Things don’t look good for Rockstar. GameSpot has confirmed that the “Hot Coffee” content was, in-fact, included on the PS2 disc of GTA:SA.
Cheat unlocks preexisting code in controversy-rocked Grand Theft Auto game, undermining Rockstar Games’ claims of hacker mischief.
This may be the proverbial straw that does in the camel. Rockstar has been wording its presses releases in legalese, making it hard to find a concrete admission or denial. Nevertheless, this is bad news for their case. But how bad is pixelated smut? GameSpot sums it up:
Given that the minigame is about as raunchy as an episode of Sex and the City, cannot be accessed without entering a long string of cheat codes, and takes several hours of effort to access, charges that San Andreas is “pornographic” may seem extreme to some. However, its existence does appear to contradict Rockstar Games’ carefully worded statement blaming hacker mischief for the existence of the Hot Coffee mod.
Related:
GTA should have been rated AO
How is this anything new? Haven’t Rockstar never denied that the content was theirs, but that said there is – and still is – no legitimate, in-game way to access it?
Their statement was intentionally vague, and full of obfuscations about “license agreements” and “source code” and “determined hackers.” Rockstar intentionally left the impression that they had nothing to do with this content. They never admitted that the content was theirs to begin with or explain why they didn’t tell the ESRB about it.
I don’t really care for the GTA series. The first two games were entertaining (GTA and GTA2, not GTA III and Vice City), but GTA III was fun for about the 5 minutes it took to exhaust all the cheat codes.
No, the real problem here is that Rockstar’s shenanigans is going to lend steam to crap laws like the one Hilary is trying to get passed: $5000 fines for anyone that sells a M or AO rated game to a minor. So, now we’re going to treat video games like controlled substances. WTF?