What Rockstar Should Do

A long, long time ago I equated Rockstar Games and EC Comics. Whether the two companies are working on the same level is arguable. I'm not sure if I've yet seen the brilliance of Bernie Krigstein or Wally Wood in the Grand Theft Auto Games, but damn if Bully isn't getting close. I think the bigger connection between the two companies is that they make adult-oriented art in a medium that is widely considered for children. They also happen to profit from that fact that children and adolescents have a rabid desire for that kind of material. But that's another story.

Right now I'm thinking about what Rockstar should do about Manhunt 2's UK ban and AO rating here in the states. This is where the big difference between Rockstar and EC comes into focus. EC was in the hands of William Gaines, son of the company's creator. Rockstar is beholden to Take 2 and a butt-load of stockholders.

I've always posited that Rockstar was one gutsy move from being the Larry Flynt of video games. Larry, some say cynically, turned attempts at censorship into a key component of the Hustler brand. He's coasted on that image ever since, never really creating anything (besides the Flynt Report) that really lived up to his freedom-fighting image.

Rockstar, on the other hand, probably wouldn't coast. They'd continue to make great, beloved and incredibly risque games. Only now they'd have the mandate of the masses behind them. As 1st Amendment poster children there'd be an expectation from customers and stockholders alike that they continue to push limits.

It wouldn't take much effort to repackage Manhunt 2's censoring as a 1st Amendment issue. I can already see the bold sticker slapped across the game packaging: "Banned in the UK!" The game would be in good company too. Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange was once barred from view in England. The Rockstar marketing machine is well-equipped to pull this kind of thing off. But it's very unlikely that Take 2 would ever sign off on this kind of approach.

The company's shameful silence during the Hot Coffee affair is proof of this. Rockstar is hamstrung by a crumbling company and scrambling executives. So we'll probably see Manhunt 2 watered down. Though there's a chance that that no amount of edits will please the ESRB. It could be that Rockstar now has the stink of AO on them, which may be impossible to wash off. Just ask Sam Raimi who struggled for years with the MPAA. His Evil Dead films consistently exceeded the R rating, some say because the ratings board had it out for the director.

My dream is that Nintendo is right now making a phone call to Take 2, telling the company that they'll permit Manhunt 2 to be released for the Wii as is. But I don't believe, either, that Nintendo would risk their current public goodwill on this game. And this is, perhaps, the biggest crime of all. We may never play the definitive version of Manhunt 2 -- the game as experienced with the visceral Wii remote. There's no chance for an uncut DVD here. Manhunt 2 on the Wii is our first and last chance to play the game the way it was intended. It could be that the game is cynical trash or even dangerous when played with move simulating the physicality of murder, but thanks to censors we'll probably never be able to decide for ourselves.

Read my review of the original Manhunt.