A New Plymouth man has been sentenced for copying and distributing a banned computer game where the player takes on the role of a convicted murderer .

Christopher William Jones has been fined $2,400 and had two computers destroyed after pleading guilty to selling the Playstation 2 game, Manhunt.

Jones was caught by an undercover inspector selling copies on a website he ran.

The game was the first video game banned in New Zealand. In it the player takes on the role of a convicted murderer ordered by a demented film director to kill people in as gruesome a fashion.

Extra points are awarded to players for carrying out murders in a particularly extreme and bloody way, while victims plead to be spared on behalf of their wives and children.

Chief censor Bill hastings is welcoming the sentence saying it shows the courts are taking video game classifications seriously.

Department of Internal Affairs staff will continue to visit markets, video shops and websites to track down more copies of the game.

Several countries followed New Zealand's lead and placed restrictions on the game, which was banned in 2003. It was given an R18 classification in the United Kingdom and Ireland and an MA15 rating in Australia.

Britain's biggest electronics chain, Dixons, pulled Manhunt from its shops last year after parents of a teenage murder victim blamed the game for the killing of their son.