A little late on this one but worth bringing up none the less. Jack Thompson’s latest stab at Take-Two has him demanding that the company remove all copys of Manhunt, Grand Theft Auto and The Warriors from store shelves in the US. The open letter was released on January the 16th.

Quotes of relevance:

As you may know, three homeless men in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, were beaten with baseball bats last week by two teenagers. One of the victims, an African American gentleman, died because of the attacks. This has made headlines around the globe, as has discussion of a likely video game connection to these baseball bat beatings.

I also have no idea what the guys race has to do with anything.

Your company has also distributed Manhunt which features the same kind of virtual reality baseball bat beatings. This game is so sociopathic that it has been banned from certain countries.

Because Manhunt is riddled with homeless men for you too beat with a bat, no wait there was one homeless man in the game and your goal was to bring him to safety.

You have until five o’clock p.m., Tuesday, January 17, 2006, to announce a recall from all retailers of all of the aforementioned three game titles—The Warriors, Manhunt, and all versions of the Grand Theft Auto games—or I and others shall proceed to secure appropriate remedies against your company in these regards.

Please govern yourself accordingly—for a change.

Regards, Jack Thompson

26 months after the release of Manhunt and it is still in his thoughts. It seems as thought Cash and co really left an impression with him. He should sign up to the forums.

Source: Game Politics

Yesterday Take-Two Interactive released their preliminary Fiscal 2005 results and anticipated fiscal 2006 product line up. Here is an excerpt:

Additional products expected for fiscal 2006 include the newly announced Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for PlayStation 2, tentatively planned for release in the second quarter, Bully for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, two new titles for the PSP handheld system, including an all-new Grand Theft Auto, a title based on a new brand for the Xbox 360 and a sequel of a Rockstar brand, all from Rockstar Games.

Besides spilling the beans on a brand new GTA and a port of LCS for the PS2 it also gives hope of a possible Manhunt sequel. So what does this boil down to? Let’s break it down and have a look at Rockstars key franchises and the possibilities of a sequel to them:

Bully: The original isn’t even out so a sequel a few months after release is unlikely to happen.

Grand Theft Auto: GTA IV has been confirmed for the PS3 and Liberty City Stories is now confirmed as making its way over to the PS2 so another sequel in the same year is unlikely.

Smugglers Run: The developer of the series, Rockstar San Diego, recently released Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and I would assume would be more likely working on a sequel to the highly successful Midnight Club franchise. There is however a possibility.

State of Emergency: A sequel is scheduled to drop in February, however it is being published by SouthPeak Interactive so that is a definite no go.

Max Payne: Could be possible however the developer, Remedy Entertainment is currently working on a title by the name of Alan Wake and seem to be anticipating sequels as the company has recently registered the domain names alanwake2.com and alanwake3.com. With all that said if internet rumours are to be believed then Rockstar pulled the Max Payne franchise from Remedy after underwhelming sales of the second game in the series. There is a chance it could be Max Payne 3, I would say it isn’t however; Max Payne 3 will be more likely to come out on the PS3 or around the time of the movie being released.

Midnight Club: The latest in the series, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, was just released last April I would assume that a sequel would be aimed at the PS3.

Red Dead Revolver: At E3 last year a teaser trailer was shown for a western game being developed for the PS3 so one would assume this is also a no go.

The Warriors: Highly unlikely. The original was just released this past October and for all intent purposes, the story was fully covered. At least until the movie remake lands.

I think you will agree that all eyes seem to fall on Manhunt being the most likely candidate. We have been teased with the thought of a sequel for over a year now, through magazine and internet publications. Everyone seems up for a sequel and keep in mind that Rockstar tend to keep these games held tightly to there chest until just before the release. And with the controversy that is sure to surround the game it could only be assumed to be a wise move, look at the outrage surrounding Bully and all that was based on 3 screenshots.

It is unlikely that more will be said about the matter until around E3. Keep your fingers crossed that a Manhunt 2 is on the way!