No doubt you've heard by now that Manhunt 2's totally kiboshed. Following the BBFC's ringing the death knell in the form of an AO rating, Sony and Nintendo quickly followed suit, eulogizing the game with their refusal to carry it on their respective platforms. As a result, Take Two said last night they're completely suspending the release-- they say temporarily, but don't say until when, and you know what that means.As I said earlier this week, I'm not quite understanding why the concept of games only for adults is inherently offensive, and why we're being deprived of the right to choose what we're exposed to. Ironically, I probably wouldn't have even bought Manhunt 2, or played it. Or even given it a passing glance, frankly; not my genre, not so much, and I didn't play the first one. But it's fast becoming an iconic symbol of all of the rather irrational attention gaming is getting this election year-- gaming addiction as a psychiatric disorder, gaming as a cause for school tragedy, et cetera.
To combat the misconception of games as playgrounds for psychos-- and gamers as murderers waiting to be triggered, David Houghton and Jim Sterling of my new stomping grounds, Destructoid, are launching a massive effort intended to culminate in a UK-based festival called Games for Gamers. The idea's to form a sort of positive gathering around a larger campaign to disseminate accurate information and fight unfair judgment of us and our industry. They're still in the planning stage, but are announcing their intentions now in order to create support and pool ideas for maximum efficacy. If censorship and misconception in gaming is something you feel strongly about combating, check out the Dtoid post and maybe give it a little Digg bump.
