Heres some disturbing news of why Manhunt is being taken offselves in the UK.

Its kids like this screwing everyones fun up...

I already posted this in another forum. Like I said there- It has to be Manhunt' s fault since it is obviously the first thing to ever show a man killing with a hammer and knife .

Yup...it' s messed up that these things happen, and I think it' s even more screwed up that we still blame them on videogames. The kid was 14...he had a game that was rated M or whatever their equivalent is...and he was still 14. Just another bad case of BAD parenting...

I agree with all of you --- video games can and do provide ideas for impressionable young minds and bad parenting!

In modifying the title of the thread Why don' t they just blow the video game industry!? lol...

Don' t think they can ever truly lay any blame at the video game industry. I' ve been playing games decades longer than these punks and I know many others who have as well and none of us EVER had even the slightest inkling to grab a gun or get violent or turn into a one man/woman army.

I think Dennis Miller said it best once that if someone acts out the violent lyrics in a song, then they were already f**ked up in the head to begin with. lol

Did any of you see the news story on ITV news (in the UK) yesterday about this? It was headline stuff and Manhunt was given a good ' ol bashing. I wasn' t in to tape a later bulletin but my parents kindly recorded it for me. I' ll write up a detailed story later but basically the mother of the murdered child was made out to be a crusader against ' evil' and ' sadistic' videogames. Which is a whole load of tosh. My views on videogames being vilified by the media are very, very strong and I was almost outraged by the report... if it wasn' t so poorly argued. An apparent representative for the video game industry (no company he was attached to was mentioned) was pitted against the parent and clearly was repeatedly cut off by the news reporter every time he started to make sense. His main argument was that some movies, videos and DVD' s are violent and Manhunt is no different, which is exactly my point of view as an avid games player.

Other games mentioned were also all Rockstar games. State of Emergency, GTA 3 (what, no Vice City?), and Max Payne.

I like how some stores are banning the game now, even though it' s been out for the PS2 since last November and nobody batted an eyelid. I was waiting for the backlash against it then and I bet so was R*. But there was little to nothing against it resulting in poor sales.

I watch some violent movies. I buy some violent movies on DVD’s. I buy some violent video games. But never will reality and videogame become blurred. And never will I be encouraged to go out and do something negative because I saw it in a videogame. Creeping behind someone and pressing ‘x’ to whacking somebody’s head off with a base ball bat is vastly different than actually doing it in person.

I wonder how high Manhunt will be in the game charts next week after all this publicity? Just in time for it’s wider console / PC release too…

Rant over.

Let me tell you a story:
" Wow, lets b*tch about Manhunt," said Media, " it will kill thier sales." The day after the story ran, Manhunt' s sales nearly tripled.


You see, as much they complain about a movie, music (how do you think Eminem became popular) and games (GTA, Max Payne) all they end up doing is help sell the product. Really, though, where in the hell were the parents? And why was this deranged 14 year old allowed to purchase an M game? His mother is complaining, but it was probably her that bought it for him. (most places make you have an adult) But I would hate to put the blame on the store, the game, or his mother, so I blame him. Most of my family plays games, and all of them play mature games, from my 7yr old cousin(he was actually playing Conkers Bad Fur day at 5 and Halo at 6) up to my dad, and I personallly got my first M ature rated game at age 9. Now, has anyone in my family killed someone, stole a car, or beatup a hooker? No. So how can anyone rightfully blame a game that millions have played and never had a problem except for one kid? And really, is Manhunt even worth discussing? And would it have sold if it was from anyone other than Rockstar? NO, and NO.

The guy who was killed was 14. The guy who killed him was 17. Just thoguht I' d clear that up.

And yeah, I think I remember first playing GTA when I was 12. My dad actually bought me the game after I tried. Of course I was told to go away so he just went in with my cash and got it. But no, there' s not been much damage done to me, I can confirm

I been around violence my whole life. Yet the only affect it had on me was inspiration for some my more artistic things.

This annoys me when one dumb kid " ONE" does one of the dumbest things possible and suddenly the whole media community is to blame. Like mentioned above there are millions upon millions with a copy of a " M" rated game in there hands yet you dont see millions upon millions loading up on ammunition and shooting up an entire community.

I' m sure if you looked into the background of this kid there was much more then one game to currpt his simple little mind. And again as mentioned above Im sure it in many ways returns to the parent.

Indeed. I remember reading or hearing somewhere that the guy who committed the murder was looking to rob the 14 year old to buy drugs. Though looking round again I can' t seem to find anywhere else which mentions this.