'Manhunt' Keeps Mature Rating

Nov 05, 06:44 AM

Current Headlines: The board that assigns age ratings to video games will keep the "mature" label on "Manhunt 2," resisting calls to raise it after hackers defeated measures that blur some of the game's violence.

Patricia Vance, president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, said Friday the rating "is still valid, and we stand behind it."

"Manhunt 2" went on sale in the United States on Wednesday for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii platforms. On Thursday, publisher Take-Two Interactive Software confirmed that hackers had managed to unblur some gruesome scenes on the PSP version.

The hack works only on PSPs that have been modified to allow unauthorized content.

In the game, the player guides two people who escape from an insane asylum and go on a killing rampage with a variety of implements, including axes.

When originally submitted to the ESRB earlier this year, the game received an "adults only" rating. Many stores refuse to carry games with that rating, so Take-Two made modifications, including blurring some details.

The modified game was rated "mature," which means it is intended for players 17 or older.

Take-Two and the studio that designed the game, Rockstar Games, have long been at the center of the debate over video game violence and children.

Two years ago, a hacker uncovered a hidden sex scene in their game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." The ratings board changed the game's rating from "mature" to "adults only" and retailers pulled it off shelves.

Common Sense Media, a San Francisco nonprofit that advises parents about entertainment that may be inappropriate for children, asked the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday to look into the ratings process, now funded and governed by an industry association.

"We believe that families and all consumers should have an assurance from game publishers and the game ratings board that the content being advertised is the same as the content being sold," Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer said in a statement.

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