October 24, 2007
PC owners in the U.K. might be able to skirt the ban on Manhunt 2.The BBC speculates that Rockstar could release the game as a digital download, thereby circumventing the need to obtain an age rating from the British Board of Film Classification:
The latest twist to the tale of the controversial title is the result of a loophole in the UK's 1984 Video Recordings Act, spotted by Phill Carnell, a lawyer...
Downloaded games, he said, do not need an age-suitability classification, such as 15 or 18, because the Act, which mandates the BBFC's certification programme and forces retailers to obey the classifications, only covers physical products.
A BBFC spokeswoman confirmed that if Manhunt 2 publisher Take-Two Interactive chose to sell the game online as a download then “that would be legal and not contravening the Video Recordings Act”.
GP: We speculated on this possibility when the ban was first announced. We're not sure it's even appropriate to call this a loophole, however, because how could you possibly close it? By way of example, Running with Scissors has used digital distribution for a couple of years in order to get its Postal series past bans in places like Australia and New Zealand.
We note, however, that there is no PC version of Manhunt 2 in the pipeline at present. Given the history, a computer game will probably be forthcoming.
Comments
Re: Manhunt 2 Could Beat British Ban as a Digital Download
A manhunt is conducted when the suspect believed to be responsible for a serious crime is at large, and is believed to be within a certain area.
darned-blasted lack-o-edit-o-button
And most people would agree
I know, I know, anyone can use a credit card online to purchase something, but it is still a layer of protection, right?
I can't see all this press do anything but make people want to get their hads on this game more, regardless of the game's entertainment worth.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
This isn't so much a solution as it is a regression. If Rockstar lay back and take this, what is the BBFC going to ban next? Bunch of fucking Nazis the whole lot of them.
Consider the equivalent as being top classification drugs - you're in trouble wherever you got them from.
Godwin's Law.
can u tell im a bit of a gta fan
Not offering the download would demonstrate adherence to the spirit of ratings, as opposed taking the word of law. Could work in their favour. Though it'd suck still not getting the game. :/
To be fair, though, they may just not offer it for download that way anyway.
Does the UK have access to Steam or whatever on another note?
Actually, an uncut PC version probably would not sell well. When it comes down to it, the AO rating would still keep most retialers from carrying the thing, and even if their are still ways to buy it, retialers not carrying the game would still severly hurt sales. An M-rated version was a must for the game to sell well.
Grant it, they could release an uncensored version for the PC in addition to the M-rated console versions... porting to PC shouldn't be much problem i would think, and if they go with digital distribution they can cut down on manufacturing costs, so they wouldn't be risking much with such a game.
@Shaesyco
the question is how they would go about closing the loophole... one good thing about the loop hole is that it would protect indie game makers from needing to get their games rated before distributing them online. The trouble is that if they revise the law to stop Manhunt, they may make it so that every Indie game needs to get a rating aswell as they too would fall under the law. How would they fashion the law so that it applies to only games made by the industry, but not games made by indies.
@Baramos: Steam, yes. Some others download systems also, but not all. Some Steam titles are US-only too, but that's due to their own licencing. Steam games don't carry the BBFC certificate because the BBFC specifically states that certificates don't carry over different types of media. As they've never been asked to rate download-Jericho (for instance), there is no certificate to show. Similarly our hypothetical download-Manhunt is a different game to DVD-Manhunt and so has never been refused a rating.
Baramos
unsure about steam but I know d2d is.
Consoles can't legally play images. If they could then that... could actually work. Digital download of disc-based games would be exempt from classification.
ah but a legl image with a legal mod chip or boot disc is very much legal ^^
they could break ground in so many things!
Mod chips are illegal in the UK.
Obviously you didn't take Tabloid Sensationalism 101 in journalism school. :p Any time there's something perfectly legal that the media wants you to be afraid of, they call it a loophole. See also: gun show/pocket knife/Sudafed/tax/swimming pool/etc.. "loopholes."
But, yea, I would like to see an unrated "director's cut" version of MH2 for PC.
"The BBFC is probably going to start banning ANYTHING that has the R* logo on it, for the sole reason that it’s by Rockstar. And, with the whole “shield the childrens” campaign in effect, ANY game that shows ANY amount of violence, no matter the context, will start getting banned."
Oh please you don't actually think that do you? If anyone has an axe to grind against rockstar (besides jack and co.) it would be the ESRB not the BBFC (actually with the BBFC it would be the other way around), and the esrb hasn't done much. Just because they think one game crosses the line doesn't mean the line has been watered down. I mean it's manhunt 2, the same game that got an Ao rating in the states, that alone should say that this isn't tekken with blood. Banning any game with violence in it is laughable at best since they clearly stand by movie violence then there is no way they would oppose ANY AND ALL violence in games. So calm down and get off the slippery slope fallacy.
only in the last few years, nothign like a poorly written law to make legal things illicit for the whims of the corporations, this is why the DMCA is ignored by me and others.
I m sorry but modchips are not the crime thos in power make them out to be.
the crime will always be selling illicit copies anything beyond that falls to legitimate case by case basis.
Father Time
....???mrew? =0-o= zippy wrote no such thing =0-o=
*points to MaskedPixelante*
zippy can not write so well! go bug him!
=^^=
Sorry about that
Oh and you have some explaining to do masked pixelante.
I can see wheres he's coming from,its not to hard to think that they will start grinding down on games like Manhunt 2,but more games need to hit the ceiling before one can really say it.
But, wouldn’t said downloaders still have to pay for it… thereby asking them to verify they are at least 18?
I know, I know, anyone can use a credit card online to purchase something, but it is still a layer of protection, right?
I can’t see all this press do anything but make people want to get their hads on this game more, regardless of the game’s entertainment worth.
**********
Here's the problem that makes the whole banning of games a moot f#cking point. =)
Similar to the restriction of sale of alcohol to minors, if someone buys it for them and gives it to them, the restriction is completely moot. Banning it altogether just encourages underground movement of the product (ala the prohibition in the states).
The crux of the issues lies with the parents that would buy the game for their kid REGARDLESS of the age rating. Are these people going to quibble over buying the game online? Unlikely. In fact, chances are that a cagey kid could find a site that has minimal details of the game slipping it by the parents entirely.
As usual, everything returns to the basic bedrock principle. The only way for people to police what their children consume entertainment-wise is to take an active role in the purchase and play of your child's entertainment.
Aka Governments, stop trying to babysit me, I'm 32 and I can make my own decisions on the content that I find tasteful or not.
Mod chips should be legal, frankly. I want to play import titles. But until the law changes ( http://www.out-law.com/page-4733 ) they're not allowed.
I'm sure someone would still stock it if they offered the AO rated US version, some mail order company would bite the bullet and let you. In the UK they didn't even allow us that option. digital seems the only road ahead.
Ironically it's likely that it could be released on Xbox Live if necessary when the inevitable port comes out.
and it seems tis enforced abotu as much as it is in the states.
Colonel Finn
same reason why they hate emulation, its the presception of lost sales that stops them, dosent matter if its true or not they will smite it because they dont have finite control over it.
Asmo
alcohol laws have their place, however the 21+ rule is ridiculous, 18 is more reasonable and will go long to remove the cool factor of it for teens, frankly probation dose not work all it ever dose is create and stiffen black markets,the goverment has a interest to control it but baning it is just ignoring the problem.
Which leads me to this train of thought,if banning= ignoring the problem then why dose it look like poli's are doing soemthign when they ban it?
the thoughts zippy gets at 8am with no sleep.....
=0_o=
In the same theme, video games are not inherently bad regardless of how much disgust people may have for their content. What it comes down to, yet again, is responsibility. Parents monitor what a child plays. People govern how much time they spend online. People recognise that a game is a fantasy world and don't try to reenact game scenes in the real world...
Banning something just adds the cool factor to it. How many kids took up smoking or drinking because they actually wanted to hack up phlegm every day or wake up soaked in vomit with a roaring hangover? As soon as you put a border in place, young people want to push it. Do you have the government controlling the placement and strength of the borders, or the parents?