Rockstar Games’ ultra-violent third person survival-horror is still faced with the possibility of skipping the UK this Halloween, because the British Board of Film Classification denied a rating for the title.

That simply means that the game cannot be sold in the UK, despite the fact that following this June’s scandal Rockstar agreed to modify the gameplay so as to tone down the gory video-sequences and the purely criminal message.

Eventually, the USRB approved Manhunt 2 for release in the North American territory, but greeted the sequel of the 2003 PC and PS2 hit with (no surprise here) a big M, for mature content (17+). The title is thus ready for a bloody debut this Halloween, with versions for two of Sony’s platforms (PSP and PS2) and one version for Nintendo’s Wii.

The British obstinacy however is an obstacle difficult to overcome: USRB’s counterpart in the UK, the British Board of Film Classification, again denied Rockstar’s creation -for the second time in less than 6 months- the necessary rating for a legal launch.

BBFC director David Cooke said that "the impact of the revisions on the bleakness and callousness of tone, or the essential nature of the game play, is clearly insufficient."

So Take Two’s famous studio Rockstar Games (which has other controversies and scandals in its back yard, like this year’s Bully or last year’s Hot Coffee mod for GTA III) is faced again with the painful procedure of appealing.

"The changes necessary in order to publish the game in Britain are unacceptable to us and represent a setback for video games," Rockstar Games said in a statement. "The BBFC allows adults the freedom to decide for themselves when it comes to horror in movies and we think adults should be similarly allowed to decide for themselves when it comes to horror in video games, such as Manhunt 2."