10 Biggest Gaming News Stories That Shocked The World

7. Manhunt's Controversial Gameplay

Although developers Rockstar are no strangers to controversy (they are, after all, the creators of Grand Theft Auto) the Manhunt series of games are perhaps the most risky of their IPs. Billed as 'psychological horror', Manhunt is an extremely violent franchise where the killings are so brutal, many countries censored the game or outright banned it altogether. Some of the killings in Manhunt are extremely graphic and hands-on, requiring the player to suffocate enemies with plastic bags and featuring three levels of killing, with the third level being extremely graphic murders. Naturally this gameplay soon drew the eye of concerned politicians such as U.S representative Joe Baca, who said:

"It's telling kids how to kill someone, and it uses vicious, sadistic and cruel methods to kill."

Other media also weighed on the argument, claiming the game to be "less of a videogame, and more of a weapon of personal destruction." After release, the real controversy and shock surrounding Manhunt came when Warren Leblance of Leicester, England, murdered a 14 year old friend named Stefan. Warren was said to be 'obsessed' with Manhunt and links with the bladed weapons and gory, disturbing gameplay were soon linked with the murder - even though in the end it was found that it was the victim who was in possession of a copy of the game, not the killer. This prompted years of controversy in its wake, with retailers pulling the game, politicians lobbying for Rockstar to be punished for releasing it and - finally - more controversy arising when Rockstar announced plans to release a sequel.