ESRB Changes GTA: San Andreas Rating To Adults Only!

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO - News) announced today that the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has changed the rating of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on all platforms from "Mature 17+" (M) to "Adults Only 18+" (AO) because of the so-called "hot coffee mod," an unauthorized third party modification that alters the retail version of the game. Take-Two cooperated fully with the ESRB's investigation.

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This is bad. Let me tell you why I think so:

1) The Hot-Coffee MOD may have been part of the San Andreas build engine, but it was not available until it was hacked by a third-party. I've heard rumors that Take Two and Rockstar may have leaked the existence of the Hot Coffee system to said modder, but that's completely unsubstantiated, and I'm sure the last thing the companies wanted was to earn a AO rating (synonymous to the MPAA's NC-17 rating). Such a rating translates to one thing: reduced sales and availability, which is the problem in the first place with rating systems that attempt to do moral work on behalf of the consumer, but only result in legislating sales and demographic.

2) The Hot-Coffee Mod is ONLY ACCESSIBLE when you patch the source code on the PC version. You need a separate 40 dollar modding system to access the mod on the console versions. Therefore to issue this revocation for all versions of the game is an extremely unfair way of dealing with problem, not to mention that in order to view said content, you must exert both effort and money beyond what Rockstar has asked of its gamers.

3) Long-time gamers know that Hot Coffee is not the first pornographic mod to be found in a video game. This could set an unfortunate precedent for Modders in general, even ones that add their own content to games. If the ESRB had been around when people were using id Software's level builder and texture editor to change the Doom walls into images of Chasey Lain taking it up the ass, would they have taken the same action?

4) Immediately following this investigation, the ESRB has changed it's rating standards for game manufacturers so that when a game is reviewed, ALL content on the disc, even content that isn't "playable", must be submitted to the Board for review. I have a feeling this will make the review process that much more convoluted, and perhaps inadvertently affect decisions about game ratings, due to whatever inaccessible content is found.

These new restrictions and controversy might generate some positive publicity for Rockstar and San Andreas, but it will also give fuel to "morally-superior" politicians" and other legislators with a demographic to please.

I think the ESRB should be disbanded, along with the MPAA. If your kids are going to play video games or see movies, and you're going to let them, do your research. If you don't have time to do it, and you worry about what kind of content your kids are accessing, you shouldn't let them play games or see movies. I feel the same way about movies.

People should take an active interest in their entertainment, for their kids, for themselves, whatever.

Out.