that the BBFC treated games differently from how they treated films, arguing that Manhunt 2 was no more violent than recent films such as Saw and Hostel. Later, the BBFC's press officer, Sue Clarke, told IGN that Rockstar was wrong in this assertion, and that "[they] haven't singled out" Manhunt 2. Later that same day, in an unexpected move, the ESRB issued the game with an AO rating. The initial impact of this decision was that major retail chains, such as Walmart, GameStop and Target would not stock the title. The following day, 20 June, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony Computer Entertainment issued statements saying they do not allow AO titles on their platforms, which effectively meant the game would have been banned in the US. A few months after news of the rating broke, an early uncut PlayStation 2 version was leaked online by a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe employee. Re-rating In light of the BBFC and ESRB decisions, Rockstar decided to censor the game. Censoring took five main forms. The primary alteration was the addition of a blurring effect over executions; during an execution the screen turns red, and flashes black-and-white. The second alteration was the removal of all but two decapitations. Initially, several weapons in the game could decapitate enemies, but with the exception of two plot-important decapitations, all such executions were removed. Thirdly, the pliers executions were changed. Originally, a gruesome execution with the pliers involved ripping off the enemy's testicles, whilst a level 2 execution involved tearing open his throat. In the edited version, the pliers are used to beat the enemy over the head. The fourth change was the removal of innocent characters from certain levels. Originally, the game was structured in such a way that the player had the choice as to whether or not to kill these characters. If they didn't, they got the ending where Daniel defeats Leo, if they did, they got the alternate ending. The final change involved the rating system. Originally, the game had a rating system similar to the first game, whereby the player was rated based on speed and severity of execution types. To achieve a maximum rating, one had to perform a set number of gruesome executions in each level. This rating system was completely removed from the edited version. In August, Rockstar submitted the re-edited version to the ESRB and BBFC. The ESRB were satisfied