Rockstar/Take-Two Sued by Los Angeles Attorney's Office

[fitbabits]

Next Generation (http://www.next-gen.biz) has the details (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2149&Itemid=2)

The Los Angeles city attorney's office has sued Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas developer Rockstar and its parent company Take-Two for concealing the infamous Hot Coffee sequence in the game.

"Businesses have an obligation to truthfully disclose the content of their products - whether in the food we eat or the entertainment we consume," [L.A. Attorney Rocky] Delgadillo said.
And the lawsuits keep on rolling...

[mpsmith]

It sucks that theyre getting penalized for unused/non-functioning content. I wonder if the people involved in legal action against them know the whole story.

[Klade]

This is also up on CNN.

I know Take Two brought this on themselves. But I have no pitty for any "innocents" that were exposed to the big bad mini game. They after all had to download and install a very specific patch that was widely known to give access to this mini game and then they had to complete a specific set of objectives in game before they could play it. To say they didn't know what they were getting into is silly. I could find worse on google in a single search 10 seconds from now.

[Rakael]

Its all about the media exposure and the hype for these god damned attourneys. Where is Phoenix Wright when you need him!?

[pheriannath]

Where is Phoenix Wright when you need him!?

Pssshh... Harvey Birdman would take this to the highest court!

And to think I actually thought the Hot Coffee bullshit was behind us... We need a new scandal, people!

[Abednigo]

How much you want to bet that Jack is somehow behind this?

Jack: Could you sue Rockstar for me? I'm a laughing stock now and people won't listen to me anymore without making jokes.

L.A. Attorney: If there's money in it and people to piss off, sure!

[Chimpbot]

I'm just suprised that everybody seems to be ignoring the infinitely more graphic sex scene from God of War. Nobody mentions the scene that is actually viewable in the game during the course of normal play, while the scene from GTA:SA wasn't even technically in the game and had to be found in order to be seen.

I know these points have been made in the past...but this lawsuit makes them all the more relevant.

[Klade]

Pssshh... Harvey Birdman would take this to the highest court!

I'll take the case!

[Atepsflame]

It's just gonna get worse. It's an election year and video games are the new favorite media scapegoat for all societies woes.

[fitbabits]

I'm just suprised that everybody seems to be ignoring the infinitely more graphic sex scene from God of War. Nobody mentions the scene that is actually viewable in the game during the course of normal play, while the scene from GTA:SA wasn't even technically in the game and had to be found in order to be seen.

I know these points have been made in the past...but this lawsuit makes them all the more relevant.
I think the difference hear is the the Hot Coffee scene was hidden and not revealed to the ESRB (or to the public), whereas the nude scenes in God of War were. Plus, the nude scenes in God of War were arguably more tasteful.

[pheriannath]

Not to mention God of War sold about 400 million less copies.

[fitbabits]

Not to mention God of War sold about 400 million less copies.
And is by far the better game! (In my opinion, anyway.)

[Reanimated]

California... gotta love 'em...

[rjcc]

so basically, some da or whatever is running for re-election.

the fact is, you couldn't possibly see the content without downloading an additional patch and breaking the license. I can't see how they have a case.

[Kelegacy]

California... gotta love 'em...
No...no you don't. Just like the South.

[buckfutter]

The sex scenes in God of War were more tasteful even though in GTA the "participants" were fully clothed unless additional content was added in the unlocking patch (to the best of my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong here)? And the sex scene in God of War didn't bring down a AO rating, whilst it did for GTA... does that not seem an odd inconsistency, regardless of whether Rockstar intentionally hid the minigame or merely left it on the disc?

I could find obscene content in most books, if I chose to black out letters and read only what I want. That seems to be reasonably analagous to this situation. And by that I mean this whole thing is a pile of stupid.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

If this wins in a major way I am moving to Canada.

[phantomhitman]

No...no you don't. Just like the South.

the south says fuck you

[askheaves]

I'm trying to figure out why it is still a political plus to attack video games given yesterday's story on the large number of people who are gamers. I know it plays well with old people and Christies, but the lefties seem to really enjoy courting the 'youth' while at the same time denegrating their choices in entertainment--Hillary, Tipper and Lieberman coming strongly to mind--whether it be video games, movies, rap music or the Internets.

[Abednigo]

If this wins in a major way I am moving to Canada.

Be sure to remind all those celebrities who said they were going to do that in 2004 but didn't.

[Tia]

The sex scenes in God of War were more tasteful even though in GTA the "participants" were fully clothed unless additional content was added in the unlocking patch (to the best of my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong here)? And the sex scene in God of War didn't bring down a AO rating, whilst it did for GTA... does that not seem an odd inconsistency, regardless of whether Rockstar intentionally hid the minigame or merely left it on the disc?


Not sure how it apply for games but in movies there a HUGE difference how the nude is presented, and in what context. If the nude is in good taste and important to the story the movie will still get PG13, also if the nude is "non-sexual"/Innocent it will also get PG13. It is pretty much depending on how well the director sells it I guess.

Look at Titanic. PG13, with quite a nice long scene with Cate Winslet breasts showing. Just the scene was (arguably) important and in good taste.

As for GTA:SA... that little minigame had a very cheap porno feel to it.

[pheriannath]

And is by far the better game! (In my opinion, anyway.)

A sentiment shared by myself.

[Lord Dongkey]

It still seems absurd to me that a fully clothed sex scene earns an AO, but the absolutely luscious amounts of gore, violence, and bare-fisted rage and death from Kratos only got an M.

God damn I loved that game.

But GTA:SA? Not so much love, but I still think it's over the top fucking retarded bullshit that the ESRB switched their rating due to "hidden content". Nude Raider, Porno Doom TC's, DOA:XBV nude patch, guess what, they can all be changed, with arguably less work to do for some than the GTA:SA situation. Just because the code sits on the disc for GTA:SA doesn't mean it's content in the game to be rated. Now, it WAS quite stupid of them to leave that on there, but stupid enough to warrent the loss of a large sum of money due to reprinting/loss of shelf time? Hell no.

The ESRB is a broken system. Better than nothing, yeah, but wiping your ass with a leaf is better than nothing. Bah.

[Atepsflame]

The ESRB was just caving to political pressure. If they hadn't changed GTA:SA's rating, the bloodthirsty liberals would have gone after them too.

[Deathbane27]

"Businesses have an obligation to truthfully disclose the content of their products - whether in the food we eat or the entertainment we consume," [L.A. Attorney Rocky] Delgadillo said.

Right...

I guess all bags of sugar should now be forced to include a label...

"Warning: May create an explosive when deliberately combined with some fertilizers by someone who knows exactly what the fuck he's doing."

[Roc Ingersol]

So...

We've got the home of the US entertainment industry suing Rockstar for it's 'obscene' hot coffee content?

Even though old media would have gotten an NC-17 for pushing the same content.
Even though San Andreas is already marked for consumption only by those 17 and up.
Even though you have to hack the damn game, violating several laws in the state of California, to see it.


... bravo.

[51|RandoM]

And is by far the better game! (In my opinion, anyway.)

I wholeheartedly agree.

[fitbabits]

I wholeheartedly agree.
The sky is falling! 51|RandoM agreed with me... :D

[Chimpbot]

I think the difference hear is the the Hot Coffee scene was hidden and not revealed to the ESRB (or to the public), whereas the nude scenes in God of War were. Plus, the nude scenes in God of War were arguably more tasteful.

That's the thing; the scene isn't even hidden. It's impossible to access without hacking into the game. For all intensive purposes, the scene didn't exist, despite the fact that it was on the disc. It was something that they decided to omit from the final game, and they most likely didn't the time or patience to completely remove it. They obviously didn't think it would be a problem; most games have content that's "hidden" on their discs, in that it's not actually intended to be viewed by the public but still remains on the disc.

Regardless of taste, God of War should have, by their standards, received a similar rating. If one sex scene merits an AO rating, they all should.

[Eric_T_Cheng]

If this wins in a major way I am moving to Canada.

And you think we would allow you in? ;)

[Klade]

Here's an interesting thought. Anyone who has done some computer programing knows that comments in the code usually have their fair share of curse words. If a game that was rated 'E' was found to have a bunch of curse words in the code that could be read if you ran it through a Hex editor or some such should the game have its rating changed?

The answer of course not is my immediate response, I wonder what the people suing Take Two would think?

Edit: Another interesting thought, California just passed a bill banning the sale of video games to minors, a bill that either has already or will soon be found to be unconstitutional. Looks like the politicians are finding a new way to appear effective to the public.

[Phhhh]

Uh, you guys know you can't see anything in the sex scene for God of War... right? All I remember is it being a knock the vase off of the shelf simulator.

[fitbabits]

Uh, you guys know you can't see anything in the sex scene for God of War... right? All I remember is it being a knock the vase off of the shelf simulator.
But what about the booblies?

[askheaves]

Here's an interesting thought. Anyone who has done some computer programing knows that comments in the code usually have their fair share of curse words. If a game that was rated 'E' was found to have a bunch of curse words in the code that could be read if you ran it through a Hex editor or some such should the game have its rating changed?

FYI, most compilers don't allow comments into the final release binaries, or many times even the method names except for exported functions or in debug builds. This is especially true of compiling game code since it's typically a standard C++ and there isn't much use for metadata in that language in release mode.

[mister_slim]

the south says fuck you
The south contains AO content? Someone alert Jack Thompson!

[AniAko]

Here's an interesting thought. Anyone who has done some computer programing knows that comments in the code usually have their fair share of curse words. If a game that was rated 'E' was found to have a bunch of curse words in the code that could be read if you ran it through a Hex editor or some such should the game have its rating changed?

No comments I've EVER seen in my life contain swear words, let alone one's disallowed by the FCC for broadcast on radio. What purpose would they even serve?

[askheaves]

No comments I've EVER seen in my life contain swear words, let alone one's disallowed by the FCC for broadcast on radio. What purpose would they even serve?

... really? :confused:

I rarely see a comment without one... :p

As for purpose, it'd be the same purpose as a swear normally serves... an expression out of frustration, anger or fear that is communicated because the situation warrents a message outside of the normal bounds of etiquette. Comments are usually an expression of intent or an explanation of a situation which led to a particularly obtuse set of code.

ex.
// Fucking emotion engine keeps overwriting my flag, so I implemented a dirty cache check.

[AniAko]

Regardless of taste, God of War should have, by their standards, received a similar rating. If one sex scene merits an AO rating, they all should.


Generalizing leads to prejudice, need I remind you about Jackie-poo's crusade against gamers? For generalizing isolated instances into a sterotype? That's why people review games and movies and put on the packaging what's in them. That's why there's "mild nutidy", "brief nudity", and "don't try what she's doing at home" written under the ratings. Every product is a creature of it's own nature, and need to be treated so


It sucks that theyre getting penalized for unused/non-functioning content. I wonder if the people involved in legal action against them know the whole story.

So..... I should make a company, develop some popular software, throw in some de-activated virus's and sell it, andif some creaton unlocks those viruses you won't hold me accountable for the content I provided you?

Rockstar FUCKED UP. They've handled the lawsuits they've been brought into with a snide attitude to say the least. I remember reading a story of a child killed for his iPod, and Steve Jobs sent a formal apology to the parents of that child, even though he wasn't responsible for the actions of others. That's just respect, which I don't believe Rockstar has much of. Now they have a huge liability on their hands and their now their enemies are going to crucify them. I can only hope the government doesn't crack down on all publisers because of Take-Two's actions. That would be prejudice.....

[AniAko]

... really? :confused:

I rarely see a comment without one... :p

// Fucking emotion engine keeps overwriting my flag, so I implemented a dirty cache check.

Whelp there's the first one I've seen ;)

I understand, but to me it just doesn't seem professional. Although I can't say I never wanted to say

/*I don't know HOW I GOT THIS TO FUCKING WORK but it does, so DON'T FUCKING TOUCH IT*/

or

<!--Who ever wrote this.... put in some FUCKING COMMENTS, and check the file back in-->

;)

[Thenetcase]

Hasn't it been sufficiently dealt with?
Is L.A. suffering so much they have to pick on little corporations?

Idiots...
Frickin' hate California more each day.

[TKO]

Hasn't it been sufficiently dealt with?
Yeah, this kind of s--t should've been sufficiently sorted by now. I want this go before a jugde who has the balls to say: "shut the f-- up n00b. the kids you're trying to protect are grown up and shagging your daughter already." :D

I mean, hell, their food analogy is all screwed up. People had to actively seek this content out. ..If they're so concerned, why aren't they trying to get the laws changed, instead of going after the horse that has already bolted, settled down, had little horsies of its own, and will again soon be old enough to be shagging their daughter. *sigh* (okay, that's a disturbing theme I've got going on .. this has been discussed to death many times anyway .. I'll just shut up.) ;)