New Zealand Censors have banned Manhunt

Updated:10:26 AM CEST Sep,21

NEWS / RSS
CHEATS

REVIEWS

ARTICLES

HARDWARE

DEMOS

FORUMS

LINKS (new)

66 lottery login

91 club

okwin

bdg game

55 club

CONTACT

Please e-mail us if you have news.

Gameguru Mania News - Dec,12 2003 -

New Zealand Censors have banned Manhunt - briefly
(hx) 04:58 PM CET - Dec,12 2003 - Post a comment / read (11)
Stuff.co.nz is reporting that the country's Office of Film and Literature Classification has banned the sale of Manhunt, Rockstar's recent hardcore stealth action game for the PS2. Here is a bit:

Chief censor Bill Hastings said today while computer games appeared to be getting more "edgy", Manhunt went further than any game previously referred to his office. "It's a game where the only thing you do is kill everybody you see," he said. "It gets worse. Not only do you have to kill everybody you see, you can choose to kill 'mild,' 'medium' or 'hot'."

Mr Hastings said "hot" kills were particularly gruesome. Weapons used ranged from shards of glass to garrotting wire, plastic bags and machetes. The game was set in a weird city inhabited by criminals and psychotics. Through an earpiece, players were given instructions by a person making snuff films to kill everyone they saw.

"When you go for the 'hot' kill you actually see the snuff film...you see the person being killed in close-up. With the plastic bag, for example, you see the victim's mouth gasping for air inside the bag."

last 10 comments:

noname.sorry	posted - Dec, 12 2003 - 18:15
Censorship sucks. BTW, that headline sucks too... should be like "New Zealand Censors have banned Manhunt" or "New Zealand censors ban Manhunt". Meh.

stumpus	posted - Dec, 12 2003 - 18:37
Let's face it the game touts controversy and it's through that that they will sell it. It aint because of gameplay!

JK	posted - Dec, 12 2003 - 21:29
I am getting fed up with countries banning games for violence....so damn stupid. If they ban a game for it, they should ban news about wars and stuff, since it is too violent.

chris	posted - Dec, 12 2003 - 21:52
i think some games are simply tasteless.... this game for example has gone too far, its a game but its badtaste and the censors banning it is simply a way to protect the public from game makers who think they can make anything they want WITHOUT responssibility.

Des	posted - Dec, 12 2003 - 22:06
I find it odd that tis is even mentioned on this site!! This is the first game New Zealand has ever banned in history and yet Australia have banned hundreds??

Hi-C

posted - Dec, 13 2003 - 02:43

The game's pretty sick, as I can attest after renting it. Even I was mildly disturbed, and I love survival horror and dystopian fiction. But so what? No need to ban it: in fact, that's just going to spark more interest. What our conservative politicians hypocritically will say is that this kind of entertainment (and not their fucking wars and shameful economic policies) is what's contaminating society, turning people against people. Wrong. Society's a cesspool already, thank you very much. Manhunter more of less is a mirror held to corporate-dominated, TV-fed, violence-loving America, where the social contract is no more and the Republican ideal of every man for himself is taken to its logical conclusion.

krazeguy	posted - Dec, 13 2003 - 04:51
no doubt it will reach our shores, you cant ban someone from selling it via online auctions and trade and exchange.

[email protected]	posted - Dec, 13 2003 - 06:57
so right Des, that had to be the first and i'm very amazed.. hopefully it's not the starting of the end for us gamers here, who have indeed enjoyed the lack of overreaction from censors...

kiwi	posted - Dec, 13 2003 - 06:58
yea, pretty positive the hardcore gamers will simply import..

teehee	posted - Dec, 13 2003 - 11:57
import as in smuggle...

anon	posted - Dec, 14 2003 - 09:52
In a snuff movie a person is raped and killed. Victims are generally kidnapped. Probably why the game was banned.