"Gaming has a content ceiling."

This quote is hands down the best thing I have read regarding the Manhunt 2 saga that has unfolded over the last week or so. It was written by one of the gaming editors at Ain't it Cool News and appeared in this weeks game wrap-up:

The AO rating is censorship in action. No one will sell it. No one will publish it. AO is ESRB for "Return To Sender". It’s a total sham. It has nothing to do with telling people what to expect and everything to do with controlling access.

But it's not just the ESRB's fault. They are certainly culpable, by way of having a 'rating' that functions as a ban - they are not ignorant of the consequences AO carries.

And the companies are guilty of saying, "Gaming has a content ceiling." It's a big flashing sign that definitively states Games Are NOT For Everyone, And MOSTLY For Kids. The industry is outpacing the rules for it. We need room for games to experiment with inappropriate content. Not entirely 'freely', but enough so that experiments like this can reach the adult market and consumers can decide for themselves.

Amen.

Why We Shouldn't Be Surprised Manhunt 2 Was Temporarily Suspended

On July 19th, Game Politics reports that Manhunt 2 receives an AO rating from the ESRB. A couple of days later, it's reported that the game has been "temporarily suspends" the game, implying that the game will not meet its street date of July 10th. Is this really that surprising? It is a mere three weeks out from its release date and the ESRB rating is released. It's all reminiscent of an election and the Fox News starts reporting on all the "good things" that happening in Iraq.

I'm going to go out on a limb and put on my Pachter-hat. Knowing that a game needs about a month for production, Rockstar and TakeTwo should have already submitted the game for approval. Do you want to take a guess at what is necessary for submission? That's right, an ESRB rating. Since my expertise is with Nintendo, Sony may be a bit different, but Nintendo won't pass a game that does not include the rating with the submission paperwork. Knowing this, I am led to believe that they already knew the rating, did a good job of keeping it off of the ESRB website, and then let loose the info to stir up some controversy, but most importantly, press.

Shocking, I know. It also wouldn't surprise me to learn that they have already been diligently working on an edited version to lower their rating to Mature. Furthermore, it wouldn't surprise me if the game still meets its ship date, or at the very least, still ships in July. TakeTwo has been in some financial trouble and strong sales from this title will really help the bottom line.

Additionally, Rockstar, and by default, TakeTwo, have constantly pushed the boundries of where our industry can go. I think Doug Lowenstein's chastising of the developers and publishers in his final speech as head of the ESA allowed them to grow a pair and start to defend their work.