British Ban Brutal Sadistic Video Game

British censors on Tuesday banned a video game for the first time in 10 years, for what they described as an unrelenting focus on sadism and brutal slaying. The U.S. published "Man-hunt II" cannot be legally supplied anywhere in Britain.

Manhunt II is an interactive video game in which the person playing the game takes on the role of an escapee of a mental institution. They become a violently insane person who sneaks up on people and kills them in terribly gruesome ways. "'Manhunt 2' is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing," he said.

"There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game," Cooke said. Take Two Interactive Software is the publisher of Manhunt, and now Manhunt II. The previously released Manhunt created a disturbance in 2004 when the parents of a 14 year old boy who was stabbed to death blamed the game Manhunt for inspiring his 17 year old killer. Take Two is also the publisher of the controversial Grand Theft Auto and Carmageddon in which the players run down pedestrians. Who on earth would want to play games like these let alone allow the under-aged to virtually interact in such a violent manner? I am ashamed that we have produced something this abhorrent in the United States.