GTA: San Andreas re-rated to AO (Adults only)

[horrorkid64 0]

Taken from here:

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050720005870&newsLang=en

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Announces Conclusion of ESRB Investigation

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 20, 2005--Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO):

-- ESRB assigns Adults Only 18+ (AO) rating for current version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas due to unauthorized third party Hot Coffee modification

-- Rockstar Games to cease manufacture of current version of title and offer a downloadable patch to prevent modification of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PC

-- Company lowers third quarter and fiscal year guidance to reflect the expected negative impact on the title's retail performance

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) 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.

As a result of the re-rating of the game, Take-Two is lowering guidance for the third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2005 to $160 to $170 million in net sales and a net loss per share of $(0.40) to $(0.45) to provide reserves for the value of the title's current North American retail inventory. Accordingly, guidance for the fiscal year ending October 31, 2005 is also being lowered to $1.26 to $1.31 billion in net sales and $1.05 to $1.12 in diluted earnings per share.

Take-Two and Rockstar Games have always worked to keep mature-themed video game content out of the hands of children and we will continue to work closely with the ESRB and community leaders to improve and better promote a reliable rating system to help consumers make informed choices about which video games are appropriate for each individual, said Paul Eibeler, Take-Two's President and Chief Executive Officer. The ESRB's decision to re-rate a game based on an unauthorized third party modification presents a new challenge for parents, the interactive entertainment industry and anyone who distributes or consumes digital content. Rockstar Games is pleased that the investigation is now settled and they look forward to returning their focus to making innovative and groundbreaking video games for a mature audience.

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.

Rockstar Games will be making available shortly a downloadable software patch to render Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PC impervious to the hot coffee modification. Rockstar encourages parent groups and political leaders to assist with distribution of the patch to prevent the content of the modification from spreading further.

About Take-Two Interactive Software

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) is an integrated global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games and accessories for the PC, PlayStation® game console, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) system, the Xbox® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube™, Nintendo DS™ and Game Boy® Advance. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned labels Rockstar Games, 2K Games, 2K Sports and Global Star Software; and distributes products in North America through its Jack of All Games subsidiary. Take-Two also manufactures and markets video game accessories in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region through its Joytech subsidiary. The Company maintains sales and marketing offices in Cincinnati, New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Munich, Madrid, Vienna, Milan, Sydney, Breda (Netherlands) and Auckland. Take-Two's common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at www.take2games.com.

All trademarks and copyrights contained herein are the property of their respective holders.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The statements contained herein which are not historical facts are considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to them. The Company has no obligation to update such forward-looking statements. Actual results may vary significantly from these forward-looking statements based on a variety of factors. These important factors are described in the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2005 in the section entitled Cautionary Statement and Risk Factors.

[KurtangleTN 10]

Sad, but it wont mess with any people who havent bought it. Mothers and Fathers will still buy it for there little kids.

[thatmonkeysim 8]

all because of people do illegal things... a great game is put to rest...

[MayorVieira 1]

You know what they say... no publicity is bad publicity. I don't believe the game sales will drop after the incident.

In my opinion, R* is not the one to blame with this hot coffee thing. The game's content isn't suitable for children, with or without the mod. It's the parents' fault that their kids have access to the game... and especially to the mod.

 

[jakeweaver2500 0]

I would think that sales would drop, since major retailers would not be carrying it and an AO rating is a lot different from a M rating.

 

On a side not how many games have been given Adults Only rating's? I cant think of one but I am sure their is some.

[itismenotyou 0]

The reason nobody really hears about AO games and NC-17 movies is becuase nobody will carry them. All the major retailers have announced they're pulling all 3 versions from the shelves until they get new versions that romove the content entirely.


On the other hand, can anyone say collectors item?

[Ma8thew 77]

I think it was a bad decision by someone at Rockstar to include this, but I also think that parents who buy their nine year old kid this shouldn't be so up-in-arms about this. The game already had extreme violence in it, and IMHO that is worse than sexually expilicit scenes.

[itismenotyou 0]

Thats America for you. Its one of the few things that really make me hate my country. We can show people dying horrible graphic violent deaths of TV and its perfectly fine, but the moment someone sees a breast, its an obscene disgusting abomdination that must be destroyed.

You'd think politicians would want to focus their attention on balancing the budget or improving education and national defense, but no, we have to protect the children from pixel porn.

[ADG 0]

So they don't mind their 18 year olds to play a game where you can drive around downtown at full speed killing lots of people because of the driving, and then get out of the car to shoot a lot more innocent people (including police) with lots of different weapons. But as soon as it includes just a little softcore (I guess?) sex scenes you have to be much older than 18 to play it?

[horrorkid64 0]

Date: 7/21/2005 6:42:46 AM
Author: ADG
So they don't mind their 18 year olds to play a game where you can drive around downtown at full speed killing lots of people because of the driving, and then get out of the car to shoot a lot more innocent people (including police) with lots of different weapons. But as soon as it includes just a little softcore (I guess?) sex scenes you have to be much older than 18 to play it?

quote>

Just to clarify the ratings:

MATURE
Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language.

ADULTS ONLY
Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.

GTA:SA had been rated M ealier.

For more information go to the ESRB site:

http://www.esrb.org/esrbratings_guide.asp

[gstommylee 6]

rockstar is stopping all production on the current version. they are gonna release the new version with out these sections . they are also going to release a patch for the current pc version. The new version is gonna get the M rating.

Stores are pulling the curret version of the game off the shleves. and probably will place the new version on shelves.

[GrayWolf115 0]

Not meaning to break the flow of conversation here, but what is the hot coffee mod? Lol I didn't even know gta:sa was out on pc.

[ADG 0]

Date: 7/21/2005 9:42:33 AM
Author: horrorkid64
Just to clarify the ratings:


MATURE

Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language.


ADULTS ONLY

Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.


GTA:SA had been rated M ealier.


For more information go to the ESRB site:


http://www.esrb.org/esrbratings_guide.asp

quote>

That still doesn't give any reason why GTA SA should be rated AO, just because of the coffee mod
I probably wouldn't have complained if the game had been rated AO without the leftovers, but what enrages me is that this small coffee game can make that change

Ok, I haven't tried that mod myself, but I tried to imagine the worst case scenario, and even then I can't see how that mod could change the game from M to AO

[itismenotyou 0]

Date: 7/21/2005 12:15:58 PM
Author: GrayWolf115
Not meaning to break the flow of conversation here, but what is the hot coffee mod? Lol I didn't even know gta:sa was out on pc.

quote>

The hot coffee mod is an add-on that allows you to play a sex 'game' after dating the girlfriends already in the game. Needless to say, if you don't want to read a discription of it, don't read this post.

In the normal game, girlfriends would invite you in their homes after dates to 'have some coffee.' The screen would stay outside the house and you'd hear them having sex.

The hot coffee mod actually shows the characters having sex and makes a game out of it. Without getting to graphic here, you have to control your character to 'suceed' with having sex. The girlfriend performs sex acts on the main character, who is still fully clothed. The girlfriend is nude, however only her breasts and butt are shown. Other than that, no other body parts are shown. If you look around the net enough, you can find a video of this, but for obvious reasons, I'm not going to say anything more about that.

[Stik Fig 2]

I'm glad i got this game before it went ao. I've never understood the big deal with these people freaking out about these games omg my son tommy just started swearing and shooting people, where did he learn this!
And usually it's the parents who bought the game. I don't see why this game isn't ao all ready, I mean you can use prostitutes, kill cops with a sex toy, and shoot people's heads off. I mean I love the game, but I am mature enough to leave it in the game and understand that it's wrong. I also don't understand that its not okay to have sex and vioklence in a video game, but is plastered over every other type of media. (Excuse the speeling please)

[Compromise 1]

The fact that a mod can change the way the game runs means that rockstar needs some quality control. I am suprised that after what is in it already that a small change showing a bit more bad stuff can upgrade it suddenley to adults only. It propley should have been adults only the first time alogth with parents buying for there children it it will not make a slight diffrence to who plays it.

[horrorkid64 0]

It's interesting that the whole thing seems to be an US only issue. I haven't heard of any other countries where GTA would have been re-rated.

Well, however - The Sims 2 seems to be Jack Thompson's next target:

Sims 2 content worse than Hot Coffee

[Zelgadis 638]

Date: 7/21/2005 6:40:12 AM
Author: itismenotyou
Thats America for you. Its one of the few things that really make me hate my country. We can show people dying horrible graphic violent deaths of TV and its perfectly fine, but the moment someone sees a breast, its an obscene disgusting abomdination that must be destroyed.


You'd think politicians would want to focus their attention on balancing the budget or improving education and national defense, but no, we have to 'protect the children' from pixel porn.

quote>

Absolutely, completely, totally correct. Anyone who's old enough to see what's in the regular game is old enough to see anything else.

Blow away a police officer? Oh sure, that's fine. Show a breast and/or a little action? Can't have that!

It seems that our culture has not yet caught up with the video game/anime generation, of which I'm a part. Video games were kids stuff when I was growing up, but now video games and anime are no longer just kids stuff. Many of us are adults now and have the right to see whatever we like.

I'm 28 years old now and I gotta shoot stuff. Better it happen in a digital environment, yes?

ISF

[The Game 2]

Date: 7/23/2005 9:23:12 PM Author: horrorkid64 It's interesting that the whole thing seems to be an US only issue. I haven't heard of any other countries where GTA would have been re-rated. Well, however - 'The Sims 2' seems to be Jack Thompson's next target: Sims 2 content 'worse than Hot Coffee'

 

This is not likely considering how thin and unsubstantial his claims seem to be be, he seems to me to source mods and other features that are and have no part of the origional coding and thus have nothing to do with maxis.

 

Plus think about how many angry sims 2 owners their would be clinching Jack Thompsons Short and Curly's if he got that game banned. There is no cause to as their is with their is with the Hot Coffee issue.

 

But on the Hot coffee subject I think this just goes to highlight how carefull digital companies have to be in this day and age.

 

To have this thing laying dormant within the game was something that never should have hapened. And should make all gaming companies wary to what coding sources they provide to the gaming communities.

 

I think so that the coding does not in their faces in the way it has with the hot coffee issue. Companies like EA and Rockstar should have greater input into the modding community from day one helping them rather than inpending them and highlight those who do the right thing as far as modding is considered and distance themselves from people who doing the wrong thing as far as modding is concerned.  

[kassarc16 4]

People like Thompson will always find things to complain about no matter what anyone does.

[Compromise 1]

Jack Tompson is really starting to miss the point and sound like a idiout. The Sims 2 is fine at T for Teens.

[djrules5454 5]

I agree with Compromise and kassarc16, and also think that he is being a jerk to EA & Maxis, as they have limited control over what is done, except to realease updates that wipe out these textures.

[Dolfan348488 0]

Ok...so the M rating means you have to be 17 to buy the game...and by changing it to AO, that means you have to be an entire year older [18]?

Im sorry, but this seems more like a publicity stunt than anything. What does changing it from M to AO have anything to do with kids? Its still inappropriate for them with either rating.

[nealos101 20]

Date: 7/24/2005 1:03:16 PM Author: Dolfan348488 Ok...so the M rating means you have to be 17 to buy the game...and by changing it to AO, that means you have to be an entire year older [18]?  Im sorry, but this seems more like a publicity stunt than anything.  What does changing it from M to AO have anything to do with kids?  Its still inappropriate for them with either rating.

quote>

The point is parents are buying it for them... Ignoring the rating no matter what it says.

 

I think what it is they've raised a little brat and the only way to shut them up is to buy this game... And who said spanking is cruel? It's what every chavvish-selfish child needs IMHO...

 

With disrespect to the Hot Coffee Modder and Sims2 Modder... He/they must have a very small love life... if not none. Want to see sex in a viogame? Why not go out and buy singles?

 

Nealos101.

[Ratieya455 1]

Date: 7/24/2005 1:03:16 PM
Author: Dolfan348488
Ok...so the M rating means you have to be 17 to buy the game...and by changing it to AO, that means you have to be an entire year older [18]?


Im sorry, but this seems more like a publicity stunt than anything. What does changing it from M to AO have anything to do with kids? Its still inappropriate for them with either rating.

quote>

Yes, an extra year does not seem like much. But, it has to do with what the rating means. The M rating is usually applied to games with a ton of violence and/or language, which many parents find acceptable for their teens. The AO rating is applied mostly applied only to games with strong sexual content, which most parents do not find acceptable for their teens.

I'm pretty sure it is a legal issue as well. It is not illegal to sell an M-rated game to a person under 17, but stores enforce it themselves. However, I am pretty sure it is illegal to sell an AO game to a minor.

[simzebu 20]

I just want to make sure I have this right. If you have the old version, and you BREAK THE LAW by not abiding by your user agreement, then you will see content that the creator more than likely did not mean to put in the final version.
If you have ever played the game, you know that it is HUGE! There are so many things that are in there, it would be virtually impossible to catch every single thing. I bet they were going to but it in and then decided not to. It was forgotten, and left in small coding anomalies, which someone found, exploited, and shared.

And what about versions for PS2 and other consols? Can you downolad it for them? How? The thing would need to be TINY! With a game that big, a substantial change would mean more than what could be put on a memory card. So did they change the rating on the PS2 and consol versions?


EDIT: And one more thing: If R* is not going to produce any more of the original, why is the rating still going to be raised? Because I bet they're going through the ENTIRE game, and editing out all scrap coding, all hidden things, so that the game is unable to be modified in any way.

EDIT 2: And could you not do the same thing to any other game, most especially those in the GTA series? Would it not be possible to add prostitutes to Sim City 4? Oh, sorry, they allready HAVE THEM! IN AN E RATED GAME! HOW SICK IS THAT!

[Duke87 1,070]

I copied this from www.gamegirladvance.com :

 

What's okay in GTA (the series) for seventeen year olds:

Assault with a deadly weapon.

Battery

Murder

Assassination

Vehicular homicide/manslaughter

Grand theft auto (duh)

Sex with prostitutes (tastefully hidden!)

Racketeering

Drug trafficking

What's not okay in GTA (the series) for seventeen year olds:

Consentual softcore sex between two adults, one of which is fully clothed.

What's okay in Sims (the series) for thirteen year olds:

Removing a ladder from a pool to induce drowning.

Locking someone in a room until they die from exhaustion.

Intentionally getting sims to wet/soil themselves.

Voyeurism (Sims taking showers)

Tricking people into setting themselves on fire in a kitchen.

What's not okay in Sims (mostly 2) for thirteen year olds:

Consentual implied sex between two adults, nudity mosaic'd out and they basically play under the sheets making monkey and dog noises.

 

Good points there, eh?

 

[The Evil Octopus Man 25]

I like what Maddox had to say about this.

Warning: Page contains language not reccomended for use in front of your mother/father.

[joexcooldude 1]

Honestly...i always thought that the pixel porn was hilarious...instead of trying to get it banned from GTA:SA we should be laughing...and trying to end poverty...but apparently pixel porn was more important...who elected these morons?

[trixin 2]

I never liked the GTA series, I always thought they were stupid and pointless. I don't feel sorry about GTA:SA getting the AO rating even though it was unfair in certain ways.