A Conversation for Grand Theft Auto - the Computer Game Trilogy

The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 1

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

I thought I'd put some links here, now tings seem to be cooling down. Of course, one has to find pages that give good coverage without leading the mods to worry that Innocent Children might find their way to Evil Things; but /. links should be okay.

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/08/1955201&tid=10
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/20/2059221&tid=10
http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/07/22/0452239.shtml?tid=10

In the U.K., of course, San Andreas is already a BBFC 18+ game.


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 2

GodBen (The Magical Astronomer) - 00000011

I think the whole thing is stupid. I don't think Roackstar should have put those scenes in the game, but I also don't think that girlfriends should have been in the game. It took away from the killing and the blowing of things up.

And it's a bit of a hollow victory for the ESRB. I mean, to get the Hot Coffee mod you're going to need to download a program from the internet. But the internet is full of actual porn, so a 17 year old with access to the internet is going to have access to porn anyway.


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 3

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

A popular hypothesis is that this is part of a Mrs. H. Clinton's 'I'm really socially illiberal enough to elect as President, honestly' campaign. smiley - erm

This isn't even the first such case; there was a story in Edge once about a chap who'd put together a compilation disc of old games, and ended up being visited by the Vice Squad. It turned out that in one of the games there was a (very well-hidden) cheat (not a download) that caused the furry animal hero, after saving the princess, not to kiss her but to reveal an immense penis and insert it into her. Unfortunately, it turned out that the person who'd given the compiler a copy of the game for the compilation disc had given him a test version in which the alternative ending came about by default. There really is nothing new under the sun...


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 4

GodBen (The Magical Astronomer) - 00000011

I'm suprised the original game wasn't criticised for promoting bestiality.

GTA is just used as a punching bag by politicians. You want to seem like you care about moral values? Then just criticise GTA. I was watching CBS News the other night and they were doing a report about violent games, and GTA especially. The reporter said something like "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas awards points for killing police officers" but it doesn't. You kill a police officer and you get a wanted level and your criminal activity meter goes up. You also get some ammo for extremely bad weapons. You don't get praised, you don't get money and you certainly don't get points. You kill a police officer and bad things will happen to you. But will they issue a retraction? Will any anybody even complain to them?


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 5

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

Although the original GTA does give you points for killing people, and police officers are as I recall worth more than most; combining that with the bonus you get for running people down with their own cars makes for a nice score multiplier. So perhaps the politicians, of course not playing the games themselves or keeping track of the fiddly details, got their GTAs mixed up.


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 6

GodBen (The Magical Astronomer) - 00000011

Well we can't expect the news to report facts, I suppose.

Did you hear about Rockstars newest game called Bully? As you can probably tell from the title, you take on the role of a bully and beat people up. That may be going just a bit too far. smiley - erm


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 7

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

I've heard of it, but I don't think there's much information available yet; certainly there's very little on Rockstar's site. Judging by http://www.gamerdad.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=23077#23077 just what the content is like isn't yet clear. Rockstar want people to play the game before judging it ( http://www.gamecloud.com/article.php?article_id=458 ).

As I write, the topmost thread on http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=928128 is entitled 'Jack Thompson'.

Rockstar certainly knows how to get free publicity, and of course to keep it up they do have to keep pushing the boundaries. Looking forward to Custer's Revenge 3D (I invent). ( http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/custer.shtml )


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 8

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

smiley - runIn related news: http://www.pressthebuttons.com/2005/07/jack_thompson_t.html


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 9

GodBen (The Magical Astronomer) - 00000011

Oh dear god, that guy must be an idiot. smiley - rofl

A few months ago I was playing the Sims 2 and a glitch occured in the game where a naked woman in a bath upstairs was visible without the blur and there were no nipples or genitalia. I wonder whether the religious right have attacked the game for promoting planned parenthood?

BTW, it turns out I was wrong. People did complain to CBS about the report: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/22/tech/gamecore/main711093.shtml


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 10

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

Yes, Mr. Thompson has at least three threads dedicated to him here: http://www.gamersalliance.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=9d3c087e7f3af925f2872d9616a982e5

I've just had a look at http://www.gamepolitics.com/ , and sure enough the front page is stiff with Hot Coffee stuff:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/47849.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/47965.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/48193.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/48569.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/48915.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/49237.html


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 11

GodBen (The Magical Astronomer) - 00000011

Hm, it does seem despicable of Rockstar to blame the thing on the modders. First they blame them for creating the mod, then once it's discovered that they made it they blame the guy who unlocked it.


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 12

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/wc05a.htm#Grand_Theft_of_Perspective_in_New_Zealand

News from New Zealand.


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 13

Ferrettbadger. The Renegade Master

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=ticket_to_hell

Is "maddox's" frankly side splitting take on this.

I don't really understand why people having sex is less suitable for 17 year olds than killing police and stealing cars?!?!?!?! smiley - huh


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 14

GodBen (The Magical Astronomer) - 00000011

smiley - yikes That site had a picture of an extremely pixilated completely fictitious nipple! Now I’m going to hell for looking at it. smiley - wah

The thing that gets me though is that the characters in the games code are actually fully clothed during the sex scene, it was the modders who unlocked the scene that made them nude. So what exactly did Rockstar do wrong? smiley - erm


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 15

Mr. Dreadful - But really I'm not actually your friend, but I am...

<>

The problem seems to be that Rockstar didn't remove the sex scene from the source code, just disabled it. Presumably they weren't expecting some spotty fanboy to start hacking about and unlock the defunct source.

Of course the 'moral majority' aren't going to see it that way, instead deciding that Rockstar deliberately left the code there so some spotty fanboy could start hacking about and unlock the horribleness.


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 16

Ferrettbadger. The Renegade Master

What gets me though is how can anybody say that seeing sex is worse than being able to pretend to kill police and rob banks?

On the one hand you have a perfectly legal activity that all 17 year olds can legally do, on the other hand cop killing is one of the most serious crimes you can commit.


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 17

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

'The problem seems to be that Rockstar didn't remove the sex scene from the source code, just disabled it.'

And the ESRB, which expects developers to alert them to the 'worst' content in their games (see http://slate.msn.com/id/2122746/fr/rss/ ) reckons Rockstar should have alerted them to this even though it was disabled. Hence Rockstar stands accused of misleading the ESRB, which stands to lose public confidence as a result of this affair. This in turn leaves the games industry more vulnerable to public and political distrust.

http://www.pressthebuttons.com/2005/07/esrb_damned_if_.html


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 18

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

Oh, a couple of new Gamepolitics links:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/52920.html - House of Representatives Votes For Hot Coffee Investigation

http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/53179.html - GTA Mod Community Fires Back at ESRB in Hot Coffee Flap


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 19

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

And today's links:

http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/05/07/27/1542228.shtml?tid=219&tid=10

http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/53288.html


The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

Post 20

RFJS__ - trying to write an unreadable book, finding proofreading tricky

I may as well keep doing this:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/53843.html - Hot Coffee Spills Over Into Class-action Lawsuit

http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/54198.html - Is Take-Two in Trouble? Industry Analyst Comments

http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/54498.html - Hot Coffee - Hack or Mod? Leading GTA Modder Speaks Out


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The 'Hot Coffee' debacle

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