Hawt Coffee

Okay, so there's this "Hot Coffee" scandal that is rocking the game industry and is the topic du jour on the daily news. Let's break it down.

1) GTA: San Andreas is the software in question. It contains gratuitous violence (beating/shooting innocent people, carjacking, cop killing, etc), vulgar language, and just about every vice imaginable. It is rated M, which means that supposedly, children under 17 cannot purchase this game.

2) There was a section of the game nicknamed "Hot Coffee" that was supposedly removed from the game, but it turns out that the flags that activate the scene were simply disabled (or disabled via some other means, but that's irrelevant). This scene featured female nudity, lewd acts, but no direct sexual contact (simulated, but no actual sex). All controlled via in-game interface.

3) Hackers hacked the PC version of the game to access the content, and word spread. Soon, the PS2 version was similarly cracked using the Action Replay device. At first, Rockstar claimed it was a mod made by haxxx0rz. After the PS2 version was cracked, they waffled.

4) The media got wind of this, and several legislators made it their crusade to bring Rockstar to justice (omgwtfpwnz0r!!1!). After applying pressure to the ESRB, the ESRB buckled, and reassigned GTA:SA a new rating of AO (Adults Only), the first game ever to receive the rating.

Now, this issue breaks down into two different arguments. The moral argument, and the technical argument. Let's start with the technical.

This is not quite as clear cut as it may seem, from either side. Proponents of the game industry are saying that the developer did what they needed to prevent normal access to the content. It is not accessible via any normal means. Many in the industry are afraid of the "slippery slope" that it could potentially crush the mod scene, or have other such negative effects. Are publishers now responsible if, say, some hacker decides to take the skin texture on the models in DOA3 and extrapolate it all over their body, effectively making them look nude?

On the other hand, the ESRB had to take a stand. To *not* have done so could have potentially even worse effects on the industry. There are already groups appealing to have an external (possibly governmnet-controlled) group to censor videogames. The option to assign the AO rating to GTA:SA was possibly the best option. The ESRB essentially said, "If it's on the disk, the developer is liable." If you're going to draw a line, that's about as fair as you can get, I think. But we come back to the DOA3 question posed above. What then?

And now, as a result, a lot of retailers are dropping GTA from their shelves until Rockstar can rerelease it without the Hot Coffee content. I understand that they have a threshhold and that they refuse to carry AO content. But is it really that different than it was before?

The moral discussion is the more interesting, in my opinion. Do we really feel that a scene of simulated sex is worse than all that violence mentioned above? And why are all these parents in such a tizzy when they find out the game that they bought for their 14 year old contains *gasp!* sexual content?? Did they not look at the box when they bought it? And is that new content really enough to warrant an AO (essentially an "X" rating) over what was in the game originally?

It boggles the mind.

Now, to change the subject...

...I do wish there were more games for adults (not in that way). Games with storylines for more... ehem... "sophisticated" tastes. And if there is to be a love story included, make it believable. The only games I've seen come close were Panzer Dragoon Saga and Ico. It's strange... a lot of people talk about the great stories in games, but the games that I feel have had the strongest stories are often the ones with the least amount of actual writing. Strange, that.