G.T.A Content Issue

[Tony Stark]

You know, all this controvercy has really made me want to play some Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas...

If you ask me, I think putting legistlation on video games is ludacris. Another form of censorship screwing with content that people obviously want if you look at the sales of Grand Theft Auto, porn, guns, and the like. It's America giving the big screw you to Ray Bradbary and George Orwell. Lewis Black, in his commentary on the Daily Show made me laugh when he pointed out how the Right is usually generally opposed to porn, though they are in favor of a free market. It's kind of funny because the free market loves porn. But that, of course is irrelevent because of Clinton is a democrat...

This is, of course, a political move for Clinton and her hopes as a presidential run in 2008. If you ask me I think she's crazy, Arnold has a better chance of winning an election than she does, and he can't even run! I have no problems with a woman candidate, it's just her who I would never vote for.
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[Futch]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/15/news_6129301.html?tag=lastword_ ps2_headline

Well, now this truly makes me mad.

I really don't care if horny 15 year old kids want to see a stupid sex scene (low quality sex scene) what pisses me off is stuff like this.

Rockstar it's just a bunch of hypocrites, "Oh yeah, erm, about the sex, hackers did it, yup darn right they did!"

The problem is not the fact that they imputed a Sex Scene inside the game, It'simply how they dont have the "guts" to admit it, or they simply wished to make more money (by allowing horny teenagers to play a game they actually shouldn't... according to the law at least).

It simply damages the industry because, I can already see everyone labeling game companies as "evil".

I hope this stunt costs money to Rockstar, Im already hating their methods.

And those sting operations are fine by me, but when the problem is coming from the game designer and not the sellers, matters are a bit more difficult to handle.

Hillary go kick those Rockstar suckers behind!
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DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

[Arenegeth]

[Kekoa Alejandro]

Darn toot! Even if the restrictions don't actually keep kids from the less palatable video games (and Lord only knows it won't - it'll make it harder, maybe cut down on it somewhat, but just as kids still manage to get their hands on alcohol and cigarettes, so will they get their hands on unpleasant video games), it'll at least take the blame off of the industry and the retailers. The blame then will be on the people who deserve it: the children who snag stuff they know they're not supposed to have, and the parents who facilitate it through action or inaction.

Gotta' agree on the kids being dumb thing. Even when I *was* an adolescent I knew that I and my fellows were dumb. I was confident that when I was older, I would look back at myself and find myself a fantastically irrational moron - and I was right! I'm only more confident now that kids shouldn't have easy access to this stuff.

Do I know they're quite possibly going to get exposed to at least a little? Yeah, sure, I know that. Sneaking yourself a little stuff that's naughty isn't that unusual, and so long as it's only a little (and doesn't become a habit, or trigger any drastic behavior) I figure it's healthy and a part of growing up. But don't condone them dealing with this stuff.

Yeah, I refuse to believe that violent video games make violent children and so forth, but I also don't believe that they are completely harmless. Especially as they become more and more realistic - I mean, viewing violence or sex on an Atari, NES, or SNES is somethin' different from what we have today. Myself, I never played anything too awful. It was mostly RPGs, a few adventure games, puzzle games, and (like every other kid on Earth) Street Fighter 2. Did I play a little Mortal Kombat too? Yeah, I did - but I did okay. I don't like (and never really *have* liked) excessive violence and sex in video games, since it's juvenile and a lowest common denominator kind of thing. I'd rather have games that challenge my mind, make me think, or make me *feel*. ...okay, I like punching stuff up in fighting games sometimes - Street Fighter 2, Super Smash Brothers, so on - but it's a fairly harmless level of violence, completely disconnected from reality.

As soon as violence becomes real, I want the game to also present the *consequences* of those actions. Violence causes terrible pain and suffering, not just for those directly involved. It isn't really romantic and often it's unimpressive, just a sort of sickening path that was taken because those involved could perceive no other way. Now *that* I like to see. I figure a game depicting negative behavior is just fine if it realistically shows the awful consequences of such things.

...babbling!

[Filipe]

I agree that video gaming has been a scapegoat way too many times for lazy parents who would rather shoot up drugs or something along those lines then watch their kids. Thats not to say that gaming doesnt have it's effects on adults as well considering, im sure we all heard about the man, and woman in Korea who left their child alone while they played World of Warcraft. Not to mention the child died for those that dont already know the story. However, that goes more towards the sheer stupidity of the parents, and not the game itself. If I had anything to say about this whole issue it would be that, rather than going after the gaming industry, they should work on families.

Work on building better family structures so that parents dont just leave their kids alone to play video games. It doesnt matter what kind of video games they are, or what content the games may have. Unlike with earlier times where to an extent television could raise a child with some moral lessons and such games cant do that. They are programmed for entertainment solely, with the extremely rare exceptions of some games. Games are somewhat limited, even open ended MMORPGs have limits on what they can provide for people. Without a proper family in place games dont have negative effects on kids in most cases, and are just distractions for them from whats happening around them. It is a shame but it's the truth.
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[Futch]

[Arenegeth]

[Futch]

To be honest, I don't think the point is wheter to determine if that kind of minigame is Ao, Mature or whatever. That has already been decided by everyone (Senator Clinton included :roll: ) of course that I think its dumb to say such a thing. I mean, they are some dumb cartoons for christ sake!

I agree with you, In those games you mention sex is much more evident, but that isn't the issue here, at least that's not what I intended this thread for...

In U.S.A (on a side note refering to the united states as "america", seems kind of "lacking" to me, Im from argentina and here when you are 18 you can do legally anything but buying a house [you need 21 for that]) its seem to be quite an issue this video game rating method.

What I intended to know if this kind of things worked in a first place, and if this new legislation would change things in anyway, that's all.

Of course, this stunt rockstar pulled seemed worthy to mention... And I truly wondered if they would face any legal consequences.

From my point of view, this whole hiding of the mini game was nothing but a strategy to increase the sales of the game (Which I think wasn't neccesary, just label something with "grand theft" and it's a winner). I mean look at the propaganda this game is winning! appearing on tv, senators rambling about it. Just how many games can say they have provoked such a thing?
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DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

[Arenegeth]

[Sualtam Lugh]

For the record, San Andreas is now officially an AO rated game, and is being taken off the market.

In my eyes, this is pathetic. It's pathetic on behalf of the ESRB, and all corresponding Video game stores. You know...this game is full of so much crap, and they get nitpicky about a little mini game, you not only have to patch/cheat a lot to get, but there's not even porn. I mean.....truly pathetic.

People always said "How far can Rockstar go?"

Well, it seems to me they can't even do things we get to see on primetime tv. THAT'S pathetic.

*caresses his stolen copy of GTA3* Ah well, I still have the best one.

[Krawnik]

If I were Rockstar, I'll tell you here and now, I would rerelease two versions of San Andres in October- code edited Mature rated version to be sold by major retailers, and code edited Adults Only rated version with the Hot Coffee scenes readily accesible.

Honestly, Rockstar, if you're going to cover up the source code dictating the Hot Coffee minigames, fine. Don't tell anyone, good for you. But once they've been discovered, you could at least have the guts to admit to the public "yes, there is a concept sex minigame buried in the source code, and accessing it with cheat codes or patches or devices breaches the agreement between the player of the game and the company." Then you wash your hands of the situation and say you can access the code if you want, but Rockstar won't be held responsible as the scene isn't meant to be in the game.

Instead, silly Rockstar lied to the public about hackers, and proceeded to have quite possibly the biggest egg ever to indicate idiocy on they're collective faces. Then they slink away at the discretion of the ESRB to edit the content like good little boys and girls. Honestly, the cowardice! Rockstar is supposed to have attitude of some degree, they're suuposed to flood the market with distinctly objectionable and violent subject material, consequences (and Hilary specifically) be damned! If it were my decision to make, I would send to independent retailers the AO version of San Andreas in all it's erotic glory, just to regain at least a marginal amount of Rockstar's proposed disdain for laws and their makers.
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416- friggin' racists, messing up my generalizations, also stealing my jobs, women.
RIP Ninjalicious

[Arenegeth]

I was apparently confused about the ESRB ratings, look at this.

[Aesa]

I do belive I brought something similar to this issue up somewhere sometime

and that is this

The ratings are going overboard

>90% of all Teens know that they shouldn't go out on the street and start shoot stuff up just for the heck of it
>We're fighting a war here. You want violence? Take a look in the paper or on the Tube.
>Ok I'm fine with the rate M because it shows things children should not see, but big shock the same 90% of teens as before probably look at porn on the net or on TV. OMFG how could this have happened?!? :| Stupidity, that's how
>Oh my god there so much blood and gore in this game, wait hold it right there...a rational person knows that this is all fantasy that you can't find a gun or a sword and expect a monster to pop up so you can slash it to hell.

>Total Point: It's rated M for violence=erm no, rated M for sex scenes=sure thing, rated M for pointless violences against people who don't exist? = 3 words, total BS

EDIT: My main reason for ire at the ratings, I can't get M rated games ...T_T

Stupid parents
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The setting sun means the rise of a new day...
...excepting for Ragnarok, of course

~Tinto~

[Raze]

Actually, the largest difference between AO and M is that you'll never buy AO games anywhere off-line.

I don't own the game, and I never planned to, as I felt San Andreas (or Vice City, for that matter) never fully lived up to GTA3. Besides, I'm not too into games like GTA anyway. Sure, I can do whatever I want with little fear of consequence, but that bores me. I'd rather play a game with some more depth, like an RPG.
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Rend. Slaughter. Devour your enemies. There is no other way to survive. You cannot escape your hunger, warriors of Purgatory.

[Futch]