More bad news for Take Two today. The developer of Manhunt 2 learned this week that the title was to be prohibited from sale in the U.K. and had received the retail-kiss-of-death AO (Adults Only) rating by the ESRB in the U.S.

Well before you can say "Hillary Clinton's theme song sucks and Celine Dion isn't even an American", word from the Sony and Nintendo camps that they will not license the title with an AO rating. So now, as Take Two faces the difficult decision of whether to release the title as-is, or embark on very costly editing.... we wait to see what happens.

It's a good thing we have people to dictate morality for us.

The setback couldn't come at a worse time for the financially beleaguered Take Two. Let's hope they find a way out of this mess.

Finally an exclusive title for the 360 that Microsoft won't have to pay for!

Take 2 did an intentional PR-stunt here... I'm betting it was cheaper to pay devs to implement decapitating a woman and then humping her neckhole than to pay for the kind of publicity they're getting...

The stink of the situation is starting to spread from the ESRB's censoring to Take 2's manipulation of the system in my book...

One thing's for sure... I'm about as interested in Manhunt 2 as I ever was... which is to say I'm not. At all. *meh*

interesting take.... will you PLEASE write up a story on that with the premise you just stated? it would make a great piece.

interesting take.... will you PLEASE write up a story on that with the premise you just stated? *it would make a great piece.

Oh NateDogg's gonna get pissed, but I think I need to do this... *I'll try to come up with something tomorrow. *BTW, I'm more efficient when "given tasks". *That's if you haven't caught on yet... * ::)

UPDATE: Done. :)

Take-Two shelves Manhunt 2

In the wake of international bans and an Adults Only rating in the US, Manhunt 2 won't make its July 10 release date, Take-Two Interactive has confirmed. The game had been expected to ship that day for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo Wii.

"Take-Two Interactive Software has temporarily suspended plans to distribute Manhunt 2 for the Wii or PlayStation platforms while it reviews its options with regard to the recent decisions made by the British Board of Film Classification and Entertainment Software Rating Board," a representative told GameSpot. "We continue to stand behind this extraordinary game. We believe in freedom of creative expression, as well as responsible marketing, both of which are essential to our business of making great entertainment."

While the ESRB's initial rating of an AO for Adults Only doesn't explicitly prohibit the game from being sold, most major US retailers refuse to carry AO games, and console manufacturers prohibit their third-party publishers from releasing AO titles on their systems.

seems everything is going just as they planned

Now they've bought themselves some time to make the game decent after getting all that free press. Yes, according to plan.