Digital Trends

It's Hot Coffee redux: Hackers have managed to enable violent features that were originally cut out of the game to score it a Mature rating from the ESRB.

Rockstar may have toned down the violence in Manhunt 2 to secure an all-important Mature rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and released it in North America, but as it turns out, the story doesn’t quite end there. In a situation strikingly similar to the original “Hot Coffee mod” scandal that afflicted Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a hack apparently makes it possible to access the original ultra-violence after all.

Rumors about the hack began circulating on Wednesday, but Rockstar put the rumor mill out of commission on Thursday by officially confirming the hack through a statement sent to GamePolitics.com. “Multiple edits were made to revise Manhunt 2 for its M-rated version,” Rockstar said in the statement. “Hackers apparently have altered one of those edits to produce an illegally modified version of the game that can only be played on an unauthorized, modified PlayStation Portable handheld system.”According to Shacknews, the workaround involves modifying a PSP to run hacked code, copying data from the game disc, editing configuration files, and booting the modified game from a Memory Stick.

Given the consequences of Rockstar’s Hot Coffee experience – having the game rerated as “Adults Only” – it is unlikely Rockstar intentionally left the door open for hackers to reverse its edits. “It is unfortunately the case that no one in the entertainment software industry is immune from hacking,” said Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, in a statement. “We hope that consumers will not engage in hacking or download illegally modified copies of our games.” Whether the ESRB will take issue with the Manhunt 2 hacks remains to be seen.