Source: See below.

　　What we heard: Without question, the big gaming news of last week was the hubub around Manhunt 2. After being banned outright in England and Ireland, Rockstar Games' controversy-courting title was given the dreaded AO for Adults Only rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB). The decision was essentially the kiss of death for the Wii, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable title since neither Nintendo nor Sony will allow games with an AO label to be released on their systems. (When Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was re-rated AO in 2005, it was already on the market.)

　　In the wake of the AO rating, Rockstar parent Take-Two Interactive delayed the July 10 release of Manhunt 2 pending an appeal. Today, though, an e-mail from another Take-Two subsidiary sparked speculation that the ESRB is expanding its clampdown. This morning, 2K Games sent out a notice to games press outlets demanding that the latest trailer for the forthcoming game The Darkness "MUST be behind an ESRB compliant age gate." (Emphasis and capitals in the original.) Age gates are the pop-up screens, which requirevisitors to enter their age before viewing a trailer, theoretically preventing anyone under 17 from seeing mature content.

　　The 2K Games notice was quickly followed by the straight-up retraction of two new trailers for Dark Sector, the forthcoming sci-fi shooter from D3 Publisher and Digital Extremes. "We recently received a ruling from the ESRB stating that the two officially released Dark Sector gameplay montages have been deemed to contain excessive or offensive content; and to this end are not to be available for download or viewing, regardless of being placed behind an age gate," said the statement.

　　Since the two trailers were first posted in March, their withdrawal raised the specter that the ESRB might retroactively ban any number of game trailers. Several online media outlets took the Darkness warning and the Dark Sector withdrawal announcement--which came within hours of each other--as an indicator that the ESRB was launching a new crackdown beyond games themselves.

　　The official story: As it turns out, the timing of the ESRB's double-dose of caution was purely coincidental. Also, the self-regulatory body has always had a division that oversees game trailers and other publicity material called the Advertising Review Council (ARC). "The notices issued recently by game publishers to third-party Web sites are simply steps in a chain of publisher compliance with ARC guidelines and the ESRB enforcement system that have been occurring since their establishment seven years ago," ESRB president Patricia Vance said in a statement.

　　Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that it's new. Not bogus that the ESRB is keeping a careful eye on how games are promoted.