[aldo_14]

The difference is blood, I guess.  But I don't think - violence wise - Halo or even GTA are any worse than most 15 rated movies.

[Kosh]

Most parents ignore the ratings system anyway when they buy games for their kids.


Hillary is just exploiting this for her political advantage (better than exploiting an awful terrorist attack, unlike a certain president).

[WMCoolmon]

According to the New York Times, Clinton claims that "50 per cent of boys between 7 and 14 were able to buy M-rated video games", or at least that's what the National Institute on Media and the Family says. The NYT notes Clinton's intervention comes at a time "when many Democrats were trying to figure out ways their party can match Republicans on the issue of family values".

And how is that a bad thing?

[Deepblue]

Because it says on the package 17+. It sucks when you're 16 and want an M-rated game, and then you jump for joy and laugh at the kids when you are 17.

But still, IMHO Halo BARELY qualifies as M. I bet the ESRB would give it a Teen rating if the marines weren't potty mouths (still the language is mediocre, nothing you would hear in an R movie or wouldn't hear in a PG-13 movie).

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by Kosh
Most parents ignore the ratings system anyway when they buy games for their kids.


Hillary is just exploiting this for her political advantage (better than exploiting an awful terrorist attack, unlike a certain president).

All politicians exploited an awful terrorist attack. If you think otherwise they have successfully blinded you.

[Taristin]

Originally posted by Kosh

Hillary is just exploiting this for her political advantage (better than exploiting an awful terrorist attack, unlike a certain president).

She's only keeping her mouth shut on that because of how she was received after 9/11, when she was Boo'ed and '*****!ed' while giving a speach at a concert, or some event...

[aldo_14]

the National Institute on Media and the Family = The national Institute for brining up other peoples children the way we want

[mikhael]

Originally posted by IPAndrews
I've got no problem with the content in principle but Rockstar should have done the honourable thing and either taken the content out or left it in and had the game classified correctly. Then again what can you expect from a company that releases a game with those kinds of moral values. Even if it is the best damn game I've played in years.

Are you saying a GAME has MORAL values?

[Ace]

Originally posted by Liberator
I've never really been a fan of GTA.  It, like too many other games recently, plays to the base parts of us, and you're not even really fighting for any particular purpose, just becuase you can and get away with it.

Yes, let's just ignore the whole part that the main character in GTA: San Andreas winds fights crooked cops and drug lords.

Personally, I'd actually love to see a game that delves in the actual "darkside" and not have to have the main character be a hero.

[Cobra]

According to the New York Times, Clinton claims that "50 per cent of boys between 7 and 14 were able to buy M-rated video games", or at least that's what the National Institute on Media and the Family says. The NYT notes Clinton's intervention comes at a time "when many Democrats were trying to figure out ways their party can match Republicans on the issue of family values".

Adressing the issue: . Period.

[Off-Topic]I've been playing M rated games since I was 8, half of them aren't even full of adult content (blood, etc), and they rate the game for violence anyway.[/Off-Topic]

[Kosh]

Last I recall Doom and DN3D were very violent and full of blood.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Liberator
I've never really been a fan of GTA.  It, like too many other games recently, plays to the base parts of us, and you're not even really fighting for any particular purpose, just becuase you can and get away with it.

I agree. I'm not a huge fan either (exept on technical merits).

On the other hand, it is called 'escapism'. I've never shot a gun except on a range, and then only in naval training. Somehow, though, going home after a hard day at work, and loading up Unreal Tournament and starting a deathmatch with a lot of bots named after the people that just pissed you off is cathartic.

That base part of us is exactly that: part of us. What's wrong with giving into it in the safe confines of a video game? One might argue that someone could take the game as inducement to act out in reality. To that I would answer "And?". People who would take a GAME as a serious thing are already unbalanced before the game ever came along.

Escapism is good. Its a pressure release.

[Deepblue]

Code has been confirmed to be part of the original game...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/15/news_6129301.html

How very... Disturbing...

[karajorma]

I said that in my first post.

Originally posted by karajorma
The dirty games were made by rockstar but then cut from the final game. However enterprising horny people figured out how to unlock them again.

Also worth pointing out that the mod also disrobes the girls on the PC version. The version that Rockstar made had the girls keep their clothes on. So in a way they were correct.

[Kamikaze]

So... to anyone blaming Rockstar for this, why is it their fault when people modify their game without permission to make it smutty? Is there really an important difference between this and making nude skin mods for FPS games? Why should Rockstar be responsible for their fans?

[aldo_14]

So Jack Thompson can extend his 15 minutes?

[Kosh]

Originally posted by Kamikaze
So... to anyone blaming Rockstar for this, why is it their fault when people modify their game without permission to make it smutty? Is there really an important difference between this and making nude skin mods for FPS games? Why should Rockstar be responsible for their fans?

So that the politicians can have their scapegoat.

[IPAndrews]

Originally posted by Kamikaze
So... to anyone blaming Rockstar for this, why is it their fault when people modify their game without permission to make it smutty?

Oh come on . You think Rockstar "accidentally" included this stuff? You think they didn't expect the modding community to find it and unlock it? It was a clear ratings dodge pure and simple. They deserved to get a bollocking for it. Regardless of any related issues. Not that it will bother them. Rockstar seem to be pretty thick skinned.

[karajorma]

It was included in the playstation version though. The fact that it could be activated there was only discovered after the PC version release AFAIK (and even then I don't think it's easy to activate).

[aldo_14]

Is it that much worse than the Sims, for example, though?

Albeit I remember some group or other whining about that because it allowed homosexual relationships, adoption, etc.

What i mean is, how many 'innocent' youths are going to be exposed to this (especially given the ratings protection and the obscurity of the code - and the need to explicitly activate it)?  And how many are actually going to be 'corrupted' by it?  Reportedly it's basically a dry humping minigame in the PS2 form; we're not talking pixellated CJ does Dallas here.

Granted, we're dealing with the sort of people who go white and faint at the sight of a single tit (and i don't even mean Jack Thompson); begging the question what they feed their babies with?  Which leads me to decide the reason they're offended is because they don't actually know what sex is; it would explain why they seem to want to mother every other persons children, like a bloated Godzilla sized Patty & Selma.