill, shouldn't it at least be a real molehill?
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 26 October 2007
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: decapitation, manhunt 2, molehill, take-two
I feel bad for Take 2.
While I personally don't think its my kind of game, and have yet decided between freedom of speech, and someone comitting a violent act virtually in a realistic manner, I think Take 2 has come across a lot of unneeded and unwarranted critism and game bashing.
Noone deserves fake media that gives bad press.
@MME: Don't feel bad, if this whole censorship discussion has taught us anything, it's that there is no such thing as bad press (JT is plenty of proof if any was needed, but so are Mortal Kombat, Doom etc.)
Sure, parents who read this kind of crap *will* boycott the game, but that is a good thing: It will finally build up their confidence about knowing a specific game that their kids should definitely not play so that they can step up and take responsibility. Parenting ftw!
And those of us who would actually legally play this game are not in any way deterred from picking it up, are we?
Except for some fringe games that get caught in the crossfire because parents become overly cautious toward the games their kids are playing (again, not necessarily a bad thing, plus it builds kids' sneak skills ^^), everybody wins.
Also: cake!
BTW: If any of you staffers read this plz plz tell the brute to check his spam folder for a mail I sent him on Wednesday!
@MME: Don't feel bad, if this whole censorship discussion has taught us anything, it's that there is no such thing as bad press (JT is plenty of proof if any was needed, but so are Mortal Kombat, Doom etc.)
Sure, parents who read this kind of crap *will* boycott the game, but that is a good thing: It will finally build up their confidence about knowing a specific game that their kids should definitely not play so that they can step up and take responsibility. Parenting ftw!
And those of us who would actually legally play this game are not in any way deterred from picking it up, are we?
Except for some fringe games that get caught in the crossfire because parents become overly cautious toward the games their kids are playing (again, not necessarily a bad thing, plus it builds kids' sneak skills ^^), everybody wins.
Also: cake!
BTW: If any of you staffers read this plz plz tell the brute to check his spam folder for a mail I sent him on Wednesday!
I think that Common Sense Media needs to do this because they need to keep doing their job, keep finding games with enough violence to decry, or else they would fade away and cease to be a group any more because then they wouldn't have anything to do. They may not really believe in what they are decrying. All I'm saying is that you never really know what people's true motives are.