Valhalla Legends Forums Archive | General Discussion | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is now rated AO

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

I love the ESRB.
July 21, 2005, 1:54 AM
Arta
Yes. They're idiots.
July 21, 2005, 2:37 AM
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!
July 21, 2005, 2:42 AM
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!
July 21, 2005, 2:48 AM
DrivE
If Hillary Clinton has her way, things are only going to get worse.
July 21, 2005, 2:51 AM
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.
July 21, 2005, 2:52 AM
KkBlazekK
Maybe he disassembled it?
July 21, 2005, 2:53 AM
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.
July 21, 2005, 2:58 AM
hismajesty
[quote author=Yegg link=topic=12286.msg121481#msg121481 date=1121914700]
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.
[/quote]

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.
July 21, 2005, 3:16 AM
Arta
[quote author=hismajesty[yL] link=topic=12286.msg121473#msg121473 date=1121914089]
I agree with the change. It should have been AO before they intially released it, with the original content.
[/quote]

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.

[quote author=Hazard link=topic=12286.msg121476#msg121476 date=1121914279]
If Hillary Clinton has her way, things are only going to get worse.
[/quote]

Yeah. I haven't heard much about her, but if this is the kind of nonsense that she chooses to champion, she must suck.
July 21, 2005, 3:49 AM
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.
July 21, 2005, 3:54 AM
Arta
[quote author=Forged link=topic=12286.msg121491#msg121491 date=1121918049]
However I don't know of any stores that sell AO games so rockstar might be fucked now.
[/quote]

Why is that? Seems strange. Surely stores sell DVDs that are rated 18?
July 21, 2005, 4:02 AM
Forged
Only in porn stores, and the only type of movie you must be 18 to buy is porn.
July 21, 2005, 4:15 AM
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:

[quote]
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.
[/quote]

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:

[quote]
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.
[/quote]

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.
July 21, 2005, 4:22 AM
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.
July 21, 2005, 5:39 AM
The-Rabid-Lord
What the kid from Holland did was turn of some flags that stop certain data being showen. When he did this it allowed the sex scenes to be displayed and not what was intended.
July 21, 2005, 8:50 AM
Arta
[quote author=hismajesty[yL] link=topic=12286.msg121518#msg121518 date=1121924369]
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.
[/quote]

Apprently so. Which is totally weird.
July 21, 2005, 5:56 PM
Quarantine
It's not like everyone is going to download that mod.
July 21, 2005, 7:01 PM
K
[quote author=Warrior link=topic=12286.msg121570#msg121570 date=1121972476]
It's not like everyone is going to download that mod.
[/quote]

I just recently got San Andreas, and was searching on google to see if there were any patches out for it when the mod came up.  So I read a little about it -- apparently in its current form, the mod activates a lot of things which if you were playing the game for the plot, you don't want to activate yet.  Maybe this will change in the future, but it's why I didn't download it.

Besides, has anyone seen the screenshots? It's not like it's extremely lifelike or anything.
July 21, 2005, 8:37 PM
Newby
There's a version that doesn't spoil the plot, IIRC.

Have you seen the video? :P
July 21, 2005, 9:01 PM
The-Rabid-Lord
I have seen the video and it looks ewww, liek it wasnt meant to be there. Looks fun though :)
July 21, 2005, 10:57 PM
R.a.B.B.i.T
It isn't meant to be there, they why you need to download a hack to get it.  Durr.

I'm not downloading it cause I have the leet++ PS2 version.
July 22, 2005, 12:45 AM

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