With the controversy that’s been surrounding Manhunt 2, it’s pretty easy to forget there’s a game somewhere in all this media buzz. That’s a shame, because Rockstar wants you to think about the game — maybe even play it.
Jeronimo Barrera, VP of product development at Rockstar, sat down in an interview with Stephen Totilo from MTV News to talk about the cloud of controversy that’s obscured the game’s release, while simultaneously making it more of a spectacle than it likely ever would have been without.
Foremost, Barrera still laments the initial AO rating. “There are guidelines we adhere to and think we are will within,” he said. “I don’t understand why a game like this got an AO when we were well within the M-rated territories.” Still, he insists that the changes necessitated by the ESRB revisions “didn’t neuter the game.” Interesting choice of words, considering that particular method of gruesome death was cut.
Barrera goes on to talk about how the controversy may be giving some the wrong impression. “A lot of people just believe this is a murder simulator and all you do is kill people. But the reality is that there’s a really strong narrative,” he said. “There are conversations to be had about this game — intelligent conversations. That’s what we want to do: get people interested in those [things], rather than ban this game because of X, Y, and Z.”
