GTA: San Andreas dumbest moment 2005
by Blake Snow 
{ Jan 30th 2006 at 2:00AM }
In Business 2.0's "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" of 2005, the
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sex scandal takes the 15th spot on the list. The "Hot Coffee Mod" left
in the game by developers allowed access to sexually explicit content within the game and was discovered by a Dutch
programmer back in June of 2005. From the article: "Already marked 'Mature' for 'blood and gore, intense violence,
strong language, stong sexual content, and use of drugs,' the game gets rerated 'Adults Only,' causing Target and
Wal-mart to pull it from stores. Take-Two's quarterly revenues fall $40 million short of projections."[Business 2.0 January/February 2006 issue]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bangbang... @ Jan 30th 2006 2:55AM
what were we thinking allowing young childern (18 year olds) to access a scene in a video game that shows dry humping.
seifer @ Jan 30th 2006 2:59AM
Heaven forbid they leave adult content in a game already rated Mature that you couldn't normally access until some made a mod for it.
fawazr @ Jan 30th 2006 3:24AM
Wry comments aside, this was a dumb move on their part. They had a license to print money with the GTA franchise and they just about screwed themselves over by not exercising oversight on the product they ship. The whole reaction about the mod is pretty stupid IMO, but it's really their fault for finally giving critics a reason to bury them. Sorry, but you just can't defend that sort of idiocy.
lop_posse @ Jan 30th 2006 3:51AM
What I don't get is why video games are held to a different standard than other forms of media. Movies for example show much worse than any M game and there is no push to criminalize sales of R movies. Plus isn't a M rated game about what a R rating would be(thats how I've always viewed it)? If I saw the content of the mod in a movie I would think it hardly would make it an R. Stores aren't removing R movies from the shelves that show actual nudity/sex and forced to be given an XXX rating. Why video games?
Pretty Obvious @ Jan 30th 2006 3:52AM
Sorry but im with Rockstar on this one. The game is already rated M for mature with strong sexual content, so wtf??
The damn mod isnt even accessible to non modders so what the hell is the big deal. People really disgust me sometimes.
dusda @ Jan 30th 2006 4:03AM
Why is this still getting press?
mccdyl001 @ Jan 30th 2006 4:24AM
GTA:San Andreas. Developer slip up results in a $40 million decline. Damn thats gotta hurt. So what do they do?
Get a developer to "slip up" on the new release of their game for the PSP, allowing people owning the game to run home brew software. Sales go up $40 million.
You win some, you lose some.
I personally don't think kids should be playing this game anyway. Regardless.
Abe Froman @ Jan 30th 2006 7:47AM
The reason why videogames are held to a different/higher standard than television, movies, or literature is because they're interactive. Right or wrong, the fact that they're interactive is what concerns people about the content.
Alex K. @ Jan 30th 2006 7:57AM
the point is that it was a dumb move, not whether or not the actual sex scene crossed the line.
however, it is illegal to watch sexual videos if you are under 18 in the U.S., so the rating had to go up because the ESRB had to save its own ass, and so many stores have a policy against selling sexually explicit material (wal-mart doesnt even sell explicit albums if i remember right) so according to their policy they don't sell games with AO ratings.
so it was a stupid business move. there was no reason the san andreas developers had to put the game in there. it was just stupid.
i think it's important for companies to get a $40 million slap on the wrist for things like this - they need to learn to make good games instead of just pushing the envelope in sex, violence, and drugs just for the fun of it.
DKNY @ Jan 30th 2006 8:24AM
I don't buy that this was a dumb move on Take Two's part. I mean, if they played the whole game through several times (which I have no doubt they didn't do, because what publisher would), they wouldn't have noticed it. The only way they would've found it would be if Rockstar told them, or if they tried prying open the install files to see what could be modded, which is above and beyond the call of duty for a publisher. So blaming them for not finding it---well that's just plain silly.
I'm far from convinced that Hot Coffee is the reason Take Two is in trouble---it sounds more like it has to do with bloated expense accounts than that gosh-darn ultra-selling-hit---but even if it does, it seems like Rockstar is to blame here, and TT was just their patsies.
Rob @ Jan 30th 2006 8:49AM
Alex, you are a little loose with your definitions there.
If the sex is in something R rated, irrelevant, it is not illegal, there are no laws against it. IMHO, there's no way Hot Coffee rates above an R.
Clay @ Jan 30th 2006 8:53AM
Although I can see why all of this is causing so much of a fuss, on the other hand, I really can't. I mean, we all know what the game is about. This really isn't a big deal.
Further, I read the suit put on T2 by California and they said that "Hot Coffee" was caused by a modification of the game code but is not normally accessable. However, they justify their suit by saying that it's in the nature of gamers to produce mods for GTA. Yeah, maybe on PC. But mods for the PS2/XBox?
Of course, I don't actually have the game installed to know about the modding community or such. It just seems like it's all blown out of proportion (as is everything that we see on TV or read in the news is...)
DG @ Jan 30th 2006 9:27AM
"The reason why videogames are held to a different/higher standard than television, movies, or literature is because they're interactive."
Apparently, you've never read "Choose Your Own Adventure."
I would just like to echo what we've all heard countless times before: There's a very real problem with American sensibilities if it is okay to show wonton violence but not show simulated sex. The the boob is mightier than the sword is a concept I can't understand.
Abe Froman @ Jan 30th 2006 9:53AM
Yes, I've read some of the Choose Your Own Adventure line of books. But I wouldn't really categorize that as interactive relative to videogames. If so, then movies and television are interactive, too (multi-angle DVD functions, NASCAR multi-camera/channel events, etc.).
Smartguy...
kanzaki @ Jan 30th 2006 12:13PM
"I would just like to echo what we've all heard countless times before: There's a very real problem with American sensibilities if it is okay to show wonton violence but not show simulated sex. The the boob is mightier than the sword is a concept I can't understand."
That's exactly the point, it was fine that you could simulate any act of violence you could virtually imagine... but we'll raise the rating for virtual concentual sex, no matter how bad it was.
Charles Gadiosi @ Jan 30th 2006 1:54PM
Business 2.0's full list is available online, actually, and also features EA and Infinium Labs...
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/101dumbest/full_list/