Mainstream media's manhunt of Manhunt 2

On October 30, 2007, I saw it. A preview for Katie Couric's evening newscast with mentions of Manhunt 2. I sunk into the couch a little further. Mainstream media (MSM) coverage of videogames tends to be awkward and painful.

When I watch the news anchors, it seems like they know what they're reading off the teleprompter, but every once in a while, you can catch shimmer of confusion in their eye, as they try to explain a world that often is not easy for non-gamers to understand.

Despite this, Couric's angle on Manhunt 2 is easy to understand and uncomplicated: Manhunt 2 is excessively violent, banned in Britain, but will be on sale in the United States where retailers have been know to sell violent games to minors. The children!! Won't someone PLEASE think of the children!

I have to say, the story wasn't too bad. Then again, it wasn't super-difficult subject content.

The big worry is Manhunt 2 on the Wii, where you wield the Wiimote to command actions like stabbing, and swinging weapons around.

"Unfortunately, it's probably not something that you would want your kids to get a lot of practice on," Mr. Steinberg, a videogame reviewer and author featured in the Manhunt 2 story, said.

I agree. This game is not for kids or the light-of-heart. I think one gamer from the interview summed it up the best.

"The game looks like they made it like this just to make it controversial, just to bring up something because there's really no reason for the amount of violence, the level of violence that was in this game," the gamer said.

This is kind of stunt is not a foreign idea to Rockstar (R*) or TakeTwo. R* published the contoversial Grand Theft Auto games, and not too long ago, got caught up in the Hot Coffee incident, which refers to a mini-game hidden within the code of GTA: San Andreas where the player's character could have sex with his girlfriend. While this game was not too easy to access, and the character's clothes were on the whole time, it caused GTA: SA to be re-rated as Adults-Only by ESRB. R* took the code out in later versions of the game, reducing the rating back to Mature. Some jokingly call this incident "Hot Coffeegate."

While violent games like GTA and Manhunt cause a short-term spike in sales and profits for R*, it tends to hurt the reputation of the rest of the industry. Way to be rude and really watch out for your own industry, guys.

Of course, the coverage on Couric's show also touched on the violent effects of videogames.

"I think we don't know at the moment, but I think this is the sort of game that's most likely to have an affect, games that actually have the players act out the things in a physical way are more likely to have one," Dr. Christopher Lucas, a child psychiatrist from New York University, said.

NBC News Reporter Daniel Seiberg followed up the statement, "Researchers have not found a direct scientific link between playing violent video games and carrying out those acts in real life. But some studies have show children who play certain video games become more aggressive and could become desensitized to violence."

Let it be known to the record that studies reporting such findings typically only study the short-term effects. I've talked to a few professors around campus here, and have been told there are hardly any videogame violence studies that evaluate long-term effects--especially in a way that is reliable and valid.

Regardless, Manhunt 2 is now out in the States. If you don't want it in your house, don't buy it and make sure your kid doesn't get his or her hands on it.

And instead of just decrying Manhunt 2 as a problem, YFG will offer a solution: look into buying other horror, first-person shooter videogames if you don't feel safe having Manhunt 2 in the house.

Resident Evil is easily the most renowned of the genre. Be warned, RE games still carry the Mature (17+) label, but are far less, shall we say, "sadistic" than Manhunt's recent offering. A new installment in the RE series, Umbrella Chronicles, is due out November 13. Resident Evil 4 was recently remade for the Wii as well, and can be found for around $20 now. The first RE game, orginally for the PlayStation1, was recently resurrected for the Nintendo DS as Resident Evil: Deadly Silence and can be found for under $20. And plenty Resident Evil titles are available for the Playstation 2 and GameCube.