Manhunt recieves "R" rating (yeah you hear that right)

The following is an article from today's Toronto Star:
Mar. 4, 2004. 10:47 AM

Video game slammed with `R' rating

Too violent for children, board says
Minister calls it `disturbing, distasteful'

ROBERT BENZIE AND MURRAY WHYTE
STAFF REPORTERS

Ontario government censors have slapped a "restricted" rating on a video game for the first time ever in a bid to keep children from being exposed to extreme violence.

The Ontario Film Review Board feels Manhunt --- a controversial game banned in New Zealand and touted by its manufacturer as "brutal blood sport" --- should not be played by people younger than 18.

Board chair Bill Moody said yesterday the game features "frequent coarse language and slurs, sexual references ... visually explicit portrayals of violence, including hand-to-hand and weapons violence."

"It was characterized by extreme bloodletting and tissue damage. That's the part that concerned us," said Moody, whose board does not normally censor video games, but was alerted by officials in New Zealand.

Under provincial legislation, retailers who sell or rent the game to minors could face penalties of up to $25,000 and up to one year in jail.

Corporations that distribute the game to youngsters could face penalties of up to $100,000.

Consumer and Business Services Minister Jim Watson praised the board's decision.

"What we're trying to do is set some standards. I don't think it's a question of censorship just as I don't think it's a question of censorship of advising parents that certain films are inappropriate for young people," said Watson.

"If you've seen this video ... it's really disturbing. I'd never seen anything quite like it before. It was quite distasteful."

Manhunt puts the player in the role of criminal James Earl Cash, who is kidnapped from death row and placed in Carcer City as star of a reality show that has him killing gang members.

It is the product of the now-infamous Rockstar Games company, which last year released the best-selling game of all time, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

That game was roundly criticized for its portrayal of prostitution, pimps and drug-dealers, as well as its cartoonish depiction of violence and gunplay.

Manhunt drops the irony, and takes the violence to a new extreme.

At Microplay, a Queen St. W. gaming store, assistant manager Dan Slivinksi said he received notice of the game's rating on Tuesday. "We immediately stapled it on the wall. We're sort of proud of it," he said.

Slivinski said the game's previous "mature" rating, a measure that was left to independent retailers to respect, was enough for his shop to not sell Manhunt to customers under 18.

Compliance was voluntary; with the "R" rating, it is legally required.

The manufacturer, a subsidiary of New York-based Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., said yesterday it is appealing the rating.

Wow. I wasn't even that interested before.

Somehow this doesn't surprise me. Not that i really care. Even if i wanted this game, i'd be able to buy it by the end of the month

I don't see why they don't slap a PARENTAL ADVISORY: THIS GAME CONTAINS NO VIOLENCE, NO GORE, NO SEXUAL REFERENCES AND NOTHING INTERESTING OR FUN IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER.

That'll keep people away from it...

[Vinny]

Wow. They REALLY don't want people to buy this game. $25,000 fines and one year in jail? Isn't that WAY too extreme?

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Its just a game People need to stop being so uptight. All it is, is a bunch of computer generated images that happen to look like blood and gore.