Tag: bbfc
Tabloids paying cash for anti-video games stories
Last week’s Byron Report looked like it might have a calming influence on the ever increasing levels of sensationalism surrounding video games and help bring the public’s perception of games into a more accepting future. I know, I know – it’s appalling really. Thank god for British tabloid rags. They’re ready to step up and dredge every seedy gutter for a story or twenty that will make you lock your doors in terrified realisation that the outside world really is populated by roving bands of video game obsessed PSYCHOPATHS…
Byron Review proposes film-style age ratings system for all video games
The Byron Review – the government’s high-profile investigation into the effects of video games and the internet, led by child psychologist Dr Tanya Byron – has recommended a mandatory film-style age rating system using a single recognisable set of symbols for use in all video games…
Opinion: Manhunt 2's release will kill the current video games classifications
Jonathan Weinberg writes…
It’s a row that’s been rolling on for far too long. It’s a row that does nothing to help the perception of gaming among wider society. And it’s a row that is going to run and run for quite some time yet.
Rockstar has now finally overturned a ban that meant it was unable to release Manhunt 2 in the UK. But while that’s good news for the firm, for gaming itself, this whole bloody saga is just another nail in the coffin of gaming.
The media is already far too focused on the negatives – the violence, the calls to ban so-called “killer games” and the conflicts over having a voluntary code to provide an age rating for the majority of titles.
Occasionally a positive story will slip through, like the OAPs playing Wii to keep in shape, but on the whole, games are treated with far more disdain than rap music and horror movies, both of which have had their fare share of criticism in the past….
Manhunt 2 wins appeal for UK release
Following a prolonged battle with the BBFC, Rockstar’s controversial Wii, PS2 and PSP title, Manhunt 2 has been granted a release by the Video Appeals Committee. It is expected to go on sale in the UK later this year.
Opinion: Why Gordon Brown, Dr Tanya Byron and the Nanny State should stay out of technology
When does a Government go too far in a bid to protect its citizens? When it locks people up without a charge? When it bans people from taking to the streets and puts them under curfew? Or when it employs a TV presenter to look at how the Internet and computer games are harming the nation’s youngsters?
This week it’s been announced Dr Tanya Byron – star of such TV greats as House of Tiny Tearaways – is to preside over a review of what effect the web and console adventures are having on kids across Britain. And I for one find it not only laughable, but downright disgusting that Gordon Brown and his cohorts think they have the right to interfere in our lives which such a pointless exercise…
Opinion: Thinking Manhunt 2 should be banned DOESN'T make you a reactionary idiot
Stuart Dredge writes…
The British Board of Film Classification’s recent decision to Manhunt 2 banned in the UK for “sustained and cumulative casual sadism”“>refuse a certificate for Manhunt 2 – thus banning it from sale in the UK – has caused a predictably huge uproar among gamers and the mainstream media.
Manhunt 2 fallout continues
As you’d expect, following the BBFC’s decision to refuse Manhunt 2 a ratings certificate here in the UK, Shiny Media’s gaming blogs have been getting their teeth into the issue (Gary had his say here yesterday).
Manhunt 2's not going to hurt anyone, you idiots
Hello, murder-crazed video gamers! Are you all angry from the hot, sticky weather, and ready to snap into violence at any second? Jesus, I am. I could literally pick up a baseball bat, walk out of the door and…
Manhunt 2 banned in the UK for "sustained and cumulative casual sadism"
Bad news if you were looking forward to some happy nights dismembering strangers in Rockstar Games’ Manhunt 2. It’s been refused a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification, meaning the game can’t be legally sold anywhere in the UK. And crikey, the BBFC hasn’t pulled any punches in its explanation of why.
