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House Calls for Investigation Into Rockstar Games

Posted by Zonk on from the hot-coffee-of-the-undead dept.

Spad writes "The BBC is reporting that the U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly voted for an FTC investigation into Rockstar Games following the GTA:SA 'Sex scandal'. Their basic premise is that Rockstar intentionally deceived the ESRB in order to 'peddle sexually explicit material to our youth'." Gamespot has coverage as well. From the BBC article: "The release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was widely anticipated, but an adults-only rating would have severely limited its sales in retail outlets...It appears that the publisher has blatantly circumvented the rules in order to peddle sexually explicit material to our youth, and they should be held accountable. A company cannot be allowed to profit from deceit."

2 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Better Things To Do... by BaudKarma · · Score: 5, Interesting

    She's probably after the same voting bloc, though. If you accept the theory that she'll be running for president in 2008, she'll need to start moving closer to the middle. Jumping on the videogame bashing bandwagon is a good start.

    --
    It's the land of the brave, and the home of the free
    Where the less you know, the better off you'll be.
  2. Re:Better Things To Do... by Irish_Samurai · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Not only that, but throw this into their face.

    If virtual child pornography, released under the guise that it is real is constitutionally protected - then you can most definitely show poorly rendered sex in a fictional setting.

    Also, the ESRB is a voluntary board, there is no regulation stating that a game has to be rated in order to be sold to the public. Any attempt to deceive the ESRB should be frowned upon by the Video Game development community, but nothing illegal was done. You can release a movie as NR without a problem, you can also release a game without a rating. This is not a place for the FTC to get involved.

    The thing to do would to eloquently write your congressman\congresswoman and your state reps and tell them what a crock of shit this is. Let them know that there are more important things to be making a spectacle of in the public eye, and that if these subjects are not addressed, we will use our combined intelligence and knowledge to prevent their re-election.