I bet you any money it was the immersive functions of the Wii version that did it.

Boooo! Ban the BBFC. As a 33 year old man with his head firmly screwed on, I find it DEEPLY insulting that some toff in a box can tell me what games I can and can't play.

And I very much doubt that the disturbing nature of Manhunt is nowhere near as bad as films such as Hostel and Wolf Creek, which are just violent for the sake of violence, while Manhunt is (as far as I know) a comment on violence in games. OK, so it's gruesome but the graphics are hardly realistic, it's OBVIOUS you're just playing a game. And it is a game I'd want to play, because the last one was tense and exciting. I can assure you I have not stabbed anyone in the eye with a glass shard since playing it, and I don't intend to.

Get a grip BBFC, and stop pandering to the ill-informed knee-jerk reactionary Daily Mail readers in our society. We should focus on making sure 18 rated games are only available to those over 18, and NOT punish everyone including the mature, responsible adults who want to play them.

I find it funny that this happens just before the games release next month

The other funny thing is that Rockstar could surely appeal here. If the game is given an 18 rating, what's the problem. Rockstar could argue with other games as in a similar vein that have been passed, shouldn't have been either. Hopefully that Video Appeal Board will look at this again, because if Rockstar loose they are gonna loose so much money.

If it's the Wii version that's tipped things, this is now gonna cause a lot of gamers to be importing it from other PAL terroritories. Praise the lord for import gaming. Another nanny state crappy decision.

On one level I agree with you guys that creative but violent games should not be stopped from sale to mentally-stable adults HOWEVER I think that we do need a vetting process and that banning games that are beyond what "the public" would consider acceptable and in good taste (and so that it doesn't disturb people) is equally as important.

I haven't played Manhunt 2 so I can't really comment on it. If the violence portrayed is as bad, but no worse, than films that have been released under the 18 classification, then I don't see a reason to ban, however if there is something in there that is so distrubing that the BBFC felt that it was not acceptable for this to be exposed to the public, then I'm inclined to say that they know best - remember that the BBFC has actually been amazingly fair to videogames in the past.

Ultimately in this situation I have trust that the BBFC know what they're doing and if they say it should be banned, and Rockstar loose an appeal, then I don't see an issue with this whatsoever.

In any society, you make a choice. You choose whether freedom of speech for everyone is more important than the petty whining of those who feel offense. Nobody should have the right to tell me, as an adult, what I can and cannot watch, any more than i should have the right to turn up at their house and splatter them with entrails. Censorship for the purposes of lower age classifications is just about acceptable (when done voluntarily for greater market penetration), but censorship of material intended for adults is a crime against every freedom we have achieved in our history. Noone is hurt when I play a violent videogame. Society is hurt when people claim the right to prevent me from doing so.