As Congressman Fred Upton's Video Game Decency Act continues to percolate through Congress, Upton (R-MI) is singing its praises to the press, telling his local paper, the Niles Daily Star, "This legislation will restore parents' trust in a system in which game makers had intentionally deceived the ratings board to deliver violent and pornographic material to our kids."

This whole foofaraw kicked off when Rockstar Games tucked away some sex-related gameplay into Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and, while the content was only accessible by using hacking tools, it was there for the minigaming. When word got out, lawsuits flowed like coffee, and Rockstar rushed out a "clean" version in order to avoid the dreaded "Adults Only" rating. The Video Game Decency Act would make it a crime to hide such content from the ESRB, the independent ratings board created by the industry in 1994 to avoid federal regulation.

Seems pretty reasonable, right? Well, it is. Whether you believe all sexual content deserves an "AO" rating or not, developers who want a rating from the ESRB should fully disclose anything that might affect that rating. But if the bill passes, the government will finally have its paws in the game rating pie, in a very official (and probably irreversible) way -- exactly what the ESRB was founded to prevent. Fine by you? Or is this the next step on a slippery slope of governmental control that will end with a dystopian, 1984-style wasteland?

[Via GamePolitics]

Ghetto is fabulous in the land of the rising sun, as GTA: San Andreas hits #1 on the Japanese sales chart. The game, which represents the U.S. in all its early '90s, drive-by, 40 pourin', in da hood and gang-bangin' glory days, premiered at the top spot selling close to a quarter million units. Cooking Mama and Brain Age are out, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E be in da house $%&%a'-%&#@ers!

So now we wait for the first piece of controversy to flow out of Japan. If nothing else, GTA is always good for some stories of an absurd nature following any release.

See also: Boston transit system bans M rated game ads

It takes a brave man (or woman) to try his hand on the dangerous streets of GTA:SA, and an even braver man (or woman) to try those streets on a motorcycle. Then to go above and beyond that, and drive like a complete and total maniac? Fugeddaboutit.

Thankfully, someone else has done all the work for you, slapped a thrashing soundtrack to it, and uploaded it to YouTube. All you have to do now is sit back, hit play, and enjoy. Better yet, watch it, and then go out and try it all yourself. Virtually, that is. Please don't try this at home. Unless you're trying it on your console. We don't mean standing on your console, we mean ... ah, forget it. Just watch the darn thing.

You might be quick to think something rather shifty is going on behind the scenes with such a large quantity of sales, but remember that GCM is a hedge fund with a fiduciary responsibility to its investors, and Take Two's stock has been on a steady rise since the FTC concluded its investigation of the Hot Coffee incident in June.

[Via Seeking Alpha and Dubious Quality]

With controversy having cooled, Capcom has reached a deal with Rockstar to localize, publish, and distribute the PlayStation 2 version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in Japan. The release is scheduled for January, a full 27 months after the game's initial debut in North America. What's with the delay? Guess car jacking and gang banging doesn't move units at quite the same pace in Japan.

Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the famed Grand Theft Auto series, is under pressure to complete its quarterly report. NASDAQ has filed a non-compliance on the company for failing to report its July 31, 2006 statement on time. If Take-Two fails to comply, the company may have its stocks de-listed from NASDAQ, which would cause havoc with the share prices.

Take-Two's official stance is that they wish to review their stock options before releasing the financial report, though taking over three months to do so is suspect. According to the SEC, 10-Q forms (the form Take-Two is late on) must be filed within 40 days of the end of the financial period. There's gotta be something more than a simple review of stock options going on.

Could Take-Two be shuffling around records to hide or eliminate a fraudulent transaction? Maybe the media exposure over Bully has hampered sales; TT could be stalling for time to release the bad news, hoping the share price impact is softened by strong holiday sales outlooks. In any case, Take-Two needs to get their act together or investors may look elsewhere to keep their retirement assets. If so, TT would need a mega-hit series to keep the investor's money from falling out of their pockets ... oh, wait.

Rockstar Games and Medicom Toy Company have teamed up to release a set of action figures inspired by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The limited edition set is part of the famous Kubrick line of toys. The set of five includes Tommy Vercetti, Lance Vance, Ricardo Diaz, Candi Suxx, and Ken Rosenberg, scruples-free attorney.

Toys teach kids to kill? Barbie caught in hot coffee scandal? The bad jokes are limitless.

The set will be available this fall, but you can pre-order now for $35 -- that's nearly one-fourth the cost of the Fierce Deity Link. How often do you get to say that a Sony (inspired) product is vastly cheaper than a Nintendo (inspired) product?

[via PSP Fanboy]

[update 1: Misread the sales page; the entire Grand Theft Auto Kubrick line has been in development for two years, not just this Vice City set. Snark removed.]

The Federal Trade Commision today handed down its final verdict regarding the "Hot Coffee" controversy. While not fined, the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection director Lydia Parnes stated that the hidden sex game, and publisher Take-Two's subsequent coverup, "undermined the industry's own rating system and deceived consumers," adding that "parents have the right to rely on the accuracy of the entertainment rating system."

The harsh words give the impression that this is the game industry's final warning on the subject of full disclosure to ratings systems -- the FTC ruling did note that all future violations by Take-Two will results in an $11,000 fine per violation (i.e. per game sold). As GameSpot extrapolated, with 7.27 million copies of San Andreas sold in the US, Take Two would have had to pay almost $80 billion dollars.

The Hot Coffee incident involves a sex minigame found in the code of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which could only be found by hacking the title or downloading user-made modifications. Although difficult to find (and play), its inherent inclusion (and Take Two's initial denial) ignited anti-game activists and more than a few opportunistic lawmakers into action.

[Thanks, SickNic]