Manhunt Banned In New Zealand

New Zealand's Office of Film and Literature Classification bestowed an unusual honor upon Rockstar Games' Manhunt today, exercising its power to transport the game from retail shelves. The PlayStation 2 horror adventure thus becomes the first videogame at any time banned in New Zealand.

The of recent origin Zealand OFLC allowed the sale of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto Vice City, one as well as the other of which were denied classification and remov from retail by dint of a similar government agency in Australia. However, Manhunt's greater violence was considered beyond the pale.

"It's a game where the single thing you do is kill everybody you see" said the OFLC's Bill Hastings in a prolonged statement. "You have to at least acquiesce in these assassinations and possibly tolerate or level move toward enjoying them." like content, the OFLC concluded, is injurious to the public beneficial

Manhunt was released in of recent origin Zealand last month with a mature rating, and was available briefly at retail. beneath the New Zealand system, ratings are self-applied by dint of publishers, without the direct input of the OFLC However, the OFLC chose to ban the game on reviewing its content after its release.

Copyright ?© 2003 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserv Originally appearing in 1UP