Gamespot.com: "House backs federal investigation of Rockstar Games"

[heyholetsgogrant]

House backs federal investigation of Rockstar Games

NOT SURE IF THIS WAS POSTED

[uPDATE] Hot Coffee scandal intensifies as legislators vote 355-21 to support a Federal Trade Commission probe seeking answers from the Take-Two subsidiary.

Just when you thought the Hot Coffee scandal couldn't get any hotter, the heat is getting turned way up--by the federal government, no less.

Just after 7:00pm on Capitol Hill today, the House of Representatives voted 355 to 21 to support a Federal Trade Commission inquiry into Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The purpose of the probe will be to determine if Take-Two Interactive and its publishing subsidiary Rockstar Games deceived the voluntary Entertainment Software Ratings Board when it submitted Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Today's vote advanced House Resolution 376, introduced by Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI). In Upton's words, he is "leading the congressional effort to determine if a best-selling video game maker intentionally deceived the industry's ratings board to avoid an 'Adults-Only' rating."

In a statement, Upton recently said he was "outraged by the brazenness of Rockstar Games in their effort to do an end-run around the ratings system... Rockstar Games' deceit has severely undermined the integrity of the ratings system."

The game initially received a rating of M for Mature but has since been slapped with a rating of AO for Adults Only, becoming one of only a handful of games to bear the retailer-scorned label. Rockstar is in the process of manufacturing new game discs that have the hidden sex minigame removed. Those versions of the game will be rated M.

The vote, coming on the eve of a five-week recess in Congress, means that Rockstar could now come under scrutiny by the federal government. It also raises the possibility that there could be a penalty imposed if an investigation finds that the publisher committed fraud in obtaining the M rating for San Andreas.

[uPDATE] According to attorney Jack Thompson, an outspoken critic of Rockstar Games, the resolution does not have the binding effect of law; it simply expresses the overwhelming sentiment of the House of Representatives that the Federal Trade Commission should investigate the matter fully.

As for where the House resolution might lead, Thompson told GameSpot that from his perspective, additional action inside the beltway was likely: "I have spoken with leaders on the Hill on all this, and you can look for Congressional hearings on this in the fall."

GameSpot will have more details on the investigation as further information is made available.

By Curt Feldman -- GameSpot

POSTED: 07/25/05 04:35 PM PST

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/25/news_6129723.html

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This is ridiculous you need a mod or some type of special download in order to see the secret scene…so why are kids downloading it anyway ??..and why does your kid have a mature rated game to begin with??, its not like we are talking about a game that’s rated “E," we are taling about a game that is rated "M" and you need a ID in order to buy it...bottomline is you can kill and pillage all you want, but you cant have sex???...Kids will be exposed to this no matter what; on the news or in movies..hell the same stuff goes on in our very own capital….should we be more worried about our troops over in Iraq??? Or disarming North Korea of Nukes??...whatever I just think the government needs to shift the focus on the real issues ..

[Spaceman Spiff]

I agree with the following...

http://www.biph.com/rants.php

Well, big news last week, as it was discovered that the fine team at Rockstar North was working on a “pornographic” mini-game in their title Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas released last fall to store shelves. What's more is that the mini-game was never removed from the final disc sent out to the general public. So if you really want to cheat and view the salacious scene, you can with a Gameshark and spare time.

The big ruckus is coming from idiotic senators and other people in our society that don't know the first thing about videogames. They are crying out about how the videogame industry can no longer police itself, since GTA:SA was only rated as M - Mature meaning that it is clearly not intended for kids, but it should be rated AO - Adults Only, meaning that it is clearly not intended for kids.

How did the videogame industry screw up? I don't see that they did, when the game was reviewed by the ESRB the taudry porno scene wasn't playable in the game. For the most part it still isn't, you have to CHEAT to get this mini-game, which is boring at best. The scene is silly and got cut not because it was too vulgar even by Rockstar standards, but because it was lame as hell by Rockstar standards. I've cheated to see what all the hub-ub is about, and it's stupid.

The mini-game that has Hillary Clinton calling for the government regulation of videogames begins with stimulated fellatio by a thong wearing female with a small shirt on a fully dressed main character. Then moves to a simple rhythm game using the left analog stick, with a few change-ups for sexual position and an excitement meter to create the challenge. Vulgar? Yes, but more importantly it adds nothing to the game, so scrap it. There is a total of one nipple showing in the scene (half of each breast) which is nothing compared to the nudity one would see in another awesome game called God of War, which has a sex mini-game that is actually a part of the game. The fact that it is still in the final disc means little to me. It wasn't a part of the game, it was disabled and requires cheating to see, and is glitchy when you are done with the mini-game.

Maybe there are four truly desperate jerks out there who really need to cheat to see this poor pixilated porn, but most people would never waste the time getting to the sex game in the first place. The outrage is the only thing that got me to take a look. Rockstar disabled the mini-game, you have to cheat to play it, so I see no wrong-doing on their part.

Now, GTA:SA is going to be rated AO, with a modified version to be rated M. What is it about this one scene that makes it the over-the-top most vulgar thing ever? Are the people in Washington so stupid that they believe only adults know about sex? Are they totally unaware of the 12 year-olds getting knocked up and knocking the ladies up? For crying out loud, how many female teachers in the past few years have been on trial for bangin' middle school kids? And they want to punish Rockstar Games because of a lame mini-game that was in a game that should not be getting into the hands of kids in the first place?

If anything should make it AO it should be the swearing, cop-killing, and prostitute murdering. Honestly, consensual sex bewteen two adult pixel people isn't that big of a deal.

[GoCommiesGo]

Really of all the things that the house and senate could be doindg right now they're worried about a video game manufacturer.

This is ludicrious first steroids and now this... Their has to be something out their right now that deserves more attention than a video game.

If the game is rated M and is only for 17+ WTF is the big deal. Christ "Devils Rejects" is for 17+ and has more violence and sex than that game.

Give me an effin break.:doh:

[heyholetsgogrant]

Originally posted by GoSkinsGo

Really of all the things that the house and senate could be doindg right now they're worried about a video game manufacturer.

This is ludicrious first steroids and now this... Their has to be something out their right now that deserves more attention than a video game.

If the game is rated M and is only for 17+ WTF is the big deal. Christ "Devils Rejects" is for 17+ and has more violence and sex than that game.

Give me an effin break.:doh:

Keep in mind YOU NEED A ID TO BUY THE GAME!!...btw this is not about the kids, the government has been trying for years to get its hand on the videogame industry...now they think they have a shot.

-Grant

[Nerm]

Hey,

This may be the most important issue of our time. Do you want legislators wasting their time on homeland security, social security reform, and healthcare issues, when there are kids who can go on the internet and find a way to get a pornographic scene for an adult oriented game? Don’t you understand how hard it is for kids to find pornographic material on the net? Once they nail these rouge programmers, we will have a future for our children that is pure and untainted by game makers. This is the key to eliminating violence and perversity in our society. Once the video game makers are nailed, there will be no more access to pornography and violence for teenagers. How could they possibly be exposed to sex and violence once these guys are nailed?

Of course, I may be wrong. It could just be a sideshow designed to get votes in the next election. However, I don’t think that politicians would do that type of thing. This must be a VERY important issue. If we cant trust our elected officials to fix all our problems, who can we trust?

[Cdowwe]

What a waste of tax dollars, Hillarys campaign has started early though.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Originally posted by Nerm

Hey,

This may be the most important issue of our time. Do you want legislators wasting their time on homeland security, social security reform, and healthcare issues, when there are kids who can go on the internet and find a way to get a pornographic scene for an adult oriented game? Don’t you understand how hard it is for kids to find pornographic material on the net? Once they nail these rouge programmers, we will have a future for our children that is pure and untainted by game makers. This is the key to eliminating violence and perversity in our society. Once the video game makers are nailed, there will be no more access to pornography and violence for teenagers. How could they possibly be exposed to sex and violence once these guys are nailed?

Of course, I may be wrong. It could just be a sideshow designed to get votes in the next election. However, I don’t think that politicians would do that type of thing. This must be a VERY important issue. If we cant trust our elected officials to fix all our problems, who can we trust?

Lol are you serious?

[Prosperity]

Arg Hillary Clinton... I guess moderate these days means stupid and power hungry.

[Nerm]

Originally posted by Spaceman Spiff

Lol are you serious?

I think there were two sentences where I was serious. The rest was sarcasm.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Originally posted by Nerm

I think there were two sentences where I was serious. The rest was sarcasm.

whew. some people, you can't tell on here...

[codeorama]

Hillary started this BS so she could get some conservative votes..... YUK.

[skinzfan4life]

I think this is stupid. And its mainly for the reasons you guys said. First, its a "mature" rated game, so these kids should not technically be buying the game. Second, you then have to go out of your way to find the download to see this scene.

I dont quite understand how that is wrose then having a kid go to a "R" movie and seeing boobs and cusing and violence.

I have a novel idea...parents could actually parent, and stop blaming everything else.

[rebornempowered]

The issue here should be that they didn't reveal content on the game to the ESRB and that's it.

The government needs to keep their noses out of it.

[timitim]

I am not so sure that this stuff has a place in video games. Being a gamer myself i am suprised at how kids as young as 7 and 8 who are able to play these games and watch sexually explicit movies. The problem is more rampant than you would realize.

Just the other day i had all the neighbor kids at my house playing with my kids and they were looking at my DVD collection. My kids were the only ones who hadn't seen movies like the Blade trilogy, Gladiator, Seven and others. I see this crap all the time at Wal Mart too. Couples in the DVD section asking thier kids if they have seen Dawn of the Dead before and if they want to get it.

**** i was in the last Friday the 13th movie when it was released and saw a couple that brought thier 5 year old and sat right in front of us. I was pissed. :whippin:

[jrockster21]

:doh:

There's nothing really to say about this, except :doh: Maybe they'll reopen the investigation into Janet Jackson's nipple next. Pretty soon, we'll have a completely nipple-free society. They'll add a clause into the next Patriot Act that forces everyone to snip off their nipples, to avoid future incidents.

We'll still have genocide in Africa, and a rampant AIDS problem, we'll still have people who are malnutritioned (abroad and right here at home), but its all good. We'll have a nippleless society. Woo-hoo!!!

:doh: