Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is now rated AO

[Newby]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/07/20/video.game.sex.ap/index.html

I love the ESRB.

[Arta]

Yes. They're idiots.

[Yegg]

"The editing and finalization of any game is a complicated task and it's not uncommon for unused and unfinished content to remain on the disc."

Now that's funny!

[hismajesty]

I agree with the change. It should have been AO before they intially released it, with the original content.

I'm not denying that the game is awesome though. I also hate the fact that some Dutch programmer is the cause of a multi-million dollar loss in earnings for a company - one guy!

[Hazard]

If Hillary Clinton has her way, things are only going to get worse.

[Yegg]

I'm still wondering how that Dutch programmer knew about the sexual content coded inside the game. Unless I forgot something that I read, was he somehow involved with the production of San Andreas.

[Blaze]

Maybe he disassembled it?

[Yegg]

Possibly, but why would he want to waste his time with that? That's almost as if he knew there was something hidden in the game.

[hismajesty]

Possibly, but why would he want to waste his time with that? That's almost as if he knew there was something hidden in the game.

Considering the complexity of the game, and the fact that Rockstar has been known to hide easter eggs in the GTA series, it's not too far-fetched to think that he was searching for more.

[Arta]

I agree with the change. It should have been AO before they intially released it, with the original content.

I could agree with that - it is a pretty adult game - by my objection is that the game seems to have been made AO now, on the basis of the sex stuff alone. In other words, it seems like the M rating was fine for all the violence, but now there's sex too, so it must be AO. As if sex is somehow worse than mindless violence. I think that's the stupid bit. Here in the UK, it is rated 18 anyway, so no one cared.

If Hillary Clinton has her way, things are only going to get worse.

Yeah. I haven't heard much about her, but if this is the kind of nonsense that she chooses to champion, she must suck.

[Forged]

Hillary Clinton The Tipper Gore of GenerationX!!

Not a huge deal, now instead of having to be 17 to buy the game you have to be 18.  However I don't know of any stores that sell AO games so rockstar might be fucked now.

[Arta]

However I don't know of any stores that sell AO games so rockstar might be fucked now.

Why is that? Seems strange. Surely stores sell DVDs that are rated 18?

[Forged]

Only in porn stores, and the only type of movie you must be 18 to buy is porn.

[Arta]

M must be equivalent to an 18 rating here then. We had 'X' for a while, which sounds like AO, but nothing gets X-rated anymore. Porn is all certificate-18.

Having just read about the ESRB's ratings, I now go back on what I said before. Rating GTA:SA as AO is totally stupid:

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.

There's no intense violence, and even with the hot coffee mod, it's not graphic sex. The rating for M looks spot-on to me:

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.

What a load of silly nonsense.

Edit: I'm wrong about the porn thing. There's an R18 category ('restricted'), that can only be sold in licenced sex shops.

[hismajesty]

Arta, 'sex' is considered far more taboo in the US than it is in Europe. Violence is so much a part of our culture (movies, TV, music, news (lol)) it isn't really much of a problem in video games. However, with sex it's a whole different story. Parents would still buy/rent a M game for kids if it's violent, but when it comes to sex or nudity they won't on a large scale. Also, stores/rental stores won't carry the game anymore - most don't carry anything over Mature. I don't know of any that will carry anything above Mature.