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California senator decries Manhunt rerating

Last week, Take-Two Interactive announced that it would release a "modified" version of Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2 in the US on October 31, one that had received a rating of M for Mature. The game was originally set for a summer release, but those plans were scuttled after the Entertainment Software Rating Board labeled the game AO for Adults Only. Take-Two did not say what had been changed about the game in order to land the less restrictive rating.

Now a politician with a history of working against violent games wants answers. California Senator Leland Yee, the original author behind the state's recently overturned law banning sales of violent games to minors, called on Rockstar and the ESRB today to further explain how Manhunt 2's rating was changed.

"Parents can't trust a rating system that doesn't even disclose how they come to a particular rating," said Yee. "The ESRB and Rockstar should end this game of secrecy by immediately unveiling what content has been changed to grant the new rating and what correspondence occurred between the ESRB and Rockstar to come to this conclusion. Unfortunately, history shows that we must be quite skeptical of these two entities."

Yee said that the ESRB is funded by the gamemakers themselves (who pay to have their games rated), creating a conflict of interest. Publishers are essentially the ESRB's customers, but giving a game an AO rating cripples its chances of financial success; most retailers refuse to stock such games, and console makers don't allow publishers to release AO-rated games on their systems.

"Manhunt 2 is rated M for Mature audiences by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) as recommended for ages 17 and older," a Take-Two representative told GameSpot. "The game will be marketed appropriately to its intended audience in accordance with the ESRB's guidelines. As with all M-rated games, it is not intended for, nor will it be, marketed to children."

As of press time, the ESRB had not returned GameSpot's request for comment on the issue.

244 Comments

  • RockaWuzHur

    Posted Oct 26, 2007 6:30 am PT

    I think in the end its going to be up to the parents to decide what games they want their child playing. Its not up to the BBFC, ESRB, or Californian government its up to the people. But as we all know some moron parent is going to go buy this game for their 10 year old son and when the boy goes on some sort of rampage they are going to sue Rockstar because the game was "too violent" we are going to hear about it in the news, because thats when the politicians take their attack.

  • TheRooskie

    Posted Sep 5, 2007 6:11 am PT

    A senator lashing out at game ratings? What else is new?

  • salohcinborje

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 10:38 pm PT

    Why don't Videogame companies start issuing unrated videogames. If its legal with movies it should be legal with videogames.

  • confucioussayyo

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 6:39 am PT

    Aww, I hate censors. SH*TLESS! Did it work this time?

  • confucioussayyo

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 6:37 am PT

    It's just the way they look at you sometimes. That cold, icy, emotionless stare that sucks the warmth and happniess out of you and makes you go into the fetal position. And then they open their mouths and your ears start bleeding. After that, they pull your wallet out of your pocket and swipe your money, then to top it off, they tell you what you should or shouldn't do. Afraid isn't descriptive enough, how about scared ****

  • Sniper

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 6:27 am PT

    The usual politics of fear. Fear mongering sells newspapers, and it earns votes. No one is immune from fear, so unfortunately it always works. For example, I'm afraid of politicians.

  • confucioussayyo

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 6:25 am PT

    Hunter8man-I do want to know what was changed to make it an M-rating, but it has been done. People who want to play the game will buy and play it. You already cried to get your laws changed in California, so what does it matter now? I'm sure you have much more pressing issues than what a simple game contains. Children won't or shouldn't be playing this anyway. And what more does the ESRB have to do to please people like you, Jack Thompson, and Hillary Clinton? I don't think people like Mr. Yee will be satisfied until the government regulates the gaming industry.

    No! You didn't say that! *knock on wood* Are you trying to jnyx us? No regulations on games! If we're quiet, they might not see us.

  • dev_ron

    Posted Sep 4, 2007 12:14 am PT

    I'm not being disrespectful to all the parents, but they actually don't play those games, we do and we like 'em how they are. I prefer no change.

  • Proman84

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 8:26 pm PT

    More like Parents can't trust a rating system that is run by a bunch of out of touch puritan lunatics.

  • X-RS

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 6:57 pm PT

    yo... dckheads!
    its 1 f#cking year of difference. wha is one years difference worth of content to you? how many 16 year olds have seen 18a moives?(well i was watch in em since 5)
    but seriously.. why cant you spend your time doing something more usefull and more productive?...
    (kind of an oxymoron eh?)

  • madterps

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 5:40 pm PT

    Kind of ironic how a politician is talking about other people taking bribes.

  • HAMMER261266

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 3:13 pm PT

    rarson

    Why is it that video games must be rated, but movies are only rated for theater showings? They sell unrated DVDs all the time. Why are video games any different?

    That's a good point. Release a Mature rated version and instead of an Adult Only version, release an Unrated version. That way the stigma of an Adult Only rating wouldn't be attached to the game.

  • rarson

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 1:38 pm PT

    Why is it that video games must be rated, but movies are only rated for theater showings? They sell unrated DVDs all the time. Why are video games any different?

  • Mortificus

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 2:32 am PT

    I'm sorry, but what's the difference? Either way, it's not supposed to be in the hands of a five year old, now is it? This smells too much of a morally pretentious, media starved attention whore to me.

    This guy hasn't even seen a alpha build of this game and he's already throwing accusations around. How bout he waits till the game is released and THEN complain the rating is wrong? Besides, he's just gonna try to get the game banned when it comes out anyway, so why not just wait till then to start the media frenzy?

  • bairrd

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 2:14 am PT

    Yeah, am I wrong in believing that the MPAA doesn't disclose how they classify movies due to the fact that that might allow directors to make there movies around certain "limits," instead of giving them leg room to decide what fits in what rating? So basically parents shouldn't trust movie ratings, game ratings, what next, don't trust the swearing stickers they put on cds? Jesus Christ mate!

  • seg555

    Posted Sep 2, 2007 6:34 pm PT

    DanteDiPasquale

    Quote: "Parents can't trust a rating system that doesn't even disclose how they come to a particular rating," I find this humourous because that can be said for the MPAA s well.

    thank you

  • MChammertime05

    Posted Sep 2, 2007 2:21 pm PT

    this guy is stupid and annoying.

  • HummaKavula

    Posted Sep 1, 2007 11:48 pm PT

    Why don't they just drop Manhunt 2 all together? The game looks like crap.

  • panteral3

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 8:13 pm PT

    Comment. Reprisal Reprisal Reprisal.

    SUSPENSION!

  • W_Claiborne

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 7:09 pm PT

    "Parents can't trust a rating system that doesn't even disclose how they come to a particular rating," said Yee.

    Tuche, tuche

  • HAMMER261266

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 3:34 pm PT

    razu_gamer
    they removed the microwaving cats bit. Yes even saying it feels nasty.

    I realize pet abuse is a hot button issue these days, but that does not justify an AO rating. AO rating should be reserved for pornography. I know the industry wants to avoid a scandal, but putting a rating that is overly harsh and inaccurate is censorship. A Mature rating would have been sufficient as long as 17+ year olds are the only ones playing the game.

  • ptown58

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 3:07 pm PT

    A politician calling foul ? This guy needs to watch Logans Run and go build a bubble over himself.

  • razu_gamer

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 2:31 pm PT

    they removed the microwaving cats bit. Yes even saying it feels nasty.

  • HAMMER261266

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 10:43 am PT

    While I believe Yee's views are a bit extreme, I would like to know what's missing form the M rated version of the game. Why hide it? If they release the AO and M rated versions, the differences will come out anyway.

  • liversnot

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 9:46 am PT

    hmph.....anyone seen the movie Equilibrium? all of us here are "sense offenders" and need to be punished to maximum extent of our governments imagination.

  • mykyg18

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 9:44 am PT

    i think this guy should be vanquished.. is he the REAL reason gta iv got delayed.. i know hes not but if he was would give me a bigger reason to go manhunt on this sorry son of a gun

  • Alexander22Redn

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 9:01 am PT

    ESRB have very solid guidelines on what makes a T,M,E, or AO rated game.

  • mtofu

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 7:41 am PT

    i agree that parents should monitor what their children are playing, but Yee does have a point in saying that there maybe a conflict of interests and that we have no idea how each game is rated.

  • vr2L_grafx

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 7:10 am PT

    I think the retailers need to step it up too and check IDs. It should be just as difficult for a kid to walk out with a carton of cigs and a 40 as it should be walking out with an M rated game or R rated movie.

  • JackRyan2

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 2:43 am PT

    Quoting bf-medic: "If this is going to halt the release of the game....I'm going Manhunt style on my own!!! "

    Remarks as that are adding fuel to the fire of Mr. Yee and the likes and lets me really understand his reasoning a lot better than any official press release. Thank you medic.

    PS: To the people writing about "Poloticians": Polo is a sport played by a (usually) elitist rich minority that thinks they're better than the rest of us. The same goes for politics, except that it's no sport.

  • reactionsok

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 5:22 pm PT

    DOWN WITH ESRB! what a useless organization!!!!!!!!!!!

  • wayofthesauce

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 4:30 pm PT

    May I present the best solution to this problem: Parenting.

    Maeka alw that punishes stores for selling games to minors without an id check. Even if the parent is "nearby" then they will have to purchase the game themselves. But also say that once the game has been sold to a legal adult, then the store has no more control over it. There can be no more of this whining and **** over these ratings since guess what? ONLY PEOPLE OF LEGAL AGE CAN BUY THEM! Therefore, it all goes down to the parents to stop being lazy and actually, oh I don't know, be a parent? I got MGS2 for christmas when I was 14. My parents saw the rating but didn't judge it based on that, went and did some light research on it and decided that I could play it. I got it, played it thoroughly, enjoyed it a lot, and that was the end of that. I never went on some crazy tactical espianoge adventure trying to stop a foreign war or something. I just played a game. Wow, me playing an M game really ruined my life right there. And god only knows what was left out. Maybe full frontal Raiden?

  • mark_unix

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 3:52 pm PT

    only in idiot countries are games/papers/cd's/movies banned.
    if you were free, then you would be free to buy this...

  • therejectx

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 10:47 am PT

    for real people need to stop trying to stop video games for the lame reasons. there are so many more worse things out there that people could be worrying about other than violence and sexual content in games.

  • gishikin

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 11:44 pm PT

    "Parents can't trust a rating system that doesn't even disclose how they come to a particular rating," said Yee. No Mr.Yee, YOU can't trust it , DO NOT tell me what i think.

  • reactionsok

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 9:37 pm PT

    OBJECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!

    YOU GUYS ARE SO BRAIN WASHED - JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO YOU WERE ANGRY AT ESRB - now you are their best friend?!!!!!!!!!!

    i hate the ESRB - any sort of censorship is bad in my book - down with bush!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • couggod

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 4:58 pm PT

    oh like the MPAA is a glorious example of openness on how it rates. The MPAA uses secret ballot judges and secret viewings of films to rate movies. So all of them are guilty of cloak and dagger moves to get people to self censor.

  • bfme70

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 4:41 pm PT

    Politicians don't like violent games, then they make a game about killing people. I need to go to Wikipedia.

  • IsaiahDaProphet

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 3:49 pm PT

    Why is it that the government system of checks and balances seems to be fictitious. The government has developed into something that defies democracy. The citizens should have more power than politicians. We should create the laws and they should just do what the people tell them. It seems that all politicians have some sort of agenda and that conflicts the notion of freedom established in this country. If us adult gamers wanna play an adult game then we have the freedom. Children shouldn't play them but then why not enact some kind of legal action against the people who sell the games. The parents and the retailers are the most responsible.

  • kabuki_tanooki

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 3:22 pm PT

    Yee is a trip.
    why should a company have to make public what they removed from a game? should a doctor make known what he removed from Yee's rectum?

    IT'S REMOVED! how the hell will 'trash' make someone decide on if the should or shouldn't buy a game. it's not there. it's what is available in the game that matters. talk about crying wolf!

  • ahyumifan

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 11:36 am PT

    Man both ESRB and Yee need to shut the hell up. Im done hearing this stupid thing that really doesn't matter. Its not like Mature rating goes to Teen rating.

  • Thanos_of_MW

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 11:29 am PT

    As usual, Yee has nothing better to do than attack games (he likes free publicity a lot). This guy doesn't get that it is the parent's job to supervise what their kids play, not the government . It should end with the store not selling M rated games to minors, that's it.
    I think the big problem Yee has with games is that the ESRB doesn't cut him a check, like Hollywood does How about banning violent movies, Yee? How about taking care of more important issues in your state?

  • BlackDevil99

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 9:48 am PT

    uh-oh the three P's have been unleashed again, Parents, Poloticians and Prozac. Blood & Gore isn't good enough for this guy? he wants them to print over the entire box of exactly what happens in the entire game or something. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but i only buy games i'm pretty much sure I want (why waste money, like poloticians), and how do you become sure? how about taking 5 min too look at a review, some pics, and/or a vid. And i think the current rating regulations are just fine, what more do you want? they do the exact same thing the film industry does, This Movie is rated R for Violence, strong sexual content and Use of Alhchol. This Game Is Rated M for violence, strong sexual content and Use of Alchol.
    I guess he wants to exercise unfair business practices on one partiular medium, This game is rated XXXtremely un-Christian and un-American for Public defacing of a building with dirt, and for mild sexual content (kissing)

  • fr33_loader

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 9:21 am PT

    Here is a typical email that Mr. Yee would be getting for the next few days or weeks:

    Yee,
    OMFG. u r a noob. U got pwned by hardcore gamerz of GS. Get a life nerd. LOL. And yes, Im adult gmerz 4 lyf. PS3, X360, Wii rulezzzzzzzzzzzz

    no wonder people ignore us

  • hodayathink

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 9:11 am PT

    "Parents can't trust a rating system that doesn't even disclose how they come to a particular rating," said Yee.

    You mean like the MPAA? But I guess that's besides the point. The ESRB discloses about as much as they do, but get more flack, mainly because video games are still seen as "for kids", while some movies can be "just for adults".

  • M0AB

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 8:25 am PT

    F Yee.

  • GonzoGuy

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 7:04 am PT

    Let's not apply stereotypes to children, let's face it we all probably know a few kids that are more sophisticated than many adults and I'm sure we all know a few adults who are more immature than Pee Wee Herman.

    Let's face it the main cause of violence amongst children is child abuse. A couple of years of abuse can bend a child's (and adult's) mind in a bad direction that a video game could never do in 100 years. If these politicians are so protective of the children, why don't they ever attack the real problem?
    Too much trouble for them to be bothered. Harassing game publishers is much easier.

    If only these companies could hire the lobbyists the oil companies snag. The only way to get a politician to leave you alone is to grease his palm. I hate to say it but maybe we should all by Yee a yacht, like the one in Shock to the System.

    Tell Yee how much of a d-bag he is:
    info@lelandyee.com

  • steven141

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 6:55 am PT

    I hate politicians that constantly meddle in things causing trouble. As said by previous poster's businesses should be allowed to keep things private. If/when i have a business that may be successfull i would give politicians as much hell as possible if they meddled in my affairs

  • slim-jim69

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 1:20 am PT

    I know computer games don't cause violence, infact I thoroughly enjoy them but I still think its a bad idea to allow a young kid to see violent images such as those in manhunt. Same way I wouldn't want my kid brother watchin hardcore porn.I really like porn...... I mean really like it, but I'm an adult so I'm able to process the information given to me through violent/sexual video games/films in a mature and intelligent way where as a young person wouldn't.

  • GreyFoxV1

    Posted Aug 29, 2007 12:30 am PT

    It's not like the MPAA ratings system is at all secreitve...oh wait...

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