According to the Guardian, a series of TV ads for Condemned 2, an intense horror-themed video game from Sega, has been banned for showing "graphic and brutal violence".

The Advertising Standards Authority decided to ban the ads after receiving nine complaints from consumers claiming that the ads were distressing and offensive.

One of the ads appeared with a post-9pm watershed restriction and featured a close up of an eye surrounded by blood looking through a spy hole, while another ad with a post 11pm watershed restriction showed a hooded figure holding a brick aloft and bringing it down towards the camera.

In response Sega Europe said that Condemned 2 was a horror game specifically aimed at mature audiences, and that it had received an 18 rating from the British Board of Film Classification. Furthermore, they said that the ads were created to "accurately reflect the sort of experience a consumer would have when playing the game."

Clearcast, the TV advertising vetting body, which had approved the ad for broadcast, said that the amount of violence shown was not gratuitous.

The ASA, however, said that though the violence being shown was computer-generated, it was still "realistic in appearance" and that the ads condoned "real violence and cruelty".