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ESRB Revokes San Andreas Rating

Posted by Zonk on from the wow dept.

Alex Blonski writes "In a stunning move, the ESRB has advised retailers to stop selling Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This report follows public pressure over the Hot Coffee debacle. Rockstar, the publishers of the game have given retailers the option of restickering the game with an 18+ rating or exchanging it for a new version with the controversial content removed. ESRB head Patricia Vance says '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). 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.'"

7 of 913 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm.. by trmj · · Score: 4, Informative

    I believe that Penny Arcade's news and comic today sum up this whole situation best.

    --
    Work sucked, until it became unemployment, when it became slightly more tolerable. -Tet
  2. The Video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    GTA San Andreas "Hot Coffee"

    Coral Cache of some of the content in question:

    http://files.gtanet.com.nyud.net:8090/gtasa/videos /hotcoffee.wmv

    Get it while it's hot?

  3. Re:People are still having sex by badmammajamma · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, running around carjacking cars, shooting people, and beating up whores is American as apple pie but SEX?!?! OMFG...what are you people thinking?!

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    Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood. -- H. L. Mencken
  4. Re:nice publicity by the_skywise · · Score: 4, Informative

    As an ex-game programmer, there's TONS of stuff we left in various games. Some intentional, some not so intentional.

    I can't speak for how GTA is setup, but in our case some of the stuff went out because of a lock down in the code/data. When *any* change would be considered a potential to introduce bugs it was safer to lock down *everything* and go as it was.

  5. Re:Is "The Sims" also rated AO? by Nf1nk · · Score: 4, Informative

    on the sims2 there is a simple one word cheat you can type and eliminate the blurring, giving you access to far more nudity and sex than the hot coffie hack, to be fair the hot coffie section is more graphic. but the sims 2 is still rated T

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    I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
  6. Re:17+, 18+, whatever... by houghi · · Score: 4, Informative

    And thanks to internet, they can learn how to use it coorectly:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  7. An important thing to realize.. by vhold · · Score: 4, Informative
    A lot of people are running around in here wondering what is so important between M and AO as if there is no big reason for R* to care.

    Basically Wal-mart won't carry AO.

    Senate Testimony to that effect
    In the case of video games (for example, Sony Playstation or Nintendo games) and computer software, we use the ESRB, Entertainment Software Rating Board, ratings (EC, E, T, M, and AO) as we make decisions about which products to carry. We do not carry software rated adults only (as rated by the ESRB). As a rule, we do not carry Parental Advisory stickered products.
    That is all.