Take-Two disappointed with BBFC appeal

Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive‘s Manhunt 2 (Sony PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii) has had a long and tiresome war with censors. While it had a big win of sorts lately with the UK’s Video Appeals Commission’s decision to certify Manhunt 2 with an 18+ rating, the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) remains firm in its stand. A review of the judgment has been ordered, adding another chapter to a publishing case almost as gory as the title itself.

While some assumed that the months-long battle between game publisher Take-Two Interactive and the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) was over when the Video Appeals Commission (VAC) decided to give an 18+ rating to the controversial Manhunt 2 (Sony PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii), it wasn’t the case at all. The BBFC says the fight isn’t over and asked for a review of the decision.

This left Take-Two’s management disappointed over the matter, but could do little else but watch the BBFC and wait for its turn to once again defend the disputed release.

“We are disappointed that the BBFC has decided to appeal its own Video Appeals Committee’s judgement in favour of an 18-plus certificate for Manhunt 2,” comments Take-Two Interactive’s chairman Strauss Zelnick.

“We believe the VAC decision was correct and do not understand the BBFC’s decision to expend further public resources to censor a game that contains content well within the bounds established by the BBFC’s 18-plus ratings certification,” he adds.

The BBFC, however, remains firm in their stance to go after Manhunt 2 and have the VAC uphold the ban earlier slapped on to Manhunt 2. The board believes that the judgment passed by the VAC was incorrect and should be reversed.

It can be remembered that the Rockstar Games-developed Manhunt 2 suffered heavy criticisms from anti-game violence advocates for its gory content, prompting censors to give it an Adults Only rating in the U.S. and worse, a ban in the UK.

Buy: [ Manhunt 2 (PSP) ]
Buy: [ Manhunt 2 (Wii) ]