Times Online writes: "Two events in the computer games calendar will provide important tests for the regime envisaged by Tanya Byron: the arrival next month of Grand Theft Auto IV, and a court decision last week to overturn a ban on the ultra-violent Manhunt 2.
The latest Manhunt game will be released imminently after a nine-month legal battle by its producers, who opposed its ban by the British Board of Film Classification for gratuitous violence and "sustained and cumulative casual sadism".
The game puts the player in the position of a scientist who is subjected to terrifying experiments and escapes from a menacing asylum. An edited version, in which some of the most violent scenes were excised, was also rejected by the board. The ban was overturned, permitting the game, published by Rockstar, creators of the controversial Grand Theft Auto series, to be sold with an 18-certificate.
Games publishers said last night that they were prepared to live with plans for rigorously enforced ratings if it averted censorship and kept the £18 billion industry on track."
