One of Nintendo's marks against them in the past has been their lack of third party support and their lack of mature rated games. To rectify this Nintendo went to Rock Star, the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series, and asked them to make a game for the Wii. Now I'm sure what Nintendo really wanted was a Grand Theft Auto or maybe a Bully title but instead they got Manhunt 2.

The original Manhunt was released on the Xbox and PS2 and featured an action/suspense game play where you where hunted down by psychotic killers. The sequel will build on the original and on the Wii will include special gestures to allow you to kill your enemies. It seems these gestures have been deemed so perverse that the Wii version of the game is now banned in UK and Ireland and the ESRB has announce the game will receive an Adults Only rating in the US.

This rating is a death sentence for the game in the US since big box stores will not carry the game. Nintendo has not responded publicly about this rating yet so it will be interesting how they react to the rating. If they come down on Rock Star they risk losing the developer's support but if they do nothing will this result in a public backlash against Nintendo? In the past Nintendo has not allowed M rated games on their system so allowing Manhunt 2 on the Wii will be a total about face.

Note: this ESRV ranking is still pending since Rock Star has the option to chnage the game or even cancel the game. For another view hit this link.

UPDATE:Sony and Nintendo have come out and said they will not allow the AO version of the game on their respective consoles. This makes me think even more that Rock Star has an alternative version of the game already that will meet the requirements to get this game a M rating in the US. I would not be surprised if this was just some publicity stunt to get more people talking about the game.