It looks like a resolution has finally been reached in the long-running Manhunt 2 saga.

As regular readers will know, Rockstar’s slash-/splice-/bash-/bludgeon-‘em-up was given an Adults Only rating in the US back in June. Inconveniently for Rockstar and publisher Take-Two, this effectively meant the game was banned, as many of the big chain stores refuse to stock games with such a rating, while Nintendo and Sony both hold a policy of not allowing AO-rated titles to be released on their respective hardware. Elsewhere, other countries refused to grant the title a rating, period. Things, it’s safe to say, were looking pretty bleak.

However, in the staring match that ensued between Rockstar and the ESRB, it looks like Rockstar has blinked first. Today, the company announced it had sacrificed its artistic integrity revised the game, resubmitted it to the ESRB, and clinched that all-important M rating. Manhunt 2 will now be released in North America on October 31.

"Manhunt 2 is important to us, and we're glad it can finally be appreciated as a gaming experience," said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. "We love the horror genre. Manhunt 2 is a powerful piece of interactive story telling that is a unique video game experience. We think horror fans will love it."

Mind you, question marks still remain over the future of the title in other parts of the world. For instance, the BBFC (the body that slaps age ratings on films and games in the UK) was one of the organisations to ban the game outright, and it’s not yet known whether or not Rockstar’s modifications have convinced the UK censor to allow Manhunt 2 onto the shop shelves of Blighty.

Nevertheless, it should be interesting to see whether or not this prolonged dispute around the game will help or hurt sales. History tells us these things more often help than hinder, but Pachter thinks the opposite, and hell, who are we to argue?