San Andreas and Hot Coffee
p2pnet.net News:- What makes Take-Two Interactive`s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas so hot?
Sex and violence.
Now, the industry group that sets ratings for video games is probing whether hidden features lets players, make their characters engage in simulated explicit sex acts, says Reuters.
You drive your stolen car by pedestrians and look for a woman who is `dressed stupidly,` Zach says. `Then you pull up and wait for her to walk over and coo recorded pick-up lines, like, `I’ll show you a real good time, Paco`.”
Zack is only 11 years old.
No problem there, it seems. But the Entertainment Software Ratings Board says it’s launching an investigation into Hot Coffee, a mod “which, when installed on a PC with San Andreas on it, unlocks several minigames that prompt players to have the game’s hero engage in X-rated acts,” says CNET News.
“Hot Coffee Bogus? No Way!,” posts by DigitalD on gtasanandreas.com.
“Following up on the hot coffee modification news we posted earlier, many were doubtful about its authenticity. Well there’s a new version out which combines Hot Coffee with the state wide open and allows you to travel all around the state to different girlfriends. The mod now also has two different modes. Details:
* The quick action version, that will bring you quickly to the action, but may spoil your gameplay.
* The gameplay friendly version, that will show you the action, but doesn’t influence the gameplay. Now you must play the game until you unlock a girlfriend and get her to go ‘drink coffee’ with you.”
The ESRB investigation will, “examine whether the mod unlocks preexisting code, as appears to be the case, or is actually a purely third-party creation,” says CNET.
“The board’s ultimate purpose will be to determine whether Take-Two Interactive Software violated ESRB regulations requiring ‘full disclosure of pertinent content’.”
Does that mean the board isn’t worried so much about what’s in the game but is ready to get hot and bothered by the possibility that Take-Two may have included the explicit sexual without due warning?
San Francisco assemblyman Leland Yee has accused the ESRB of “failing to appropriately rate” and of having a “conflict of interest in rating games,” says CNET, going on:
“Yee implies that the nonprofit ratings board, which was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association, shies away from adult-only ratings, regardless of the content. Most major retailers refuse to sell AO-rated games, thereby denying such titles broad distribution.”
But ESRB president Patricia Vance, the gaming biz equivalent of the entertainment cartels’ Mitch Bainwol and Dan Glickman, says the agenda of the board is above reproach and that contrary to Yee’s comments that the ESRB has “failed parents” with San Andreas’ M rating, “research shows parents overwhelmingly find ESRB ratings to be effective”.
Of the 1,036 game ratings assigned by the ESRB in 2004, fewer than 1% received an AO rating, says Reuters, adding:
“The PlayStation2 version of ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’ was the No. 1 game of 2004, selling just over 5 million copies, according to NPD Funworld.”
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
Take-Two Interactive – Take down Take-Two, January 2, 2004
Reuters – Games ratings board probing Grant Theft Auto, July 8, 2005
real good time – Picking up prostitutes in GTA, p2pnet, December 4, 2004
CNET News – ESRB to investigate ‘San Andreas’ sex content, July 8, 2005
July 9th, 2005 at 4:02 pm
man what do you have against this game?
It’s not one of my favorite but still…
the question is why do Zack’s parent let him play this game if he
only 11?? and dont tell me they dont know any better…
hey GTA contains adult content and its for adults
still I do wish that there would be more games that didnt have to
the main character running around with a weapon killing opponents,
and I say this as a GTA and doom fan…
July 9th, 2005 at 4:37 pm
— man what do you have against this game?
I’m a father and as such, I’m against Take-Two and any other company that’s cashing in on ‘games’ with the potential to expose kids to this kind of sick garbage. Just because parents don’t allow it into the house doesn’t mean to say kids don’t see it when they go to someone else’s home. And it’s jammed into their faces in stores and trade mags.
There are plenty of other kinds of fantasy topics that could be used as subject matter. And with the same kind of promotion the likes of GTA get, they could be just as profitable.
I don’t have a problem with shoot-em-ups. But I do have a problem with GTA-type trash which goes way beyond having fun.
July 9th, 2005 at 4:51 pm
I don’t see the problem… this is a sex mini-game thats completely hidden from EVERYONE, unless they know it exists and get the patch, or unless they are a hacker. It only works on the PC version, and its totally hidden, no in game cheat code uncovers it, its not an unlockable… You need to apply a patch to get it to work at all!
This is no different than applying a nude patch to The Sims 2! Just because there is a patch out there, doesn’t mean the game itself need the higher rating! =P
July 9th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
Kids shouldn’t be buying this game!… thats it… period! Kids shouldn’t have bought this game even before the sex thing was found… it has an M rating, so no one under 17 should have it… AND if they do, then its the parents fault, or the store’s fault! =P
Frankly I’m glad these kind of games exist, because older gammers can have fun with something thats more mature… most 17+ gammers dont want to play Mario Sunshine… =P (I like Mario games, but I can only play so much of that… XD) Excessive violence is fun, for a lot of people, and sales of this game show that… This game wont cause anyone to kill someone, its just simply not going to happen… someone might use the game as an excuse to kill someone, but the game certainly didn’t cause it… and it wont influence children to be violent… as long as you don’t give it to kids to play!
You can’t ban a game just because there is a chance that a kid might play it… thats like completely banning porn, or banning beer.
I agree that these games shouldn’t be given to children… but there is already an age limit on it!! Its a good idea, and thats all they can do. And thats all that is needed, the rest is up to parents and stores.
July 9th, 2005 at 5:10 pm
maybe he didn’t buy it. maybe he downloaded it or was given a copy by a friend who downloaded it – including the patch.
an 11 year-old who can use the word “coo” correctly in a sentence probably has a very high IQ.
either way, his parents probably don’t even know he has this game. they are much to blame since they apparently have no idea what their kid is doing. they probably also take him to R-rated films because he pesters them, like the little brat he is.
July 9th, 2005 at 5:13 pm
I would have to say… a rating like M, is fine for this game! =P 17+ is a very safe rating for a game like this… thats higher than what the Sims got! and both games have, questionable patches…
So if GTA has to have a higher rating, because of a patch that allows a sex scene… then The Sims 2 should also have a higher rating, because there is a patch out there for it too! =P
yea, some of the code for the sex game MIGHT have been left in… BUT its unusable, its not playable, without that patch, so it doesn’t matter that its there! You still need that patch, so it might as well all be in the patch. Its basically the same thing as what the Sims has… just a patch.
Take-Two Interactive Software DIDN’T do anything wrong… they didn’t violate anything! and this kind of thing, SHOULDN’T become a rule… its something that might have been left in, completely by accedent! The programmers might have just forgot to delete it… its not playable normally, so it doesn’t matter! =P
July 9th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
That may be true, but its something that can’t be prevented… this kind of thing is going to happen, like it or not.
The point is, they’ve already taken enough precations… If someone wants to get something, there gonna be able to get it. Its just as hard as stopping kids from getting drugs or downloading porn!
If an 11 yo kid with a high IQ wants somethink like that… well he’s smart, he’ll be able to find it easilly. XD but at that point, its his own fault.
July 9th, 2005 at 5:26 pm
lol, yea!…
Did alcohol prohibition laws in the 30s stop people that wanted alcohol from getting it? LOL
Just because games like these are not supposed to be played by children, doesn’t mean the children are not going to get it.
and kids are generally smarter about how to find and download something, than the parents are… so its just going to happen… nothing anyone can do.
July 9th, 2005 at 5:39 pm
i agree with jon.
there could be plenty of great games for kids if the companies would use their imagination and not just market Barbie for pre-teen girls and Teletubbies games for toddlers.
i’m not into games, but i have a couple of old ones that suit me fine and would be very suited to zach and his friends. i have the “monty python’s complete waste of time”, “south park rally”, “chef’s luv shack”, which is just a trivia game, despite the name, and an austin powers trivia game.
and these games are great for young boys and adults. there should be more fun games like this available.
July 9th, 2005 at 9:23 pm
bet GTA couldn’t get this kind of audience http://www.eitb24.com/noticia_en.php?id=74684
July 9th, 2005 at 9:26 pm
nothin there
July 9th, 2005 at 9:50 pm
Just cut and paste the whole url from *http* to *=74684*
Cheers!
July 11th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Better ban everything for adults because a kid might “see it when they go to someone elses home”. That means you’d have to ban drink, cigarettes, porn, cars, any PG or higher movies, knives, guns, etc. Guess they’ll be nothing but Disney and Cola in your world.
In a nutshell, if you are a parent, then parent your kids – don’t expect others to do it for you.
July 14th, 2005 at 2:11 am
Ok as a parent you have the right to not allow your kids to play this, but if you shelter them like Dr. Laura that’sour way. The only problem is that those people are the ones that end up being serial killers. So you go ahead and raise your serial killer, and I will be laughing when he gets locked up for going out and killing women and taking theireyeballs for his enjoyment. Yeah go ahead and promote that. You are a wonderful parent, sure hope to see your kid in jail while mine is running a multi-billion dollar company
July 23rd, 2005 at 11:39 am
Not to mention that this game is mainly about killing, dealing and other gang relaited activity, i mean do you realy think a clothed sex mini game is going to raise the raiting u need your head checked, by that logic its ok to kill and deal drugs but its a sin to have sex with your girlfriend….i rest my case.
July 24th, 2005 at 12:51 am
You know what, I’m really sick of people making a big deal about this. The rating on the package says “17 and older” which means 17 AND OLDER!!Why would you buy your child a video game like this?!?It already has it so you can kill policemen with GUNS, you can pick up prostitutes and have sex with them in your car, and some of the objectives in the game is just to kill people so why would a parent even THINK about buying this for your child?!?!This is the kinda stuff that happens now a days b/c parents don’t know whats going on with their children. Lots of kids are making BOMBS in their rooms and having serious issues and parents don’t pay attention. That just shows you how much today’s parents are paying attention. The bottom line is who cares if rockstar put it in there or not!!Sex sales and if that’s how they gotta make money more power to them!!
July 24th, 2005 at 12:51 am
You know what, I’m really sick of people making a big deal about this. The rating on the package says “17 and older” which means 17 AND OLDER!!Why would you buy your child a video game like this?!?It already has it so you can kill policemen with GUNS, you can pick up prostitutes and have sex with them in your car, and some of the objectives in the game is just to kill people so why would a parent even THINK about buying this for your child?!?!This is the kinda stuff that happens now a days b/c parents don’t know whats going on with their children. Lots of kids are making BOMBS in their rooms and having serious issues and parents don’t pay attention. That just shows you how much today’s parents are paying attention. The bottom line is who cares if rockstar put it in there or not!!Sex sales and if that’s how they gotta make money more power to them!!
January 12th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
fuck you this shit is great suckers
March 29th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
I’m a 13 year old girl, and I played San Andreas at a friends house. I wasn’t shocked by what I saw, coz it’s nothing that you won’t see on tv. Quite frankly, there was already an age restriction on the game. My friend’s parents asked if she was mature enough to play the game, as they checked it out first…
Anyway, what is an 11 year old boy doing with a game that had a 17+ age restriction on it already?… his parents were asking for trouble. Age restrictions aren’t there for no reason!!!
That boy’s parents may as well have given him a porn movie or money to go gambling with. The sex scenes weren’t even that bad and just add to the ‘gangsta’ aspects of gameplay… after all, thats what the game is about-sex, guns and drugs.
October 29th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
yeah.