Edoropolis Emporium

"ESRB slaps dreaded rating on controverial best-seller; Take-Two lowers guidance; Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target pull game from shelves."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/20/news_6129500.html


hmm seems all of us who got the game when it first came out for the ps2/xbox now own a little piece of history, cool! 8)

It's kinda the principal of the thing~

What baffles me is the fact that there are parents that are now outraged, yet they let their kids get this game in the first place.
So killing police officers, innocent civilians, stealing cars, and dealing in drugs is ok...

.... Rrrrriiiiiiggghhhhhttttt~

Always a tough call, the money still has to be made by big business.

Heh, no money from me though, I was never a fan of any of the GTA series.

Burkey

hook your xbox/ps2 to you comp and download a action replay file save of it than bam you can play it. or you can hack the disk with a modded xbox to get to it. Or if you have the pc verson just download the patch to get it.


the only reason i see Rockstar is getting hit so bad is becuase they didnt tell the ESRB it was on the disk. remember when your game goes in for a rating you have to tell them everything thats on the disk, including broken code that MAY be used.

hmm what i find really funny is with all the killing, drug talk, and racsim in the game it gets an M rating. But introduce the most natural thing on earth, sex, then they pop a fuse "ZoMg Teh sExehiNGns" and it get hit with an AO rating.

i think the rating change was for a good cause. the ESRB didn't look thoroughly through the game before, but now i bet they're gonna knuckle up with their content ratings. frankly, i think that and the fact that fewer retailers selling GTA: San Andreas serve Rockstar right for selling such maniacal games.

i'm also someone who can't understand why some parents would let their kids get into that. it's like they're neglecting them, unaware of how influential games or movies can be. i mean, movies like "Child's Play" and "The Matrix" are rated R for the very same reasons games like "Resident Evil" and "Onimusha" are rated M -- intense violence, and/or strong language, and/or sexual content. young children, unfortunately, are prone to easily fall under these spells; and, i have to agree with Marurun, that parents should be blamed if they let their kids get brainwashed.

pshh i let my 10 year old cousin play GTA all the time and he hasnt gone crazy and kill everyone  ::)

Remember when Mortal Kombat came out (1992) and the everyone went ballistic.  The negative hype around it made it seem as if Western Society as we know it was being destroyed by this "awful, violent, sadistic" game.  This made me want buy it. So I did.  And now in looking back after years of playing it I don't think I'm a violent, agressive, or even ill tempered person.  The only "scar" its left me with is that I will never forget A-B-A-C-A-B-B. Same should apply to anyone playing GTA. :P

the problem was that they were exposing kids to violent games, when they should have focused only on the more mature audiences. some of you are naive enough to believe that games like those are just video games. well, you're dead wrong. why do i say that? click these links and see for yourself.

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-567.html

http://cathodetan.blogspot.com/2005/07/interview-with-gamerdad.html

http://www.public-domain-content.com/Video_games/Video_game_controversy.shtml

To this day, no one has demonstrated a clear cause/effect relationship between agressive tendencies and video games. Yes, there have been correlations, but this is meaningless unless you can say "X caused Y".

you know something, Sonic? you're right. i don't think we should have any more topics like this; they'd just start fights or debates. i'm sorry for what i just posted. this is just an issue i've felt so strongly about. but, i don't think this is the right place for such strong feelings. so, could you delete this topic, please?

No hard feelings, you bring up a vaild point, kids can get carried away.   It was just my opinion. 

There's nothing wrong with a healthy intellectual debate as long as no one takes any hard feelings. There certainly weren't any intended. :)

Aww, what about gun shooting?

Hmph.. *walks away*

Actually, I've never played any of the GTA, but yeah, keep kids away from material like this, as there is enough problems in the world as it is, and reinforcing the act of wanton sex, killing cops and stealing can't be anything but good. It's just common sense.

Burkey

After reading the past few posts, It seems that some things about the truth have been bent. I'd like to get a few things straitened out. First of all, yes you can download files for Action Replay, CodeBreaker, and Gameshark to unlock the "hidden code" that lets you have fully clothed sex in San Andreas. Can any 12 year old kid do it? Yes. Why? Because people have taken the time to find such things in the unfinished code. This code is stored in the main.scm file in the data directory in the San Andreas Game folder. Why someone would want to hack an unfinished code for san andreas that allows you to have sex is beyond me. They are just skinned polygon wire-frames. This "patch" for the pc version isn't a patch, iit is a mod that again, people took the time to finish and modify the code wich enebles you do watch CJ and his girlfriends have clothed sex. Why is this an issue? Because someone claimed it as a patch that you can easily download. The original development of the mod took a very long time to complete. However, someone went up to the news media and said that you can just unlock it like a secret car or somthing., wich is incorrect. Someone went out of their way, did a little hacking, and produced a mod for San Andreas so he can see polygon figues in action. Rockstar didn't complete the code for a reason. Why didn't they remove it?  I don't know.   My big  grand point to this very long and annoying post is that Rockstar shouldn't get punished for somthing some weirdo made. They were forced to  try to control somthing beyond their control. Rocstar North can not stop some guy from making a new code that makes the characters from commiting somthing gross like screwing with dead corpses. All it takes is time and talent. Rocstar can't help what people do with their game.....

On the lighter side, here is a little pic of one of my billboards in San Andreas:

[img width= height= alt=Image hosted by Photobucket.com]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/Unblessed_Zaku/gallery17.jpg[/img]

Rockstar can't be held  responsible for me putting KNT in SA....

If it's a mod, the parent company has liability and waiver stuff that the lawyers take care of.

Half-Life and all it's mods are prime examples.

I still don't like the games in general, shame people spend their hard work and talent on making poorly made clothed sex scenes in a game.

Whatever.

Burkey

GTA is not my territory, buuuuuut....

Can this still be called a "mod", when Gamespot has reported it to be hidden in the PS2 version as well?  :huh:

its not really a mod at all. The person who found the code on the pc verson only made the code work. he didnt include any sprites, sounds or anything. its already there on the disc, so yea you can do the same thing on the xbox/ps2 verson.

and to people who say its to violent, i'm just gonna sit back and laugh and enjoy playing GTA: SA

It flips a single bit. It changes a 0 to a 1. It really isn't a mod. (Although I still stand by my assertion that since it requires third party tools to access, it shouldn't be included in the ESRB's evaluation of the game)

ive played all the GTA's for the psx and ps2.. its been a great series and ive never wanted to get a rocket launcher and blow up some cars..

Since I deal with video games at the store I work at, this is the sum of the problem.

Due to content deemed equal to pornography, us stores took the games off the shelves, like, since when have you found porno in your local dept or toy store.


I know I've had my share of rejecting sales of GTA:SA to kids when they try to buy it, or even getting their parents to buy it, we warn them as well.


And dealing with a bit of Psyc and Sociology, the main problem with teens (and to a growing extent, older children) is that partents have less involvement in the raising of their children in comparison to the children's actual peers and ..... Television and the media.

The problem with what the ESRB did was now people are going to be searching for ROMS of the game, which are free, and now will be easier to get than the game.  So, before when we only let people that were 18 or older rent the game where I work, 12 to 13-year-olds are going to be able to get their hands on it for FREE!!!  Kind of messed up, I know.

Basically, the ESRB just made things worse by getting involved.