Posted on 07/20/2005 4:24:05 PM PDT by Libloather
Confirmed: Sex minigame in PS2 San Andreas
Cheat unlocks preexisting code in controversy-rocked Grand Theft Auto game, undermining Rockstar Games' claims of hacker mischief.
This week saw a Grand Theft Auto game once again at the center of a nationwide controversy. The point of contention this time was the so-called "Hot Coffee" mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which had everyone from anti-game crusader Jack Thompson to US Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) percolating with outrage and/or calls for federal game regulation.
The Hot Coffee mod first surfaced last month, when the PC version of San Andreas was released. The mod, which is available on numerous Web sites, adds a bonus sex minigame as a reward for the numerous "girlfriend" missions in San Andreas.
Previously, when game hero Carl "CJ" Johnson successfully wined and dined one of several girlfriends a certain number of times, she would ask him into her house for "coffee." After entering, the game shows an external shot of the house with muffled sounds of a couple emitting moans in flagrante delicto. PC versions of San Andreas with the "Hot Coffee" mod installed show what goes on inside the house, treating players to a sexually graphic minigame of CJ fornicating with his girlfriend.
According to its creators, the Hot Coffee mod merely unlocks hidden, preexisting code inside San Andreas. The game's publisher, Rockstar Games, appeared to vehemently--but carefully--deny that charge in a statement earlier this week. "So far we have learned that the 'Hot Coffee' modification is the work of a determined group of hackers who have gone to significant trouble to alter scenes in the official version of the game," the company said. "In violation of the software user agreement, hackers created the 'Hot Coffee' modification by disassembling and then combining, recompiling and altering the game's source code."
Rockstar's statement also claimed that the mod was the product of complex technical tampering. "Since the 'Hot Coffee' scenes cannot be created without intentional and significant technical modifications and reverse-engineering of the game's source code, we are currently investigating ways that we can increase the security protection of the source code and prevent the game from being altered by the 'Hot Coffee' modification," read the statement.
However, Rockstar Games' argument has been undermined by an increasing number of reports that claimed the sex minigame is in the PlayStation 2 version of San Andreas. Since the PS2 version comes on an unmoddable DVD, it cannot have any content added to it, although cheat codes--created either by the publisher or third parties--can unlock preexisting code on the disc. While devices such as GameShark and Action Replay Max can tweak preexisting variables in system memory with cheats, they cannot inject new models, animations, and/or code into a game.
To prove or disprove rumors that the PS2 San Andreas contains a sexually graphic minigame, GameSpot decided to test the cheat codes circulating around the Web on a sealed, first-edition copy of San Andreas. After acquiring the "Uncensored Hot Coffee" codes from the respected tech-blog Kotaku, we entered them into an easily obtainable Action Replay Max cheat device. After entering the "Enable all Girlfriends" cheat, we began the game and then gave CJ maximum sex appeal, via a cheat from GameFAQs that requires no external code.
After saving, our test editor had Carl visit the house of his nearest girlfriend, Denise in Los Santos. Carl then took Denise on a series of dates to the nearest bar. After a few complications--including being busted for two-timing by another of CJ's girlfriends--we completed a fourth date with Denise, after which she invited us into her house for "coffee."
The next screen proved that the PlayStation 2 edition of the game does indeed include a sexually graphic minigame, which plays almost exactly the same as the Hot Coffee mod. It begins inside a bedroom with Denise, wearing only a pink thong and a cutoff T-shirt bearing the Rockstar logo, performing simulated fellatio on CJ, who is fully clothed in jeans and a "wife beater"-style tank top.
After a few seconds, the minigame proceeds to semi-explicit simulated copulation. Although players can change the camera angle with the circle button, as well as cycle though three sexual positions with the square button, no genitalia are ever seen. To win, players must maintain a steady rhythm with the left analog stick to build up an "excitement meter" on the right of the screen. Fill the meter and Denise becomes very excited, telling CJ he is "the man" before the game congratulates you with the words "Nice guys finish last!" Let the meter drop to empty and the game admonishes you with "Failure to satisfy a woman is a CRIME!"
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.
By Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot
POSTED: 07/15/05 04:17 PM PST
There’s something screwy going on in our country, and for once it’s impossible to blame the Republicans for it.
There’s currently a witch-hunt going on among liberal Democrats to ban certain videogames whose content is offensive to some people.
It’s not Bush this time, it’s the people who, on other issues, are all in favor of personal freedom. It’s otherwise sane people such as Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Chuck Schumer who want to take away our rights.
You have to ask yourself why liberals are attacking videogames. Hillary should be holding impeachment hearings or fighting whatever extremists Bush will appoint to the Supreme Court.
I personally think it’s some kind of rip in the time-space continuum that’s causing these problems. I mean, George Bush gets a lifetime achievement award from Black Expo and Hillary wants to restrict the First Amendment. Next you’ll be telling me Ben Wallace will have his jersey retired by the Pacers.
What’s caused this latest furor is a patch to my all-time favorite game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, that unlocks some graphic sex scenes. They’re computer sex scenes, mind you, and show no actual nudity, computer-generated or real.
But Hillary is all up in arms about it, although I doubt she’s ever spent any time playing the game.
San Andreas “has so many demeaning messages about women and so encourages violent imagination and activities and it scares parents,” Sen. Clinton said. “They’re playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them.”
First of all, if there’s anyone who should be sympathetic about someone having sex with a prostitute, it should be Mrs. Clinton. Secondly, she doesn’t understand the game if that’s all she knows about it.
Yes, you can have sex with hookers in the game. You can also derail a freight train, crash an airplane into the ground and use plastic explosives to blow up police cars.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, in contrast to what the senator says, is actually a very intelligent and thoughtful game. It’s a social satire of the consumer culture and of the racial and class divides that exist in our country.
In the game, a CIA agent helps recruit a notorious gang member and has him deal drugs and commit murder on his behalf. That’s a parallel to the real-life CIA, which encouraged the crack trade in California in the 1980s, even as the Reagans were telling people to just say no.
It’s been well-documented that the CIA used proceeds from drug money to fund its illegal war in Nicaragua during the Reagan years. They also sold weapons to terrorists in exchange for the release of hostages.
Now that’s immorality for you. That’s not a videogame fantasy; it’s a shameful part of our history, and San Andreas does a good job of helping people understand it.
It’s the rare game that has an African-American protagonist. It carries an anti-drug message, in contrast to most such games on the market. Your actions carry consequences. The choices you make in the game reflect how your character develops.
More than that, it’s a game that is very specifically marketed towards an adult audience. While I love the game, I’d never let a child have access to it, no more than I’d give them access to Cinemax After Dark.
You have to ask yourself why liberals are attacking videogames. Hillary should be holding impeachment hearings or fighting whatever extremists Bush will appoint to the Supreme Court.
We have men and women dying every day overseas for a war predicated on deceptions, lies and faulty intelligence. Meanwhile, people slap a ribbon magnet on their car and think they’re supporting the troops.
You may remember our own mayor, Bart Peterson, wasting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars fighting against violent videogames when he first came to office. He knew it was a dumbass move, and wasteful of resources, but for some reason he felt he needed to make a stand for morality and against evil videogames.
It’s because Democrats are perceived as being weak on “moral issues.” But guess what? John Kerry was a very moral man and told the truth over and over again about Bush — and people still didn’t care. We don’t need Mrs. Clinton to protect our kids from video games. We need her to help protect us against this outlaw president we have.
Is it moral to be against abortion and for the death penalty? Is it morality in play when you protest our civil liberties being eroded? Is it moral to deliberately expose a CIA officer’s identity, as Karl Rove did?
I don’t know who Clinton, Lieberman and Peterson think they’re fooling. They’re not winning over any conservatives with this rhetoric. Maybe rethinking their stances on abortion, gun control and gay marriage might help them with conservatives, but not railing about a violent videogame. That won’t do jack with the red-staters.
In the last 25 years, the conservative agenda has been to erode civil rights, bankrupt our nation and to perpetuate a garrison state where everyone lives in fear. Nothing has been off-limits, from the rigging of elections to the torture of prisoners.
In contrast, the eight years between 1993 and 2001, when a Democrat occupied the White House, were a time of peace, prosperity and progress. Mrs. Clinton was there and saw it all. Shame on her for not knowing better.
As for me, I’m going to keep playing my violent videogames and celebrating my freedoms as an American. Sen. Clinton and all the moralists should STFU and concentrate on the real issues facing America.
If the code is on the disc then it should not be distributed to children. My 12 year old brother plays that game.
Too bad she wasn't as concerned about the real sex that was going on in the Oral...er... Oval Office.
PING!
I for one am shocked, just shocked, that this "secret code" would be "discovered" after the initial hoopla for the game had died down. Amazing coincidence. And I'm sure NO KIDS will want to buy the game now that it's gotten all this press about how naughty and dangerous it is. Nope, none at all.
Sheesh. Clever marketers: 1, Concerned parents: 0.
Don't believe everything you read in the paper, eh? How long have you been around FR?
The game is rated:
ESRB Rating: Mature (Content suitable for ages 17 or older.)
Does it say 'contains graphic nudity'? The fact is parents buy this game for their kids thinking the mature rating means blood and guts not oral sex. If they intend to put fellatio in the game they should say so on the box. I love rum in my coke, but I'd be rather irked to discover coke putting it in their for me and everyone in secret.
Ya got me - by 22 days. September 29, 1998. But that's only because JimRob wouldn't answer my email! (I know, I know, that humongous amount of time makes you that much more educated...)
There's a great endorsement for modern parenthood....
Sarcasm aside, better, more detailed ratings for video games should be considered. Parents should have a way to quickly ascertain the content. In that, I can hear your argument, but I don't believe parents should lightly purchase "Mature" rated video games, movies, or music for 12 year old children.
It is truly bad parenting to be so ignorant of the child's activities, true, however it does seem that they secretly hid content in the game beyond what the box implies.
As for hidden content, this is not unprecedented. There are what they call Easter Eggs hidden in the code of a lot of operating systems, games, and office applications. In this particular case - it may be that this particular Easter Egg was the result of poor taste by part of the coding team, inserted without management and marketing's knowledge.
It wouldn't be the first time that a developer's employees or a sub-contractor inserted something like this in the final program.
Why doesn't Rockstar Games just say to Hillary, in public and face to face, "It's just a witch-hunt about sex. Let's move on." ... that would shut her up!
Kinda like a 'private life' sorta thang?
No offense, but what moron is allowing a 12 year old to play the game in the first place?
This is outrageous, while I don't agree with sticking porn into kids games, mods are like open source programs. They are created by users of the game because the game maunfacturer allows the source code of the game to be re-programmed and added on to. A lot of games allow users to make their own mods and add things into the game. The makers of the game should not be held responsible for what buyers of the game might add on to it with the creation of their own mod. This is like arresting gun manufacturers because gang bangers are shooting other gang bangers.
true but you cannot mod a playstation disc the game maker hid this sex game in the real game
It wasn't so much as hid the sex game in the game, as much as made it inaccessable to everyone, before the codes came out to unlock it. My bet is that they made the scene, decided they didn't want it in the game, and some lazy programmer simply removed the code that would take you to that part of the game, instead of removing that part of the game altogether.
Actually knowing programmers, and being one, I suspect this was the pet project of some enterprising but not forward thinking programmer who figured it'd be cool, and the higher ups had no clue it was there.
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