No Holding Back Manhunt in Holland

Rockstar's controversial game will hit Europe - some parts, at least.

Manhunt 2 is still banned in the UK but at least one European country has ruled that it will allow the game to be sold there.

Following the news that the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the US had okayed a modified version of the game, the Dutch Justice Ministry has wiped its hands of the whole matter, saying that legislation in place in the Netherlands puts the responsibility with adults and that it will not interfere in the game's release.

"The current law is based on the principle that every adult is considered capable of deciding for himself which games he wants to play, unless it contains illegal material," Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin told the Associated Press.

He said that it was possible that there could be repercussions were the game sold to those under 16, but that the responsibility for protecting children ultimately lies with "parents, the audiovisual industry and the government".

The game's fate in the UK is something that will be decided by the Video Appeals Committee. In early August Rockstar lodged an appeal with the VAC in an attempt to overturn the British Board of Film Classification's decision to deny the game a rating in the UK.

Meanwhile, despite being cleared for release in the US, Manhunt 2 is still rankling some.

According to GamePolitics, Leland Yee, a US senator, has called for the ESRB to explain how it came to the decision to allow a modified version of the game to go on sale in the US.

Lee, who has campaigned against violent games in the past, said there was a "conflict of interest" at the ESRB and that parents "can't trust a rating system that doesn't even disclose how they come to a particular rating".

And in Europe, there are calls for more laws too. Justice Minister Hirsch Ballin wrote in his letter to the Dutch parliament that the European Union needed new legislation that would give the EU the power to ban "the most violent games".

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo