(taken from theglobeandmail.com) Blood-soaked video game hit with R rating in Ontario By JEFF GRAY With a report from Canadian Press Thursday, March 4, 2004 - Page A1 Video gamers say it is among the most violent and disturbing games on the market. It's called Manhunt and the Ontario government has slapped it with its first Restricted rating on a video game, in an effort to keep it out of the hands of anyone under 18. Players in the hyper-realistic, blood-splattering game assume the role of an escaped death-row inmate who hunts down and kills his enemies. The more gruesome the death, the higher the score. Players begin with only a plastic bag as a weapon, but can move up to a baseball bat, which proves useful for crushing a target's skull. One video-game store manager compared Manhunt to a "snuff film" because it instructs players in how best to take their victim's lives. "I've never seen anything like it before," Ontario's Consumer and Business Services Minister, Jim Watson, said yesterday of the game. It has been banned outright in New Zealand. The R rating means no one under 18 can legally purchase or rent the game, which is designed for both the Playstation 2 and Xbox gaming consoles and for personal computers. But the game is also available on-line, putting it beyond the reach of provincial regulators. Anyone under 18 who buys or rents the game now risks a maximum fine of $25,000 or up to one year in prison. Anyone selling Manhunt to minors also faces fines as high as $100,000 under the Ontario Theatres Act. The R rating was applied by the Ontario Film Review Board -- an arm's-length agency of the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services -- after its panel reviewed the game, in part because of complaints by parents, board chairman Bill Moody said. The board normally accepts the video-game industry's voluntary classification system, which is determined by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Manhunt was originally given a Mature rating by the New York-based board, which pegged it as suitable for those 17 and older. However, the voluntary U.S. rating isn't enforceable; it's merely a suggestion to parents, Mr. Moody said. "We felt the only way we could control the thing was to put the R rating on it." At Gamerama Video Games near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, store manager Devon Morrissey said he abides by the advisory stickers on the game and would not sell it to anyone under 17. But he said he wouldn't be changing his policy until he receives official notice from the government that the game is rated R. Mr. Morrissey said the game's main audience -- and half of his clientele -- are in their late teens or early 20s. He said he had played it himself but isn't a fan. "It's pretty vicious. It is definitely a step up on anything that's come out," he said. ". . . It is a little over the top -- not my cup of tea. But it still has a lot of stuff in it that would be entertaining." As part of the action, characters in the game are filmed and instructed by a director, making Manhunt effectively a "snuff film," he said. Tim Visentin, 15, who works at Iceman Video Games at Gerrard Square, said he had played Manhunt and thinks the new rating is "kind of dumb." But he also acknowledged that the game is easily the most extreme on the market. "It's definitely the most disturbing, because the whole point behind it is killing." He said video gamers should be able to make up their own minds. But he said that the R rating is "understandable" and that young children should not be playing it. Manhunt's publisher, Rockstar Games, a subsidiary of New York-based Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., said it would fight the classification.
Mm, I've been debating to play this or not, but now that it gets such a harsh rating, I'VE GOT TO TRY IT . These people aren't too smart, though. The more hype and stuff you make about a game's violence, the more people like me are going ot want to play it .
That's f*cking funny. I can get fined for buying a cd with data on it that isn't pornographic, nor illegal. It's just a bunch of refreshing pixels. But aside from the technicalities, it sounds good. People figure that playing games like that will cause someone to murder someone. Stupid people, if people really wanted to know, they would go on the internet.