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A video game that puts players in control of a psychopath who must sneak up on people and bludgeon them to death with axes and sledgehammers has been banned in Britain.

Manhunt 2 has become the only prohibited game in the country after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) condemned its “unremitting bleakness” and encouragement of “casual sadism”.

It is only the second game to have been refused classification since regulation of video content became compulsory in 1984. The other, Carmageddon, was allowed to be sold after the maker agreed to make cuts to the most extreme scenes.

Manhunt 2 — created by Rockstar Games, the software developer responsible for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City — involves a deranged character who must escape from a mental asylum and find the people who put him there.

David Cooke, the director of the BBFC, said that the board preferred to ask for cuts rather than order an outright ban, but that was impossible in this case.

“Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in a game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing,” he said.

“There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed and encouraged.”

The game presented a range of unjustifiable risks to adults and children, he added.

The board said that the game was worse than its predecessor, Manhunt, because of the “sheer lack of alternative pleasures on offer”. Sue Clark, a spokeswoman for the board, said: “The only thing [the main character] does is go around and kill people extremely violently. When he gets out of the mental institution he [tries] to find out who he is, but that just involves killing more people.”

Anyone attempting to supply the game in Britain faces a jail sentence of six months and a fine of up to £20,000. It is not illegal to own, but imports can be seized at customs.

Online video game retailers contacted by The Times said that they would refuse to import the game even if it was legal to do so.

Rockstar, which is owned by Take 2 Interactive, an American company, said that it disputed the ruling but had not decided whether to appeal. “While we respect the authority of the classification board and will abide by the rules, we emphatically disagree with this particular decision.

“Manhunt 2 is an entertainment experience for fans of psychological thrillers and horror. The subject matter of this game is in line with other mainstream entertainment choices for adult consumers. The adult consumers who will play this game fully understand that it is fictional interactive entertainment and nothing more.”

The first Manhunt game was withdrawn by some retailers in July 2004 after the parents of a 14-year-old boy who was murdered with a claw hammer claimed that his killer was obsessed with the game. No link was proved, but studies have suggested a link between video game violence and aggressive behaviour in children.

A paper presented by Saint Leo University in Florida in 2005 suggested that children copied moves they saw in violent games, although no link has been made to killings.

Street legal

— Carmageddon, in which players are awarded points for running over pedestrians, was banned in Britain in 1997 but was given an 18 certificate after cuts were made

— Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was withdrawn and altered by Rockstar Games, after programmers found a hidden mini-game called Hot Coffee in which the main character has sex with his girlfriend

— Hooligans: Storm Over Europe required players to recruit a mob of football supporters before laying waste to town centres. It got an 18 certificate

— Postal 2, in which players are encouraged to commit violent acts as they go about mundane tasks such as buying milk, was given an 18 rating

Stark wrote:Didn't Manhunt 1 suck anyway?

If it's banned in the UK and effectively banned in the US... erm... where ISN'T it banned?

Stark wrote:If it's banned in the UK and effectively banned in the US... erm... where ISN'T it banned?

Lord Pounder wrote:This is the best advertising that MH2 could have hoped for. Personally speaking the fact that the conservatives hate it so much makes me want to buy it.

Stark wrote:Didn't Manhunt 1 suck anyway?

If it's banned in the UK and effectively banned in the US... erm... where ISN'T it banned?

Admiral Valdemar wrote:

Lord Pounder wrote:This is the best advertising that MH2 could have hoped for. Personally speaking the fact that the conservatives hate it so much makes me want to buy it.

Good luck with the whole buying it thing then.

Much as I didn't care for these games, I have to question the motive. There are slasher horror movies out there, like Hostek, that show just as graphic a death as any game, and yet these are not banned or blamed for murders (no more, at least).

It just sounds retarded. But then we get into the whole "I've played violent games all my life and I'm not an axe murderer or committing GTA daily" argument.

Connor MacLeod wrote:Ah but you're not just watching it happen, you're being encouraged to make it happen. Just like airplane flight simulators encourage kamikaze terrorist attacks.

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Every time I play Super Mario, I have this horrible urge to go and eat 'shrooms while jumping on tortoises.

Nintendo and Sony won't touch Manhunt 2 with AO rating

Posted Jun 20th 2007 5:55PM by Alexander Sliwinski

Forget retail and renting, if Manhunt 2 maintains its AO rating it won't even be allowed licence or playback on Nintendo's Wii or Sony's PlayStation. In Nintendo's own Nintendo Buyer's Guide the company clearly states, "Please note that Nintendo does not sell or license games that carry the ESRB rating 'AO' (Adults Only)." Joystiq also spoke with Sony spokesman Dave Karraker who stated, "Currently it's SCE's policy not to allow the playback of AO rated content on our systems." Manhunt 2 won't be available on Microsoft's consoles.

And that's the ballgame: Rockstar can either edit Manhunt 2 or -- given its current AO rating -- leave it as a game that can't easily be played or obtained on the PlayStation 2, PSP and Wii consoles. Given the options available to Rockstar, it looks like they'll have no choice but to edit the game or just end Manhunt 2's life and move on.

We asked Microsoft to comment on their AO policy, but they had not yet responded by the time of publication.

Update: Full statement from Nintendo regarding this story after the break.

Nintendo contacted Joystiq with a statement regarding this story saying, "Games made for Nintendo systems enjoy a broad variety of styles, genres and ratings. These are some of the reasons our Wii and Nintendo DS systems appeal to such a broad range of people. But as with books, television and movies, different content is meant for different audiences. That's why the ESRB provides ratings to help consumers understand the content of a game before they purchase it. As stated on Nintendo.com, Nintendo does not allow any AO-rated content on its systems."

Covenant wrote: Is it really to the point where you can rape a Minotaur to death as Kratos, blast the heads off of Spanish peasents in Resident Evil 4, burn entire families to ashes--including infants and children in the Sims and yet the game where it goes too far is the one where you kill them with a hammer?

Is the Hammer really that beyond the pale? Heh.