CONTROVERSIAL video game Manhunt 2 is to go on sale on Hallowe'en, it has been confirmed.
The game, created by Edinburgh-based Rockstar North, was effectively banned by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) after it refused to grant it a certificate, citing its "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone".
After Rockstar c
hallenged that decision with the Video Appeals Committee and made revisions to the game, the BBFC granted it an 18 certificate in March.
Rockstar has now confirmed that the game will hit shelves in the UK on October 31, almost a full year after it was released in America.
The game sees players placed in the role of a patient in a "mental facility" who has to escape by killing members of a sinister organisation.
The killings are carried out using some improvised weapons, which include a syringe, a power-saw and a pair of pliers.
Many of the animated scenes in the US version were covered with "an extreme blur effect", making it impossible for viewers to tell what was going on.
The game is a follow up to Manhunt, which caused outrage after it was linked to the murder of 14-year-old Stefan Pakeerah in Leicester in 2004.
The full article contains 210 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.