- Take-Two Interactive, the US company that lied about secret animated sex scenes stashed in one of its brutally sadistic Grand Theft Auto Rockstar video games, is counting on Bill and the Boyz for a little extra lift.
Next month, Take-Two plans to set a triple M for Mature GTA III, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas loose for Microsoft’s Xbox.
A Dutch hacker created a mod which allowed accessed Hot Coffee sex-scenes which weren’t meant to be part of the San Andreas experience, according to Rockstar, which was never able to explain what they were meant for.
Hilary Clinton figured GTA could generate a headline or 10 and jumped all over the industry’s Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) which very reluctantly raised San Andreas from M for Mature (which had allowed people aged 17 to buy it) to AO for Adults Only (which resulted in Grand Sex Auto being taken off store shelves altogether).
New Zealand and Australia banned the GTA games completely, an 85-year-old US grandmother sued Rockstar Games and Take-Two, "on behalf of herself and all consumers nationwide". Haitian civil rights workers sued Take-Two because, they said, GTA: Vice City instructed players to "kill the Haitians" and awarded points for each kill. You can also pick up whores.
Lawyers partly blamed killings in a murder case on the hours their defendant had spent playing Grand Theft Auto video games. And nor was this the first time GTA had been mentioned in a ‘real’ murder case.
Grand Theft Auto III was said to have been behind two other murders in California where deputy district attorney Darryl Stallworth called fordeath penalties for reputed killers Leon Wiley and half-brothers Joe and Demarcus Ralls, "the most malevolent members" of a gang linked to about a half-dozen slayings, scores of robberies, and a set of shootings," said the Alameda Times-Star.
The SEC ( Securities and Exchange Commission) filed a fraudulent accounting practices claim against Take-Two Interactive Software, the company's former chairman and ceo, Ryan Brant, its former executive vpt and coo Larry Muller, its former cfo, James David, Jr, and current vp of sales Robert Blau.
Nonetheless the US, where the game originates, allows Take-Two to flourish.
"Rockstar has yet to announce a retail price for the [Xbox] package but they have stated that it will be available on October 18th of this year," says IGN Games.
And, “Next month, Rockstar is taking the controversial franchise portable with Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP," says CNET's Gamespot., which says the PSP and Xbox games will be released on October 8.
"In addition to losing the AO for Adults Only rating, the game will feature The Introduction, a featurette documenting events before the onset of GTA: San Andreas," says the story. "The series of intertwining stories are told from the point of view of several of the game's characters, leading up to a drive-by shooting of Grove Street gang members.
"Also on the Special Edition will be Sunday Driver, Rockstar's debut documentary film. The movie follows a low rider car club in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Compton. The movie was directed by Carol Strong, and it brings viewers into the world of The Majestics, a group that customizes cars in South Central. The film will also be released on UMD format for the PSP."
Meanwhile, what's the difference between sadistic, brutal and blood-washed Hollywood movies and Take-Two's GTA games?
Visually, not much. But you only get to watch the movies. With the games, you actually get to take part and can kill and brutalize, over and over and over again.
You can argue that's fine for adults but unfortunately, largely thanks to parents who couldn't care less, kids - really young and impressionable kids - also end up having fun by killing and brutalizing, over and over and over again.
And it's not just parents. Take-Two gave the exclusive UK magazine cover rights for San Andreas to GamesMaster, aimed at mid-teens, compelling Britain's ELSPA (the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association), a 'trade' group similar to the music industry's RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), to state:
"There should be a cautious attitude targeting non-adults with adult content. It is up to the publishers what they do, but we would hope they would be careful and target the right audience - we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot again. What we don’t want is a situation where the indefensible becomes indefensible. We don’t want an Achilles’ heel like this given recent events.”
See:- animated sex scenes - Rockstar disowns GTA sex mod, July 11, 2005 New Zealand - Brutal and violent, December 12, 2003 Australia - Grand Sex Auto banned in Oz, July 29, 2005 pick up whores - Picking up prostitutes in GTA, December 17, 2004 awarded points - Take-Two's 'Kill Haitians' game, January 27, 2004 partly blamed killings - GTA player guilty of murder, August 11, 2005 fraudulent accounting - Rockstar sued by grandmother, July 28, 2005 Ryan Brant - Take down Take-Two, January 2, 2004 IGN Games - Rockstar to Release GTA Trilogy, September 23, 2005 Gamespot - GTA gets trilogized, San Andreas special edition, September 24, 20054 not just parents - GTA: San Andreas, October 17, 2004
