ESRB CONCLUDES INVESTIGATION INTO GTA: SAN ANDREAS

[kleinluka]

NEW YORK – The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) today announced the findings of its investigation into the “Hot Coffee” modification for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and its immediate revocation of the game’s M (Mature 17+) rating[1]. The game’s publisher, Rockstar Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., will immediately advise retailers to cease all sales of the game until corrective actions, as mandated by the ESRB, can be taken.

“After a thorough investigation, we have concluded that sexually explicit material exists in a fully rendered, unmodified form on the final discs of all three platform versions of the game (i.e., PC CD-ROM, Xbox and PS2),” said Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB. “However, the material was programmed by Rockstar to be inaccessible to the player and they have stated that it was never intended to be made accessible. The material can only be accessed by downloading a software patch, created by an independent third party without Rockstar’s permission, which is now freely available on the internet and through console accessories. Considering the existence of the undisclosed and highly pertinent content on the final discs, compounded by the broad distribution of the third party modification, the credibility and utility of the initial ESRB rating has been seriously undermined.”

In addition to directing retailers to cease all sales of the game, Rockstar has agreed to take the following ESRB-mandated corrective actions:

Offer retailers the option of either re-stickering existing inventory with an AO (Adults Only 18+) rating, or exchanging all unsold inventory for new versions of the game that has the hidden content removed and the original M rating intact.

Make a downloadable patch available to all consumers who have previously purchased the PC version of the game, which will make the modification that unlocks the material inoperable.

Going forward, the ESRB will now require all game publishers to submit any pertinent content shipped in final product even if is not intended to ever be accessed during game play, or remove it from the final disc. Furthermore, the ESRB calls on the computer and video game industry to proactively protect their games from illegal modifications by third parties, particularly when they serve to undermine the accuracy of the rating.

“The integrity of the ESRB rating system rests upon its accuracy and reliability, and we will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect the public’s trust in it. Independent research confirms that the overwhelming majority of consumers find ESRB ratings to be an effective tool to help make informed purchase decisions,” continued Ms. Vance. “We encourage every parent to always check the ratings before bringing games home for their families, and to actively monitor what their children play.”

[Zyn]

Slaying and killing hundreds of innocent citizens and cops is alright! It's alright to kill someone with a chainsaw and humiliate the corpse! Picking up hookers and have sex with them without being able to see the sex, is OK!

BUT WATCHING A COUPLE OF DIGITAL CHARACTERS HAVE SEX IS WRONG!

"Hello, I have political power, that means I am afraid of sex!" >_>

[Zacker]

Ohh man, this is not logical. When I heard of that the ESRB was going to investigate it, I just thought that this was yet another one of these crazy american law suits which they never are going to win. Appearently this is one of those crazy american law suits which they actually win.

[mikezilla]

Actually Hilary Rodham Clinton went after this particular case full force from her Senators chair. In addition the ESRB is run by a woman.

Coincidence?

I THINK NOT.

[Bic-B@ll]

whores

[Kosmo]

As Avery Score of Gamespot said, why are they so upset about something like this? Why are they riding GTAs butt while there are such games like God of War where you don't need cheat codes, hacks, nor mods to see pair of mammaries. If someone makes HL2 a nudeskin for Alyz, does it mean that ESRB is going to raise the rating of that game?

It doesn't matter if the content is built in to the game since it could not been activated without hacking, so it is basically the same as nudeskin, it could not be seen without something extra work.

Hillary Clinton is a evil bitch and she is going to be preserved in cryogenics untill we pass a law to shoot evil bitches like she to the sun.

[ctswin]

esrb here i come!

more importantly, why didn't esrb find this in the first place? someone isn't doing their job

[mike-0]

there is a nude skin for alyx.

anyways, you have to wonder why rockstar didnt just take the scene out anyways, they wouldve saved some space on those discs. maybe they didnt "intend" for this to happen, but they knew by leaving it in someone would find it.

[Izuno]

anyways, you have to wonder why rockstar didnt just take the scene out anyways, they wouldve saved some space on those discs. maybe they didnt "intend" for this to happen, but they knew by leaving it in someone would find it.

gotta agree with that. one thing is for sure, the greater the controversy, the more GTA games sell.

side topic of this:

Wal-Mart won't carry A/O games. Does this mean the will suddenly pull GTA:SA from their store?

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/search-n ... s=20&ico=0

I guess so, given what Klein posted. :-|

Wal-Mart won't even consider carrying an A/O title (at least not right now) and because of that, no major game would want an A/O because of lack of sales in US territory. Punisher almost got an A/O back when it was trying to get a rating. ESRB had Volition tone it down and mute the most brutal torture deaths in black and white. That totally changed the game and made it less of what it should have been.

:meow:

[csharp]

BUT WATCHING A COUPLE OF DIGITAL CHARACTERS HAVE SEX IS WRONG!

w00t, im not only one in mapcore who think thats wrong.. finaly i found another human from here!

[Mojo]

BUT WATCHING A COUPLE OF DIGITAL CHARACTERS HAVE SEX IS WRONG!

w00t, im not only one in mapcore who think thats wrong.. finaly i found another human from here!

a/s/l/dpi !!

[mikezilla]

if i were rockstar i'd made those stickers really big, so they say

this game has been re-rated AO because it contains HARD CORE SEX

satisfies what the esrb wants and can you say PRINTING MONEY

[Kosmo]

I just chuckeled by myself thinking about ESRB rating forums, I think Mapcore would get somekind of out of the scale rating, and I'd guess so would many other forums.

[FrieChamp]

Someone get a job at Rockstar and find out what was going on there, either they are utterly retarded and forgot to remove it/or didn't notice that someone slipped it in there OR they are utterly genius and this is the best and most adventurous PR trick ever pulled off.

[insta]

Someone get a job at Rockstar and find out what was going on there, either they are utterly retarded and forgot to remove it/or didn't notice that someone slipped it in there OR they are utterly genius and this is the best and most adventurous PR trick ever pulled off.

GTA3 : General outrage, "murder-sim", outrage because the player could beat up prostitues

GTA3: Vice City : Cubans (?) sued Rockstar because....well sheesh, I don't really remember, one of the missions in the game had you kill Cubans and they thought this was racist or somesuch.

GTA3: San Andreas : Worldwide news/outrage because of a mod which gives the player access to a fully-clothed sex minigame.

I wonder what GTA4 will bring.