Gamehunt

A number of high street stores have taken the decision to remove the game Manhunt from sale. The decision was made after the parents of a schoolboy murdered by a friend blamed the game for their son's death.

The question I have is this, before computer games were around what was blamed for murders? films? we they banned or taken out of public circulation? Not really.

I do wonder if the companies realise what this snap reaction might do. For one thing if you make something unobtainable you only make the public want it even more (check out Ebay, copies of the game are going for upto £50 and the game's only been banned for a couple of days), secondly the game now forever more becomes known as the game they tried to ban therefore securing it's cult status and it's place in gaming history, and lastly due to the publicity the game has received game makers will now try to create games that are even more violent just to try and better Manhunt.

As most games now have a BBFC rating (same as films) this surely means that games and films are viewed as a similar form of entertainment and therefore in fairness if games are banned for being too violent shouldn't the same apply to films.

Discuss....

More information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/3936597.stm