Release of Manhunt 2 Delayed After 'Adults Only' Rating

Many large retailers do not stock video games with the strictest rating. (Rockstar Games)

Take-Two Interactive Software said yesterday that it was suspending the release of Manhunt 2 because of a rating controversy in the United States and a ban in Britain and Ireland.

The New York video game publisher said it needed time to "review its options" but would "continue to stand behind this extraordinary game."

"We believe in freedom of creative expression, as well as responsible marketing, both of which are essential to our business of making great entertainment," the company said.

The video game industry's self-regulated U.S. rating board gave a preliminary version of Manhunt 2 an "adults only" rating instead of the more lenient, and far more popular, "mature" rating for ages 17 and up.

Manhunt 2 had been scheduled for release July 10 in the United States on Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 2.

Slapping Manhunt 2 with the Entertainment Software Rating Board's most stringent rating could doom sales. Large retailers such as Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart won't stock games rated for adults only.

Further, Nintendo and Sony said their policies bar any content rated for adults only on their systems. Microsoft has a similar policy, but Manhunt 2 wasn't planned for its Xbox 360. There are no such restrictions on games for personal computers.

Rockstar was given 30 days after receiving the board's suggested rating to present an appeal or make changes to the game.

Critics said they were concerned with the game's content, which depicts the escape of an amnesiac scientist and a psychotic killer from an asylum and their subsequent killing spree. In the Wii version, the console's motion-sensitive remote is waved around to control a virtual murder weapon.

The suspension was a setback for creator Rockstar Games, which has come under fire for its Grand Theft Auto series of urban crime games, and Take-Two, where this year a shareholder coup ousted the chief executive and nearly all of the board.

A spokesman for Rockstar said he could not comment on the suspension. Earlier yesterday, Take-Two issued a statement saying it was determined to bring the game to market regardless of criticism.