Manhunt 2 now without platform

So, you may have heard the news about Manhunt 2. Getting a complete ban, subject to appeal, by the BBFC in the UK, followed swiftly by a AO rating from the ESRB in America - which effectively places great restrictions on where the game can retail although the ESRB is a voluntary system. Wow, that's got to suck for Rockstar.

Unfortunately, it gets worse.

Recently contacted by gaming bloggers at Kotaku, both Nintendo of America and Sony Computer Entertainment of America have now confirmed that they will not be allowing titles with an Adults Only rating onto their respective platforms, the Wii and PlayStation 2 and PSP.

With no PC version of the game currently planned, the game is essentially homeless and Rockstar is left with the options of either abandoning the game completely, re-developing it with a less violent theme, or hope to God that an ESRB appeal will lead to a different outcome (not likely).

Nintendo, who in the past has been criticised for not allowing violent or bloody titles like Mortal Kombat onto its older platforms, was the first to take a firm stand on the issue, stating:

"The ESRB provides ratings to help consumers understand the content of a game before they purchase it. As stated on Nintendo.com, Nintendo does not allow any AO-rated content on its systems."

Speaking to Kotaku, Sony issued the following statement a little later on which added an extra twist to the story as Sony has in the past been more lenient with violent games;

"It's SCE's policy not to allow the playback of AO rated content on our systems."

So, it looks like Manhunt 2 is getting left out in the cold again. Would you have bought it or imported it if there was no controversy and how has the banning affected your view of the game and the ratings system? Is this symptomatic of a nanny culture, or is it simply a sensible step in censoring obscene content? So many questions to answer, so get to the forums to let us know what you think.