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ESRB gets hot and steamy over GTA San Andreas


Raziel
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quote:

ESRB investigating San Andreas sex minigames

Ratings board embarks on "thorough and objective investigation" of claims that Rockstar bestseller had explicit content hidden in code.

Today, one of the most popular recent game-industry rumors showed signs of turning into a very real scandal.

Prompted by a verbal lashing from California assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) today said it was launching an investigation into whether Rockstar Games' bestseller Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas contained sexually explicit minigames hidden in its code.

ESRB president Patricia Vance said her organization has "opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 'Hot Coffee' modification." "Hot Coffee" refers to the mod which, when installed on a PC with San Andreas on it, unlocks several minigames which prompts players to have the game's hero in X-rated acts.

The ESRB's investigation will examine whether or not the mod unlocks pre-existing code, as appears to be the case, or is actually a purely third-party creation. Its ultimate purpose will be to determine if Take-Two violated ESRB regulations requiring "full disclosure of pertinent content."

"The integrity of the ESRB rating system is founded on the trust of consumers who increasingly depend on it to provide complete and accurate information about what's in a game. If after a thorough and objective investigation of all the relevant facts surrounding this modification, we determine a violation of our rules has occurred, we will take appropriate action," Vance said in a statement released this morning.

GameSpot will update this developing story as events unfold.

A combination of obnoxious rabble rousing and a high profile game. It's not like i is the first game to have hidden/unlockable adult material.

I can think of three right off the top of my head. SiN, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, and Ring of Power.

[ 07-14-2005, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

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These politicians need to get a life or get some themselves! This Pre-occupation with sex is beyond phobic with them. Umm, besides did they read the ESRB that's on the box of GTA:SA?

Blood and Gore

Intense violence

Strong Language

Strong Sexual Content

Use of Drugs

Hello, Strong sexual content!! These people also need to read the ESRB.

quote:

How are the games rated?

To get a game certified with an ESRB rating, publishers fill out a detailed questionnaire explaining exactly what's in the game, and submit it to ESRB along with actual videotaped footage of the game, showing the most extreme content and an accurate representation of the context and product as a whole. Working independently, three trained raters then view the game footage and recommend the rating and content descriptors they believe are most appropriate. ESRB then compares the raters' recommendations to make sure that there's consensus. Usually, the raters agree and their recommendation becomes final. However, when the raters recommend different ratings, additional raters may be requested to review the game in order to reach broader consensus. Once consensus on a rating and content descriptors is reached, ESRB issues an official rating certificate to the game's publisher.

When the game is ready for release to the public, publishers send copies of the final product to the ESRB. The game packaging is reviewed to make sure the ratings are displayed in accordance with ESRB standards. Additionally, ESRB's in-house game experts randomly play the final games to verify that all the information provided during the rating process was accurate and complete.

If this claim is true, the code was deactivated and not a part of the playing experience of the gamer. Following those guide lines, Rock Star did nothing wrong. If this was to include deactivated game content the game contains, then yes Rock Star would need to divulge this info.

Here have a read of the ESRB site Link

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Damn, I was goimg to say something in my other post but didn't. I wouldn't be a bit surpised if this was just a witch hunt by politicians because they would love nothing better than to take over the rating system.

Anyway, I'm going to split hairs here on this statement "full disclosure of pertinent content". SC, in your experience with ESRB, does deactivated code come under the heading of "pertinent content". Because in my view point this deactivated code is not pertinent to the game and was never meant for the general public. Reading the link that Raziel has just provided it's not that easy to do and your average Joe public couldn't have done it. It took someone who was determined and knows their coding. It also seems there is other deactivated code as well.

And there's this from Rock Star:

"...as the work of the mod community is beyond the scope of either publishers or the ESRB."

They got that right. There are some pretty damn good modders out there that even if this code didn't exist in the game could have modded the game to their XXX liking.

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Here, please people, voice your opinions to this ass embly man. Tell him how strongly you feel about his actions, what you think about how he does his job (or doesn't), and who you and your friends will be voting for next time.

His e-mail: [email protected]

Oh, and by the way, if you want to make a phone call or write a letter, here's the rest of the info:

District Office

455 Golden Gate, Suite 14600

San Francisco, CA 94102

Phone: (415) 557-2312

Fax: (415) 557-1178

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Another fine example of just how stupid and utterly clueless these industry watchdog groups are. I mean, how can you hold a developer responsible if some hacker reverse engineers their source code to product malicious content. I mean, seriously, this is getting out of hand.

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Guest kenny87

"NIMF, whose mission is "to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm mass media have on children through research and education,"

Children??

It's a bloody 18 rated game over here, in fact I had to produce ID so I could buy it because I only just turned 18 the day before it was released.

Are teenagers aged 17+ classed as children in America, and not as young adults?

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Hey Derek, they can do it by the same token as people sue the gun company because one person shoots another with the gun that was made by that company, by the same token that the obese "humans" sued McDonalds for their obesity, by the same token those parents sued garage owners when thier kids jumped from one roof of the garage to the other.

Till the time that we the people stand up and let them know we will not take it anymore, the people will be harrased and our lives infringed upon by this mad nonsence.

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Toll free number for the National institute and media for the family: Toll Free (888) 672-5437.

Their mailing address:

National Institute on Media and the Family

606 24th Avenue South, Suite 606

Minneapolis, MN 55454

E-mail: http://www.mediafamily.org/about/contact.shtml

You can e-mail them in general, or attn: Dr. Walsh, let him know exactly what you think.

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And here's the answer why that institute is raising all the BS, and why Clinton is involved.

"On her official Web site, Clinton lists "fighting the culture of sex and violence in the media" as part of her platform, and in March, she joined with Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Rick Santorum (R-PA) to cosponsor legislation seeking $90 million over five years for research into how viewing different types of media (television, video games, and the Internet in particular) affects children's development. "

Walsh (head of instutute) wants $, Clinton wants publicity.

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"On her official Web site, Clinton lists "fighting the culture of sex and violence in the media" as part of her platform,"

Lol, I am so relieved, and here I thought that all this years of being quiet, she was actually working for her platform on: Industry, Trade, Bussineses, Lower Taxes, Smaller Government, Upholding Citizens Rights, Closing the Borders, Upholding Land Ownership Rights, Cleaning up the courts, Bringing the Declaration of Independence back, Bringing the Constitution back.

Thought she was actually up to something useful like that, nah, instead she was "fighting the culture of sex and violence in the media". ROFL, hey here's a thought, maybe she could add to her platform "fighting the culture of sex in the White House", and how about FTC conducting an inquiry on how many middle and high school kids think this days that oral sex is not sex.

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quote:

Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr:


Be careful SC, she may come after you next for calling her a girl. I can see the headlines now:

"Hillary Clinton takes on Derek Smart and 3000ad® for a derogatory comment."

You are going to see a lot more politicians come out of the woodwork on this ESRB issue for the free publicity.

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Oh puhlease...

These guys are just out there, I swear, is there ANYTHING that these politicians don't want to regulate?

I loved his reference to Columbine, Like video games somehow had something to do with it.

2 freaky kids, got angry and decided to kill their fellow students, both were ritalin kids, PERHAPS, just PERHAPS they ought to look INTO THAT connection, INSTEAD of blaming a fricking video game?

I do so tire of these egotistical politicians and their "family Values" crap.

John McCain has a cameo in wedding crashers for god's sake, "family values" is a great political slogan, but when money is involved, they will toss it out the window.

That's the problem, like Bill Gates, the video game industry has not given bribes... Whoops, I mean political contributions, so they become a target.

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quote:

Originally posted by Jaguar:

I loved his reference to Columbine, Like video games somehow had something to do with it.


From what I remember, they were trying to blame it on a movie, The Matrix, and had nothing to do with any computer or console game. This guy needs to get his facts straight.

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He DOESN'T need his facts straight, you are forgetting whom he's working for. "Define IS"

His phone number and e-mail is right there in that article, e-mail him. I did.

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quote:

Originally posted by LostInSpace:

quote:

Originally posted by Jaguar:

I loved his reference to Columbine, Like video games somehow had something to do with it.


From what I remember, they were trying to blame it on a movie, The Matrix, and had nothing to do with any computer or console game. This guy needs to get his facts straight.


That's where SC has it lucky. It's going to be a few years before they can blame anything on him.

"Next on the news, a 15-year old boy is being charged with RANDOMing Mars. When asked why he did it, he said 'I did it many times in the Battlecruiser games and it looked like fun."

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Absolutely insane. Self serving sons of....

I held my mad back though in my email to him:

quote:

If your actually reading this instead of some crony then kudos to you for that only.

Video games, like any media will have an effect on people, including children. Duh.

Video games DO NOT MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS!!! Mcdonalds DOES NOT MAKE PEOPLE FAT!!! Guns DO NOT KILL PEOPLE!!!

If you are an attorney then you obviously have some intelligence. An intelligent person looking at the issues above would conclude that the point of attack should be the people making the bad decisions, or the people who are supposed to be rearing them. Despite this you send your long winded, meandering diatribe(yes, that is all it really is, sorry) to game publishers. This was not an intelligent action within the context of the issue you were referring to.

Now, since you are intelligent, and you spent way too much effort saying the game manufacturers and/or the head of the ESA are the truly responsible parties for youth violence in America, which I have already proven to be patently unintelligent, then there must be some other reason for your actions.

It is obvious based upon these observations that you're trying to curry favor with Senator Clinton. Just doing it to get a leg up. If this is true(almost certainly is), then you are doing something intelligent. Trouble is that you are also being dishonest and trying to do harm to others with this dishonesty.

Brother, if you wish to get ahead then work hard, stick to principles and sleep at night. Don't engage in self serving rhetoric, particularly things like your pointlessly acidic letter.

If you truly wish to protect children from innappropriate content then engage your resources at the place where they can do the most good as stated above. If you act contrary to this then you will be wasting effort instead of doing good, and I do believe that there is part of you (as there is in all of us) that does wish to do the right thing. Let that part out again.

Eric W. Holznagel

Crap, sometimes I think that we need another great flood. Just wipe it out and try again. Then I realize that I wouldn't be able to play UC anymore.

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Jack Thompson is simply a media whore. That's it. He realizes that if he makes outlandish claims about videogames, the idiot media gets all orgasmic and points their cameras at him. He, in turn, gets orgasmic as well, says something even more stupid, and you end up with anti-videogame orgy.

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quote:


Originally posted by Matchoo:

That's where SC has it lucky. It's going to be a few years before they can blame anything on him.


....at least until kids - wanting to fly - start building rockets in the backyards, strapping it to their back, shoving a fuse up their a$$, then lighting it.

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quote:

Jack Thompson is simply a media whore. That's it. He realizes that if he makes outlandish claims about videogames, the idiot media gets all orgasmic and points their cameras at him. He, in turn, gets orgasmic as well, says something even more stupid, and you end up with anti-videogame orgy.

Dont show that Jack Thompson.He'll probably take it for real.

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