September 8, 2007 -
A number of game media outlets are reporting that an apparent early PS2 build of Manhunt 2 has been leaked online. According to Kotaku:
A note included with the download, which is available on both Usenet and via Bittorrent, reads:
Fan site Projectmanhunt, which broke the story, has more.
GP: It's hard to tell what impact this development - if it's even true - will have on the continuing Manhunt 2 controversy. Should the release prove to be genuine, could it have been made by a beta tester? Disgruntled employee? Rockstar itself as some form of viral marketing?
That last option seems unlikely, given all that R* went through with the 2005 Hot Coffee fiasco. And, if Hot Coffee required jumping through hoops to access, this release also poses technical challenges to the average gamer.
For its part, the mysterious Team Slonik is sporting a Russian Gmail address. A soundless trailer uploaded to YouTube yesterday has been removed. However a copy - now with background music (unknown if it's authentic in-game soundtrack) has replaced it:
Though credited to Rockstar-unaffiliated Team Slonik the software had to come from somewhere and YouTube clips are already appearing for public consumption—meaning this could become a quite literal torrent of bad press for Rockstar...who was finally (kinda) out of the fire for Hot Coffee.
A note included with the download, which is available on both Usenet and via Bittorrent, reads:
Greetz to the scene. Here we have the kick ass game (Manhunt 2 Banned Uncut Version) from Team Slonik.
Fan site Projectmanhunt, which broke the story, has more.
GP: It's hard to tell what impact this development - if it's even true - will have on the continuing Manhunt 2 controversy. Should the release prove to be genuine, could it have been made by a beta tester? Disgruntled employee? Rockstar itself as some form of viral marketing?
That last option seems unlikely, given all that R* went through with the 2005 Hot Coffee fiasco. And, if Hot Coffee required jumping through hoops to access, this release also poses technical challenges to the average gamer.
For its part, the mysterious Team Slonik is sporting a Russian Gmail address. A soundless trailer uploaded to YouTube yesterday has been removed. However a copy - now with background music (unknown if it's authentic in-game soundtrack) has replaced it:
Comments
I'm pretty sure that most 14 year olds can work bittorrent and CD images. Probably a number of twelve year olds as well.
Anyways, I expect the activists to blame R* despite the fact that this is essentially a pirated version of the game and would only hurt their sales.
Assuming its real?
It's not that the game is unfinished, it's not that things aren't all implemented, but a lot of things don't work quite right. It's more interesting from the perspective of someone looking into getting into game development than anything else. Again, I think the only trouble Rockstar may have with this is if the build date shows that they never intended to release it back in July, but that seems unlikely.
Mr. Feather: Not really, seeing as it's a woman.
it actually takes less than ten minutes (try 1 minute) with some of the kits out here. and you would have to be lobotomized not to do it correctly in that one minute. And its a lot more accessible than you make it out to be.
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but you need to give some credit to the youngins if they think something is wroth it they will work at it until the get what they want, or til is snack time.
O.K, ...What?
So you're saying that R* destroyed it self because its game got leaked and a group that has nothing to do with R* put it up on the internet? Ya, that makes loads of sense. Games get leaked like this every once in a while. You just have to know where to look. Not that I would know where to look or any thing *shifty eyes* ... as far as you know at least. But, just because a game gets leaked doesn't mean that it's not going to sell. In fact, I'd like to go as far to say as that it might sell better. seeing as this little leak might fuel sales. Because now, Videos are going to be posted all over the internet of people enjoying that game. That's just like free advertising! Sure some people get a free copy of the game early, so what. A majorty of people I'm guessing would rather want this for the Wii and want perfected controls that you'll only get in the final version. So guess what! People will still have to buy it. R* doesn't loose any thing... except for the people who were going to buy it for PC any way. But even then it's not like their going to loose a ton of money.
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
Let's not forget that he once described his own son as "a little clone" of himself. And that he's used his son at least twice in his own little sting operations. I could see if he was a unwitting participant one time, but twice implies that he's willingly going along with it. So therefor i have to wonder also if either A) He's putting his son up to posting for him, B) His son is doing it of his own volition in an attempt to dfend his dad or C) A combination of both.
If that's the case, I don't think that we should be too quick to feel sorry towards his son, as it may very well be that he may be just as bad as his dad is.
Yes, it still features that tactic, you can also break objects to make weapons (like windows), don't know if that was in the original. As for the full breadth of the game, I really can't comment, but I'm sure the graphic nature of killings get significantly ramped up. Also I already find the game difficult in some instances, but again I figure there's still some tweaking to be done (camera tracking is pretty bad). The gameplay is actually decent when it works, but given this is a beta I can't really continue criticizing it. Also, the non-stealth combat is pretty terrible, but I assumed that to be intentional, maybe a gun would help.
ITS A STEALTH GAME. DON'T WALK UP TO PEOPLE TO ENGAGE IN COMBAT UNLESS YOU HAVE TO.
Are you telling me the game got banned just because of feces? If they edited that out I'm gonna laugh so hard.
Sad but its the true, i saw it in my crystal ball.
A LOT of software has been pirated with early releases in the past. Even OS software. And anyone auto-implying that it was Rockstar would definitely face an uphill battle if any segment of the community (corporate, consumer, developer, retailer, etc) challenged any implication that only companies release early software "under the table".
Is it -possible- that someone other than a beta-tester would have done it? Yes. But history may show that it's more likely a beta-tester than anyone else.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Once again, it promotes the question, if it had not been so widely 'advertised' by those who claimed to be 'protecting the children', would this have happened? Would there have been the demand for the unedited version? The history of movies has been similar on occasion, create a forbidden fruit and everyone wants a taste of it.
Fact is, with uncut versions being released in Holland and some other countries, it's only a matter of time until a non-Beta full version makes it's way into the warez-scene anyway. It is a natural human reaction that when you try to take something away, it will simply re-surface at a less controllable location.
@Sidewinder
If it's a Beta-version, you probably need to consider it the same as early camcorded version of movies, where people pass in front of the camera with popcorn etc.
Skelta: The game is clearly unfinished, as placeholder voices for the main characters are still in place in many areas, sounds are missing, the framerate is horrendous, and key map areas are left unscripted.
The worst that this leak can do is if it's a beta compiled close enough to the original release date of the game, it could mean serious trouble for Rockstar if it seems like they weren't actually finished with the game by that point; although it seems more likely that this was a build used for making the early trailers and such.
This is a PS2, PSP and Wii game. It isn't coming out for next-gen platforms, hence the reduced graphic fidelity.
"Whatever this is, calling it an “uncut Manhunt 2? is giving it too much credit. This is a clearly an early beta of the game"
Not surprising. But I'll bet the media groups that run with it next week won't bother mentioning that, if it's true. They'll just chock it up to a plot by R* to get the AO version out to kiddies.
Either way, though, I don't see why this could result in another Hot Coffee-like issue happening. I mean, this is not available to people in any sort of legal, or even semi-legal way. To even access it, you need to break laws. But of course there are going to be the Jackasses (ahem...) that run with it anyways... Oy.
The Wii is "next gen" So it is a next gen game that is also on a couple of last gen consoles.
As for the article, The quality of the video boils down to a combination of the beta version of the game and the compression Youtube demands.
As for the content, this is an introduction trailer and they would not show the most graphic stuff until later in the game. If there were videos of the later levels we would see more. From what it sounds like, Dewgy has downloaded this and played it so he should know what it is like.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Seems we're not talking about the same release then. Until now there are at least three. People report that one of them is a subtitled EU version. None of them reports any bugs or unfinished stuff. Besides that, subtitles are usually added at the end of the process.
inb4 jack thompson, tl;dr sekret R* conspiracy to release original manhunt 2 for free, corrupt america's youth, lose profit, ???, profit!
My question is, is this the real legit Adults Only version or is it indeed a beta-type version? Dewgy states it seems like a beta-type, but Skelta says otherwise. Anyone have any information on it, or are there more releases than just this one?
It is a pirated copy and will hurt sales. What I'm wondering is if the copy (Or copies if there are multiple releases) are legitimate copies of what the full game will be.
I would assume the answer to that is "yes", considering that (last I heard) even on the best generally-available computer hardware, PS2 emulators run at pathetic framerates.
That's a possibility, but I can't say much otherwise. I don't expect to test out the version that leaked it's way online, so I won't know for a fact. But I'm sure that could be a video used for the ESRB.
Well, there IS that new "mod chip on a memory card" dealie that's supposed to be coming out soon. So, you don't really need any hardware modification to play pirated games anymore.
Yeah, after seeing it again I can tell that character is a woman. It just seemed liked the face and the hair matched Thompson's face for some reason. I guess I need more sleep...
And to those saying this will hurt sales, I disagree. Playing this beta is akin to having a demo of a full, polished game. I personally have this and have yet to play it, but I'm still lined up to purchase the finished product come October, I'm sure there's many more in the same boat.
I saw nothing surprising in the videos, and no gore at all. At most, there were some blood stains on the clothing of characters, but pretty tame compared to the horrors of many horror movies.
Mind you, I never played a Manhunt game though. Isn't there suppose to be gore in the scenes and during cutscenes? Someone explain the supposed violence?
It'd make Yee look like an idiot if he stated he must use a law to protect kids from "this"
there are already kits out there that don't use mod chips, its a simple disk swap.
No. YOu can't play copied games without a mod chip. You can play copied DVD's fine. but there is different coding for copied games. Regardless of region coding.
My PS2 isn't chipped, yet I can play games just fine. Softmods ftw.
As far as this, the game does actually feel very unfinished, but I have an NTSC PS2 and I converted it from PAL, so that may result in the lag I'm seeing. I haven't come across anything all that gruesome honestly, but there is a strip club level I just got to, so that may contribute to the AO rating as well. If this really is a 'retail' version of the game though, I think I'm going to be highly disappointed, the controls are horrible and the camera is retarded.