Early wednesday Target Corp. announced they are indeed dropping Manhunt 2 from their shelves. Most consumers are aware that Target and similar retailer will stock Mature rated gmaes, which are deemed suitable for players ages 17 and older but will not stock "Adult's Only" games. Manhunt 2 originally had the rating of "Adult's Only", however Rockstar Games has blurred out some of the gruesome details and scenes to provide a more suitable Mature rated game. It seems some clever hackers were able to un-blur the grisly content on the PSP version. The ESRB stands firmly behind their mature rating and although Target does sell Mature rated games they do not feel Manhunt is appropriate enough to be sold.

"Target strives to provide merchandise that will appeal to a wide variety of guests. We also want guests to be comfortable with purchasing decisions they make at Target. All video games and computer software sold at Target currently carry ratings by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) --from early childhood though mature audiences. While Manhunt 2 was given a Mature rating by the ERSB, we recieved additional information that players can potentially view previously filtered content by altering the game code. As a result, we have decided not to carry the game."

Are we seeing history repeat itself like we once did with the infamous "Hot Coffee" Mod for GTA: San Andreas? ESRB President Patricia Vance has stated "We do not believe these modifications fully restore the product to the version that originally recieved an AO rating." Additionally, it should be noted that there is a much higher level of difficulty in unlocking the offending content of Manhunt then there was in GTA.