Rockstar accidentally censors GTA IV, fix coming 'within hours'

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 19th 2009 at 8:15PM }

Many of Liberty City's proxy residents who'd returned to the crime-riddled metropolis following the release of The Lost and Damned were recently perplexed by what appeared to be some random acts of censorship that tagged along with the expansion -- certain European versions of GTA IV suddenly lacked the game's most NSFW elements. Namely, bullet infused corpses no longer spilled excessive pools of blood, and when in the company of a paid escort, camera control was stripped of the player while said escort performed the services she was contracted to execute. (Hooker sex, people. We mean hooker sex.)

This censorship seemed an odd addendum to an expansion which unapologetically brought us a faceful of prong -- as it turns out, the censorship was indeed accidental. At least, that's the claim of Rockstar, who attribute the "error" to the game's latest title update. Why the changes were incorporated into the update in the first place, or why only certain copies of the game were affected is still a mystery, but Rockstar is hoping to release a quick de-censoring patch "within the next few hours."

Tags: gtaiv, hookers, patch, rockstar, the-lost-and-damned

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Justin Minsker @ Feb 19th 2009 8:21PM

Censor or no, hookers don't get a second chance. MISS YOU FANNIE

horngreen @ Feb 19th 2009 8:22PM

this is no accident. this is another obvious pr stunt from this company. the simple fact they can patch it within hours tells me that.

DarrenHollywood @ Feb 19th 2009 9:46PM

I hope that my sarcasm detector just isn't working, because this comment is annoying.

Rockstar has two versions of the game, the censored version for other countries and the uncensored version. The Censors are probably very simple switches they toggle while building the code. Someone probably just toggled it incorrectly for the U.S. Build.

Remember they wanted it censored for other countries, so we probably just got a build that was meant for Australia.

Urza @ Feb 19th 2009 11:17PM

Agreed, sounds like the patch for the different regions got mixed up.

dark_inchworm (on Steam!) dark inchworm (on XBL!) @ Feb 19th 2009 11:23PM

A publicity stunt indeed! I can't wait to pick up my own copy of GTA IV and check out the NEWLY-CENSORED ACTION.

dipshit

SenorTinman @ Feb 19th 2009 8:23PM

I think it was a disgruntled employee for Australia, who wanted gamers to get a taste of the censorship Australian gamers have to deal with.

Baby J Penn (PSN johnnynumber5) @ Feb 19th 2009 8:52PM

PS3 is region free. Not sure what the cost is to import games from the states but it allows the user to circumvent the censorship and allows them to play the game the way the developer intended. Not sure about the 360 but I think it's region locked.

Jason @ Feb 19th 2009 8:34PM

"Hooker sex people, we mean Hooker sex" I lmaoed you guys do say funny shit sometimes lol.

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Feb 19th 2009 8:42PM

And all these years I have been calling it prostitution or paid sex.

evilkoala @ Feb 19th 2009 8:35PM

Shouldn't the picture have him holding a flower instead of a gun... just to go along with the title?

michas_pi @ Feb 19th 2009 8:41PM

A squirt gun would be better.

iSwarm @ Feb 19th 2009 8:34PM

I don't think it was a stunt but it wouldn't surprise me if they had a patch to censor the game. In case they need to apply it in order to get a release in certain countries that would reject it otherwise. Definitely would be a lot faster to have one handy instead of building one from scratch.

Donald @ Feb 19th 2009 8:35PM

Did the error accidentally remove the face full of prong as well?

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Feb 19th 2009 8:41PM

OH Noez accidentaly the whole gaem!

meth0dical @ Feb 20th 2009 3:20AM

this got my downvote.

norp @ Feb 19th 2009 8:49PM

I assume this is related to the censorship that is in the Australian version of the game (which did just what was mentioned) that managed to make it into the global title update.

The ironic bit is that L&D does not have this censorship on Australian consoles as the expansion made it past the classification board unscathed even with the content that was refused last time.

Baby J Penn (PSN johnnynumber5) @ Feb 19th 2009 8:49PM

Can anyone comment on how good the GTA expansion is? Is it worth 1/3 the price of the game?

I've heard it's like they added another game within the game. Curious to know what some of you with hands on think about it.

deaftly @ Feb 19th 2009 10:18PM

http://i40.tinypic.com/iw1wk7.jpg

ChiTownRuler23 @ Feb 19th 2009 11:51PM

the 20 dollars you spend on this DLC is well worth it trust me. between the new story and the new weapons this is a great buy other games that cost 60 dont even last 10 hours (points to mirrors edge) and if you are fan of San Andreas then youll like the new gang wars

Baby J Penn (PSN johnnynumber5) @ Feb 19th 2009 11:55PM

Deaftly,

Do you have some sort of contractual agreement that only allows you to post pictures and one liners? It's really not an insult because you can be quite funny. It's just strange that you come to a gaming blog but never actually have an opinion about anything.

Baby J Penn (PSN johnnynumber5) @ Feb 20th 2009 12:04AM

@ChiTown

Thanks dude!

I don't plan on buying it or anything I was just wondering if it was all it was cracked up to be before GTA IV was released. It looks pretty good from the few bits and pieces I have seen online. Honestly, it looks REALLY good and does seem more like a fulle game opposed to DLC.

Markez @ Feb 20th 2009 1:17AM

John, from everything I've heard, and from the enjoyment my buddy next door has gotten outta GTAIV since I loaned it to him (brand new 360 owner) makes me fairly confident I'll have a good enough time with the DLC to pay the asking price. Plus, I've really come to enjoy the fact that I can find extra replay value in cheevos.

I know you, myself, and Deaftly had all scrapped in the past but I think we're all over it. Or maybe I was just instigating :P Obviously we all come here because we really dig Joystiq and appreciate it in different ways, and I've sorely been missing Deaftly posting more often. I'm hoping he's gainfully employed since I last heard him say otherwise. This is the worst (obviously) I've ever seen things and have too many friends who have been laid off.

And vaseline? Really?

deaftly @ Feb 20th 2009 8:18AM

Im not really into the fanboy arguements, or writing anymore so i'd rather just make people laugh. I love games and this site and most of the people here. Including you for even finding that xzibit pic because its full of awesome.

deaftly @ Feb 20th 2009 8:23AM

Markez, still on the hunt my friend. Appreciate the kind words.

michas_pi @ Feb 19th 2009 8:56PM

Rockstar should patch in more BEEG AMERIKAN TEE-TEES.

Tazo @ Feb 19th 2009 9:12PM

I REALLY hope this doesn't mean that the Australian copies of TLAD will be patched too so that the 'NSFW' content is now censored... It really does seem like they just made a mix up with the regions since they actually programmed a censored version of TLAD...

I was really enjoying being able to see the pools of blood and getting to see how the prostitution system worked in the game too (and the pedestrian dialogue of people begging for their lifes when aiming a gun at them).

It will be really upsetting if our copy is censored again. This was a great example of why the Australian Classification Board is flawed, and I was hoping it might be a great step towards getting an R18+ rating here in Australia also...

Halwende @ Feb 22nd 2009 7:27PM

From what I can tell the strip clubs are still censored, but now the hooker thing no longer locks the camera to the ground (this is the Oz version of course)

It's been a few days now, wonder if they'll change it back?

Oh and the actual male cut-scene in question wasn't censored at all

Tazo @ Feb 22nd 2009 11:39PM

Oh the strip club censorship is the same everywhere, if you are referring to the tape over the women's nipples. So far the Australian copy hasn't been patched/censored, so I'm still very happy to be playing the game as it's meant to be played!

The prostitute system is awesome, I had no idea you could pay different amounts for different services, so realistic hahaha.

Lekko @ Feb 19th 2009 9:52PM

So that would make this re-heated coffee, yes?

Sean @ Feb 19th 2009 9:58PM

Cold coffee...(face palm)

dylan @ Feb 19th 2009 11:18PM

I have never hear the term "Prong" for anything other than the tine of a horn. Is this new slang? Back in my days it was a Schlong.

slycooper_rocker @ Feb 20th 2009 12:05AM

me and my friends still call it a wang.

Tomasooie @ Feb 19th 2009 11:05PM

Did the patch ruin untargeted attacks with the baseball bat or knife for anyone else in the US?

Urza @ Feb 19th 2009 11:17PM

I think that's called game balance. :P

Tomasooie @ Feb 19th 2009 11:45PM

No, before the latest patch, when wielding a baseball bat or knife, you could press B to swing it. Now, you can only swing a bat or a knife while you're targeting. Afterwards, it'll let you swing without targeting for about a minute, and then it won't work anymore.

Go on, try it on your game.
I'm trying to get more people aware of this. It needs to be fixed.

Also, while playing Niko's story, the new songs aren't identifiable on ZiT, which pretty much ruins ZiT on Niko's story if you downloaded the Lost and Damned, because half of the time, when you use ZiT, it'll tell you it can't identify the song when it's clearly playing in the car radio.