Rockstar, Media Group on San Andreas Scandal

[peat moss]

[news=http://img282.imageshack.us/img282/7435/rstar2el.gif]July 12, 2005 - The "brew"-haha over the so-called "hot coffee" modification to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas continues, with a media watchdog group now issuing a warning to parents about the game -- and developer Rockstar finally commenting on the allegedly unlockable pornographic content.

The National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) issued a warning to parents this week, concerned that the "hot coffee" mod was already being mentioned on "popular teen websites." The organization, following a similar statement from California Assemblyman Leland Yee last week, claims that the ESRB failed to rate San Andreas appropriately.

"It should be clear to everyone by now that video games do influence young people," said NIMF founder Dr. David Walsh. "While San Andreas is already full of violent behavior and sexual themes, the pornographic sex scenes push it over the edge. The ratings board has launched an investigation to determine if it was mislead into issuing a 'Mature' rating instead of the 'Adults Only' rating. There may even be legal ramifications since most states have laws restricting the sale of sexually explicit material to those eighteen and older."

The Institute, led by Dr. David Walsh, seeks to "help families and educators to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm of mass media on children through research, education and advocacy." The organization is known for its annual "video game report card" on game content.

Patrick Wildenborg, a 36-year-old living in the Netherlands, recently told the Associated Press he was responsible for the "hot coffee" mod, which -- either through simply unlocking content, or altering the game itself -- allows San Andreas players to participate in explicit sexual scenes.

While Wildenbourg claims his mod only reveals what Rockstar had hidden in the game, Rockstar Games is now officially denying that it included the scenes in San Andreas, whether hidden or not.

Source: http://xbox.ign.com/articles/632/632980p1.html[/news]

[Afronaut]

Even if there was "easter eggs" wouldnt the EULA say something about modifing the game files, hacking, modding,
will render the legal issues moot ot something in those lines..

Clearly, im no lawyer, just guessing here.

[Xilo]

The EULA wouldn't matter anyhow... It's been proven in court through some previous cases (one I know against Verant Interactive for something they had in EverQuest) that EULAs don't amount to a hill of beans.

[Skiz]

What exactly does the pornographic material consist of? I haven't played the game.

[HCT]

What exactly does the pornographic material consist of? I haven't played the game.

its a mod that lets you see and control having sexual intercourse with CJ's girlfriends

[Rick Phlegm]

Rockstar Games is now officially denying that it included the scenes in San Andreas, whether hidden or not.

Well that's a blatent lie cos I know a guy who playtested it and he told me about the sex sub-game weeks before the game was even released.

[Guillaume]

Hillary's joining the fun!

[Wolfmight]

I've heard this "hot coffee" mod was also in the PS2 version by a memory card hack. Obviously, Rockstar "did" include this as a little perk towards it's underground fans. Ps2 games cannot by modified that drastically..without the hardrive device. This mod works for "all" official copies of the ps2 version. Heh, so the pornographic skins and everything are already on the disk! 8mb of space couldn't hold the amount of code needed for this kind of detail. Even if they did have 20-50mb memory cards that could, everyone doesn't own one. Same goes for devices such as X-port and Shark Port. I've got one myself, but many people don't.