The ESRB has decided to acquiesce to the pressure of almighty Hillary, and is changing their rating of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from "Mature 17+" (M) to "Adults Only 18+" (AO). All versions of GTA: SA are now being pulled from Wal-Mart and other stores due to their policies of not carrying games with the AO rating. Stores that decide to continue to sell GTA: SA despite the AO rating will be sent some “AO” stickers to be placed on the game boxes.
Rockstar will stop production of the game until they can rework the code to remove the offensive content (the sex stuff; not the excessive violence, explicit language, misogynistic behavior, drug use, alcohol abuse, and jheri curl hairstyles). They will also be working on a patch for the PC version to restrict access to “hot coffee” scenes.
From the press release:
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. announced today that the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has changed the rating of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on all platforms from "Mature 17+" (M) to "Adults Only 18+" (AO) because of the so-called "hot coffee mod," an unauthorized third party modification that alters the retail version of the game. Take-Two cooperated fully with the ESRB's investigation.
Rockstar Games has ceased manufacturing of the current version of the title and will begin working on a version of the game with enhanced security to prevent the "hot coffee" modifications. This version will retain the original ESRB M-rating and is expected to be available during the Company's fourth fiscal quarter. Rockstar Games will be providing AO labels for retailers who wish to continue to sell the current version of the title.
The scenes depicted in the "hot coffee" modification are not playable in the retail version of the game unless the user downloads and/or installs unauthorized software that alters the content of the original retail version of the title, representing a violation of Take-Two and Rockstar's end user license agreement (EULA) and intellectual property rights. "We are deeply concerned that the publicity surrounding these unauthorized modifications has caused the game to be misrepresented to the public and has detracted from the creative merits of this award winning product," said Mr. Eibeler. Take-Two is exploring its legal options as it relates to companies that profited from creating and distributing tools for altering the content of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
This is absolutely ridiculous!!! I spent 3 hours on Saturday trying to unlock the Hot Coffee Mod for my Xbox version of the game as research for the podcast we were recording that night. And guess what? I couldn't figure it out. I found the mod for the Xbox but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. The mod zip file consists of a .img file and a .scm file. Now, I don't have a modded Xbox so I don't exactly know how this works. But it would seem that I would need to download or rip an illegal copy of the game, replace a few files, burn the adjusted code onto a new disk, and run it on a modded Xbox. So in order for me to see the AO content for GTA: SA, I would have to do numerous other illegal things to get it to work. So why are the Xbox and PS2 versions receiving the ratings change as well? Ludicrous!!!
Note: I also found videos of the sex scenes after just a few minutes of googling. Maybe my PC should have an AO sticker on it as well.
From the press release:
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. announced today that the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has changed the rating of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on all platforms from "Mature 17+" (M) to "Adults Only 18+" (AO) because of the so-called "hot coffee mod," an unauthorized third party modification that alters the retail version of the game. Take-Two cooperated fully with the ESRB's investigation.
Rockstar Games has ceased manufacturing of the current version of the title and will begin working on a version of the game with enhanced security to prevent the "hot coffee" modifications. This version will retain the original ESRB M-rating and is expected to be available during the Company's fourth fiscal quarter. Rockstar Games will be providing AO labels for retailers who wish to continue to sell the current version of the title.
The scenes depicted in the "hot coffee" modification are not playable in the retail version of the game unless the user downloads and/or installs unauthorized software that alters the content of the original retail version of the title, representing a violation of Take-Two and Rockstar's end user license agreement (EULA) and intellectual property rights. "We are deeply concerned that the publicity surrounding these unauthorized modifications has caused the game to be misrepresented to the public and has detracted from the creative merits of this award winning product," said Mr. Eibeler. Take-Two is exploring its legal options as it relates to companies that profited from creating and distributing tools for altering the content of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
This is absolutely ridiculous!!! I spent 3 hours on Saturday trying to unlock the Hot Coffee Mod for my Xbox version of the game as research for the podcast we were recording that night. And guess what? I couldn't figure it out. I found the mod for the Xbox but I couldn't figure out what to do with it. The mod zip file consists of a .img file and a .scm file. Now, I don't have a modded Xbox so I don't exactly know how this works. But it would seem that I would need to download or rip an illegal copy of the game, replace a few files, burn the adjusted code onto a new disk, and run it on a modded Xbox. So in order for me to see the AO content for GTA: SA, I would have to do numerous other illegal things to get it to work. So why are the Xbox and PS2 versions receiving the ratings change as well? Ludicrous!!!
Note: I also found videos of the sex scenes after just a few minutes of googling. Maybe my PC should have an AO sticker on it as well.
