Catharsis - Manhunt Update

Of the "Evil Games" industry, The Daily Mail say:

"Regulation? Forget it. Clearly, it will take official action to end this poisoning of young minds."

This of course is a direct response to the Manhunt story that took over the front pages of a few papers for about thirty seconds last week. The front page longevity of the story is pretty telling in itself, but that's another rant for another time.

Game kept their alibi firmly intact, and salvaged some dignity, by saying:

"As a mark of respect, we have removed the title from the shelves."

This skillfully bypasses the potential hypocritical post-mortem moralising that would have sent many (and I am guilty of this) into a rage. If they'd tried to claim that there was any actual ethical reason for shit-canning the game, Game could easily have come into criticism from the likes of... well, me, for jumping on a moral bandwagon that shows inconsistent internal quality control. I mean, as ridiculous as The Entertainer's overtly Christian attitude to retail is, at least it's consistently ridiculous. For Game and Dixons to withdraw Manhunt from sale now on moral grounds would be for them to claim a tenuous moral high-ground, but also a complete ignorance of the stock they've already been selling for months. Retrospectively, it doesn't make them look that good.

HMV have impressed me with their unwillingness to kowtow. It occurs to me now that I don't actually know what kowtow exactly means, or even if that's how you spell it, but it seems to fit. A spokesmen there said:

"If it has been certificated by the relevant bodies, then we don't want to control what people should and shouldn't buy."

Yay, HMV.

I'm still constantly surprised when I meet people who don't realise that censorship, and it's use as an alternative to social responsibility, is a BAD thing.

Oh, and by the way:

"The story of the “Manhunt” murder case took another twist with the revelation that the game was present in the victim’s home, not the killer’s."

So, apparently, Manhunt's evil is really that it turns children into the victims of violent crimes, rather than the perpetrators. Of course, I'm being arch and deliberately misreading the information so that it fits my beliefs. I'm a citizen. I'm allowed to do that. It's not like I'm a news source or anything.

Yet again, the disgusting mis-representation of information so that it fits an agenda by the media is in evidence and completely reprehensible. It's annoying when they do it about someone off the telly, but it's completely sickening when they do it with such a tragedy. Yet another despicable agenda built on the bodies of dead children. Lovely.

One thing that a lot of people haven't realised from exposure to this story is that the murder was apparently robbery motivated. It doesn't detract from the violence of the crime, but it's ommission from a lot of the media coverage does completely shift the focus of the tragedy. It's not often that I can say this, but I'm really impressed with the police's stance in this affair. While not pro-games, it's non-commital and mildly aggravated in a way that I wouldn't have expected:

“We haven’t connected the game with the murder and we’ve already made that statement, but some sections of the media chose to ignore it... the motive was robbery.”

I'm still quite fond of my theory that the retail chains have decided to drop Manhunt in a very shrewd effort to minimise some pretty major potential impending damage. I think they're hoping that the Daily Mail and co will feel vindicated enough by them adopting submissive pose, and get distracted by Evil Asylum Seekers, or Evil Fundamentalist Welsh Terrorists instead, so that when "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" comes out in a couple of months, it will be under the rabid media's radar. Manhunt's apparently dissapointing sales make it an easy lamb to sacrifice, but few of the retailers can afford to miss out on GTA: SA, when the previous two games in the franchise have achieved such massive sales.