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[Amused_To_Death]

Amazing how quickly Rockstar, ESRB, and major retailers have capitulated and caved in to pressure. The Clinton and Lieberman of the world, the family advocacy groups, and the religious right are celeberating their victory. I doubt they will be satisfied with their symbolic victory against GTA, they are out to clean up the industry and if we, as gamers, developers, publishers, media, industry associations let them, we will lose our right to play certain types of games because they may be considered indecent or inapprorpriate by community standards. If we don't speak up, the agenda of what we're allowed to play and allowed to experience will be set for us by these groups and not by the creative minds that make the games that we have come to enjoy and love. We should reward developers who take a stand. We should reward retailers who will sell AO games. We should complain to our Senators and Representatives and to the ESA and ESRB. Those of you who are members of the media should take a leadership role and speak up. I wish Rockstar weren't such pussies and told the government and the whiners to fuck off instead of giving in.

 

[op_ivy]

lets start an online petition!

 

[The Faceless Master]

why did this need a new thread?

 

[Firest0rm]

I actually think we should sacrfice RockStar. THey should suffer for what they have just unleashed upon the rest of the industry.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

Darn! I thought this would be a thread calling out Duane/Pimpwerx

 

[op_ivy]

Darn! I thought this would be a thread calling out Duane/Pimpwerx

:lol

 

[MarkRyan]

Except this thing with San Andreas is just the industry regulating itself--the ESRB is voluntarily run by the industry. They appropriately dealt with the situation before the government forced something.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

I don't know if R* have caved as much as you make out. The current retail version will be AO rated, but aren't they planning on taking out the offending content then re-releasing it as M-rated again?

In many ways if they had stuck to their guns, given what a mess they've made of handling the situation so far, they might have esculated the situation into a witch-hunt. It takes a lot of wind out of the sails of the pressure groups that they got their way so easily.

They say "OMG there is terrible pornographic content, even though it only simulates sexual behaviour without any exposed genatalia or penetration", R* go 'Oops so there is, okay we'll just snip it out and we're back to where we were".

 

[Amused_To_Death]

I forgot the best part:

Pressure from National Institute on Media and the Family Means
New Rating for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Institute Urges Independent Video Game Ratings System

Minneapolis - Pressure from the National Institute on Media and the Family resulted in the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) today revoking the M-rating for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The National Institute on Media and the Family now calls upon all retailers to immediately pull the video game from their shelves.

"The ESRB's findings confirm what we expected, but major questions still remain," said Dr. David Walsh, president and founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family and author of the best-selling book on teenagers, WHY Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen. Earlier today, the National Institute on Media and the Family confirmed and was prepared to announce that its computer experts discovered the pornographic content on the retail version of the PlayStation® 2 disk for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

"We are pleased that two major retailers based in Minneapolis, Target and Best Buy, were prepared to pull Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from their shelves due to involvement from the National Institute on Media and the Family," said Dr. Walsh.

"Now that it has been confirmed that Rockstar Games and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., failed to disclose to the ESRB the pornographic content of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the National Institute on Media and the Family recommends the creation of a video game rating system fully independent of the video game industry," added Dr. Walsh. "It is clear an independent rating system is the only way parents will get the accurate information they need to make wise media choices for their children."

Computer experts from the National Institute on Media and the Family discovered and confirmed that the code for the "Hot Coffee" pornography is on the retail version of the PlayStation® 2 disk for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The National Institute on Media and the Family used a disk easily purchased from a major retailer, along with a widely available cheat code from the Internet, and accessed the sexually explicit content that was already on the disk.

The National Institute on Media and the Family previously issued a National Parental Warning that the pornographic content is easily available to players of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Last week, Dr. Walsh joined with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) to again alert parents about the pornographic content and called upon the game's publisher, Rockstar Games, to immediately disclose whether they programmed the pornographic code onto the game's disk.

http://www.mediafamily.org/

 

[polg]

can we get hillary to join GAF?

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

If this is going to mean a crackdown on anything, why can't it be those goddamn cheat devices.

Computer experts from the National Institute on Media and the Family discovered and confirmed that the code for the "Hot Coffee" pornography is on the retail version of the PlayStation® 2 disk for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The National Institute on Media and the Family used a disk easily purchased from a major retailer, along with a widely available cheat code from the Internet, and accessed the sexually explicit content that was already on the disk.

And maybe it's just me but I think if they were to fight this that would be where to attack it. 'Cause where's all the parental monitoring between the store, the internet and the game?

 

[Speevy]

Any one of you 12 million folks want to sell me one of those ultra-rare limited release M versions?

 

[Fuzzy]

Amazing how quickly Rockstar, ESRB, and major retailers have capitulated and caved in to pressure. The Clinton and Lieberman of the world, the family advocacy groups, and the religious right are celeberating their victory.

I think you forgot about Nintendo celebrating also, Yamauchi's ninjas are behind all of this.

 

[Link316]

why don't we just vote them out of office?

 

[Mashing]

Why do gamers think the ESRB is some evil organization against content in games? That couldn't be further from the truth.

 

[Odysseus]

I actually think we should sacrfice RockStar. THey should suffer for what they have just unleashed upon the rest of the industry.

Indeed.

Seriously though, I'm all for more restraint. If it comes from within the industry, that would be for the best. But if retailers and publishers refuse to come together to give ratings any teeth, then I don't mind seeing outside forces exerting pressure. The M on Halo 2 should mean 15 year old Johnny needs an adult with him in order to buy it. If it takes government involvement to make it happen, shame on the industry.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

Indeed.

Seriously though, I'm all for more restraint. If it comes from within the industry, that would be for the best. But if retailers and publishers refuse to come together to give ratings any teeth, than I don't mind seeing outside forces exerting pressure. The M on Halo 2 should mean 15 year old Johnny needs an adult with him in order to buy it. If it takes government involvement to make it happen, shame on the industry.

I've been of the opinion for a while that it'd be in the industry's best interest to have pushed for ratings to have more legal bite, effectively cutting down a lot of the flak they've received from parenting groups, especially if the trend is to be towards more violent content.

 

[Mupepe]

I'm amused to death by all the threads stirred up by the GTA:SA thing. We need to make a big one and sticky it, seriously.

 

[brocke]

I'm for restraint too, just not taking it off the shelves at major retail stores. Doing stuff like that will destroy any chance the videogame industry has of coming out with good violent games.

Gamers should unite and protest this. There are enough of us to outnumber those crazy parents.

 

[ChrisReid]

I'm for restraint too, just not taking it off the shelves at major retail stores. Doing stuff like that will destroy any chance the videogame industry has of coming out with good violent games.

Nobody cares about violence, you just can't have any evil sex.