Former employee: Manhunt almost caused mutiny in Rockstar

Here’s a rare opportunity to look behind the scenes of one of the videogame industry’s biggest names, and it’s coming from former employee Jeff (aka badasscat). In his latest blog entry depicting his admittedly-awesome life working in Rockstar, he describes the ups and downs of what it was to be an employee of the most controversial company in videogame history – including a very interesting tidbit about the original Manhunt.

It seems that the first Manhunt, rife with realistic violence as it was, not only caught the attention of many a concerned parent and consumer worldwide, but also by the people working in Rockstar as well. Jeff recounts in his blog entry how they were already used to controversy, a good deal coming from the release of Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City.

But for the employees in Rockstar, Manhunt felt different, in the sense that GTA3 was a parody and you had the choice not to hurt anybody who wasn’t the bad guy. Manhunt was a completely different case altogether. Here’s a snip of that particular statement, verbatim:

Manhunt, though, just made us all feel icky. It was all about the violence, and it was realistic violence. We all knew there was no way we could explain away that game. There was no way to rationalize it. We were crossing a line.

We wonder, then, what do the employees of Rockstar think about Manhunt 2 (PSP, Wii) now? Unfortunately, Jeff left the company long before Manhunt 2 was released. There’s no argument, though, that the sequel is as violent as they come – what with its banning from the UK and all. Time will only tell if the game will indeed see the light of day.

In any case, you can check out the full blog entry at the read article we’ve supplied below.

Here’s a rare opportunity to look behind the scenes of one of the videogame industry’s biggest names, and it’s coming from former employee Jeff (aka badasscat). In his latest blog entry depicting his admittedly-awesome life working in Rockstar, he describes the ups and downs of what it was to be an employee of the most controversial company in videogame history – including a very interesting tidbit about the original Manhunt.

It seems that the first Manhunt, rife with realistic violence as it was, not only caught the attention of many a concerned parent and consumer worldwide, but also by the people working in Rockstar as well. Jeff recounts in his blog entry how they were already used to controversy, a good deal coming from the release of Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City.

But for the employees in Rockstar, Manhunt felt different, in the sense that GTA3 was a parody and you had the choice not to hurt anybody who wasn’t the bad guy. Manhunt was a completely different case altogether. Here’s a snip of that particular statement, verbatim:

Manhunt, though, just made us all feel icky. It was all about the violence, and it was realistic violence. We all knew there was no way we could explain away that game. There was no way to rationalize it. We were crossing a line.

We wonder, then, what do the employees of Rockstar think about Manhunt 2 (PSP, Wii) now? Unfortunately, Jeff left the company long before Manhunt 2 was released. There’s no argument, though, that the sequel is as violent as they come – what with its banning from the UK and all. Time will only tell if the game will indeed see the light of day.

In any case, you can check out the full blog entry at the read article we’ve supplied below.