[Hari Seldon]

Get it while it's hot (coffee)!

anyway, i've purchased the game now... so anyone got a URL for the patch?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Slade]

Bah. I'd be more concerned with how this game is just a contrived ripoff of the last two GTA games. Give me GTA3 over this piece of crap or Vice City any day. Though VC did give me fond memories of Scarface.

[Chyld]

According to my resident tech staff (ie, talking to Dr Lecter on MSN), unlocking said mod is simply a matter of changing one number. And they were suprised when people unlocked it? I hate this damned species!

[Laughlyn]

Dude, in programmer terms finding a one number switch is like searching through a haystack hoping that someone left a needle inside. Tons of games have junk left inside, from unused graphics to coding notes.

Someone at rockstar evidently had the good sense to pull the plug on the idea, and since it's not accessible without modifying your copy of the game, it makes you wonder what all the fuss is about stateside. Leave it to misinformed mass idiots to turn a laugh at some freak programmers' expense into a puritanical crusade. Particularly with the PS2 version, since the effort involved just to see some dodgy polygon sex is rather extreme.

You know what's next don't you; A government agency that searches every last fucking piece of game code. Middle class morons\Perverts worldwide pledge their support and decompile anything they can get their hands on.

Hot news for next week; 'Mario in koopa violation scandal.'

[reiner]

You know what's next don't you; A government agency that searches every last fucking  piece of game code. Middle class morons\Perverts worldwide pledge their support and decompile anything they can get their hands on.

Hot news for next week; 'Mario in koopa violation scandal.'

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Could mean more paying jobs

[barend]

Bah. I'd be more concerned with how this game is just a contrived ripoff of the last two GTA games. Give me GTA3 over this piece of crap or Vice City any day. Though VC did give me fond memories of Scarface.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

VC will always be my fav just for it's setting, but SA is freaking huge!!!

and being able to swim is just aws...

wait...

i'll go to the game room.

[floppydisk]

The court has to decide 2 things here.

1) Is the material accessable from an UNMODIFIED version of the game brought from a retail store. (this includes without patches)

2) Can developers be held responsible for what the mod community does with thier game?

A yes to either of these questions will result in an AO rating for the game.

[Laughlyn]

If 2 gets ruled, then every game featuring a female character (or male too I guess) will be in the shit.

[barend]

the makers of the game are not responsible... you can argue it, but you can take barbies clothes of two... what's the fucking difference?!?

[barend]

well, suprise suprise...

Woman sues video game manufacturer
NEW YORK (AP) -- A woman upset that she bought the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" for her 14-year-old grandson without knowing it contained hidden, sexually explicit scenes sued the manufacturer Wednesday on behalf of consumers nationwide.

Florence Cohen, 85, of New York, said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that the game's manufacturer, Rockstar Games, and its parent company, New York-based Take Two Interactive Software Inc., engaged in false, misleading and deceptive practices.

She sought unspecified damages on behalf of herself and all consumers nationwide, saying the company should give up its profits from the game for what amounted to false advertising, consumer deception and unfair business practices.

Cohen said in the suit that she bought the game in late 2004 for her grandson when it was rated "M" for mature, for players 17 and older. According to the suit, she directed that it be taken away from her grandson, which was done.

The game was released in October with an "M" rating. After a storm of negative publicity about the hidden scenes, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, an industry group responsible for rating games, changed the rating to "AO" for adults only.

Laurence D. Paskowitz, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Cohen, said no parent would knowingly buy an adult-only video game for their children.

"They should really make sure this doesn't happen again," he said. "The least this company can do is offer refunds."

Hidden areas in video games that can be unlocked with special codes or modifications are not uncommon.

Take Two Interactive initially said the scenes were not part of the retail version of the game but later admitted they were.

A message left for a company spokesman was not immediately returned. On Tuesday, Take-Two announced that it had been notified by the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Advertising Practices that it was conducting an inquiry into the game's advertising claims.

The company said it planned to cooperate fully with the probe.

"Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive regret that consumers may have been exposed to content that was not intended to be accessible in the playable version of 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'," it said in a statement.

The company said it had halted production of the game in the controversial form and was working on a version of the game without the hidden sexual content.

"Going forward, the company will refine the process by which it edits games and will enhance the protection of its game code to prevent such future modifications," it said.

Earlier this week, the House voted 355-21 for a resolution asking the FTC to investigate the company. Last week, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, asked the FTC to investigate Rockstar, saying the company had "gamed the ratings system" by concealing sex scenes in the game that can be unlocked by computer programs available on the Internet.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Best Buy Co. and Circuit City Stores Inc. have pulled the game -- last year's top-seller among console games -- from their shelves following the rating change.

CNN

So, incase you missed the main point of this article...

an stupid old bitch purchased a violent video game rated M17+ for her 14 year old grandson and then sued the company that made the game beacuse an third party created a patch to bypass the games finished-product programming and access deleted scenes.

and she one...

why was she not inturn fined for purchasing a product for a minor that was rated 17+.

THAT'S THE SAME THING AS PURCHASING ALCOHOL FOR KIDS WHO JUST STARTED JUNIOR HIGH!!!!

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOUR LEGAL SYSTEM!!!

what's worse is that she would rather her 14 year old grandson be exposed to graphic interactive violence then sex, which he'll be having in a couple years anyway...

in fact most people loose their virginity at or before 17 anyway so what's the deal with that?!?

[Dorothy]

Okay, so this is what gets me...
"She sought unspecified damages on behalf of herself and all consumers nationwide(.)" Did she play the game? No. Did she know anything about the game when she bought it? Obviously, no. Did she marry the game, and have it turn psycho and beat her? No. Is she suing on behalf of her "poor little innocent" grandson who actually DID play, and more than likely was "emotionally scarred" by the "material?" No.

Also, was her grandson ACTUALLY exposed to the "material?" If no, then give her her money back. If yes, then what the heck was the kid doing enabling it in the first place. Obviously, it's not the kinda thing you just stumble into...You kinda have to be looking for it.

[Dr Lecter]

It's America! Land of the quick buck, the "sue first, think logically second" kingdom. Why would people waste their time thinking about something when they could either be sueing, or shooting it?

On another note, given the amount of weapons that Britain and America sold Iraq in the early 1980's, surely sending a product recall would avoid the need to declare war at any point during the following 20 years...

[barend]

i remember a day when you couldn't sue other people for your own irresponsibilty.

i hope she distributes the cash from the settlement to the consumers nationwide on the behalf of whom she is suing.

but i bet she doesn't....

ATTENTION GTA PLAYERS

Let us unite and fight this common evil!!!

Let's face it, everyone thinks we are powerless to be influenced by this game anyway, so at this point nothing we do will make any real difference.

let's all hunt this bitch down and beat her to death with hammer. then when she's dead we can loot the cash floating in bundles around her lifless corpse and give it back to rockstar!!!

This post has been edited by barend: 27 July 2005 - 08:10 PM

[Laughlyn]

Quality barend.

I'll give good odds that not one of the 355 senators who voted for an enquiry have even played the game, or any game for that matter. Or even know what they're voting for.

[barend]

or even know where they are now...