14 DAY TRIAL // This is not hot news anymore. What I'm trying to do here is give you a better picture of what Rockstar's options are with the already highly controversial Manhunt 2, banned by the BBFC rating board and rated AO (Adults Only) by the ESRB. Rockstar's violent game was supposed to launch on various platforms, but as it turns out, at least one of them won't see it at all. You guessed it: the Wii.
As it turns out, Sony and Nintendo of America have strict rules concerning the content published and ported onto their systems (PlayStation2, PSP and Wii in this case). Neither of the two companies allow AO rated titles on their respective platforms, meaning that PS2, PSP and Wii ports of Manhunt 2 are currently out of the question, leaving the PC as the sole eligible porting platform. They haven't announced a PC port though...
However, as I mentioned above, Rockstar and Take-Two (owners of Rockstar) do have some alternatives. Not exactly attractive ones, but options nonetheless:
- stick with the "Adults Only" rating, thus enabling them to sell it to the retailers allowing AO rated titles on their shelves (respectively launching Manhunt 2 solely for the PC); - try and tweak Manhun 2 up a bit, leaving out some of the gruesome scenes and then negotiate with the rating boards, to try and give it a lower rating; - drop the game, pure and simple and start up work on another project as soon as possible (more family friendly perhaps...).
And, to further add fuel to the fire, hot-shot stores such as Wal-Mart also have an AO-ban policy, so practically, there's no way out for Rockstar if they don't modify some stuff within Manhunt 2. Think of it this way, even if they do modify it, the rating boards have to take a look at it again, but they've already seen the nasty part. Do you reckon they'll be able to fully forget everything that was implemented before?