Video Game 'Mods' Under Scrutiny (Is Hittlery getting her way?)

The Associated Press ^ | 7/22/2005 | MATT SLAGLE

[mabelkitty]

Hillary has nothing to do with this.
This subject is old.

[Terpfen]

The already-in-existence games prices are soaring, but retailers are pulling GTA off the shelves, so Rockstar's revenues will be hurt.

Rockstar's already lowered their revenue projections due to the game being pulled off shelves, their suddenly useless inventory, and the costs of re-manufacturing a new version of the game without the hidden code. Retailers are hurt by this as well, since they refuse to sell AO-rated games, which GTA SA now is.

In her attempt to appear conservative and morally responsible, Hillary's just sucked a few million dollars out of the economy.

[CollegeRepublicanNU]

Look up those words in the urbandictionary.com... LOL that'll teach yea how to speak like a thug gangsta...

Obviously I'm in college and GTA is huge among all the students. Besides Halo it is the number one game I see people playing in the dorms (Halo because you can play with other people on the network)...

These retailers are the ones selling the games to minors. And its not just video games its movies, explicit C'rap (rap... can't spell crap without it) and everything else deemed MATURE.

[CollegeRepublicanNU]

Hillery has a lot to do with this and the subject is not old. It has been going on for a bit now.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=5932

There is also a story I posted about a week ago on FR stating Hillary and Libermans involvement.

[CollegeRepublicanNU]

This is good.. Clinton continued: "Parents who rely on the ratings to make decisions to shield their children from influences that they believe could be harmful, should be informed right away if the system is broken. Parents face an uphill battle just understanding the ratings system. They cannot and should not be expected to second guess it." Ummm, hmmm.. How hard is it to tell Timmy's Mom that M is for MATURE! and AO is Adults Only.

[pamlet]

Frankly while my opinion is probably not a popular one... GTA is not allowed in our house.. the name alone tells you what it's about.. Crime...

My opinions not popular in my house either - but too bad... it's sort of a line in the sand around here..

[Sofa King]

Video game ping!

If you want on or off this list, Freepmail me

"In a statement, the Entertainment Software Rating Board's chief, Patricia Vance, called on the industry to proactively protect games from illegal modifications by third parties, "particularly when they serve to undermine the accuracy of the rating.""

How stupid. Anyone who can mod their game to put sexual content in it can probably manage to "free porn" into a search engine and get that type of content without the game.

[CollegeRepublicanNU]

I agree that kids should not be playing this game. I was not allowed to do much until I was 17 and 18 and even then I was limited. By my parents though not the GOVERNMENT. Or Hillary Clinton.......... I would go to school and see how my friends acted. Not saying that my childhood was censored completely but there is a difference between the kids who play these games and the ones who don't.

[Sofa King]

"I mean good for Rockstar Games to be releasing a patch for that nudity mod, but come on!"

I never understood that. Gee, let me go actively download a patch to prevent myself from actively modding the game.

I guess they were hoping that parents could use it to keep their kids from getting the mod, but all the kid would have to do is re-install.

[FYREDEUS]

What part of ESRB rating MATURE do parents not understand about GTA: San Andreas???

Even though in this case the developer Rockstar is responsible for creating the sex scene in question the fact remains that game code is so malleable that modders can not only access 'hidden levels' left in by developers but 'locked' as this one was, or create completely NEW levels the developers had nothing to do with and no control over or responsibility for, but modders can even create a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GAME out of the code using the games 'engine'...this is called TOTAL CONVERSION.

So in principle modders could remake "Doom3" into 'Half Life2 TC for Doom3' using Doom's engine or conversely "Half Life2" into 'Doom3 TC for Half Life 2' using HL2's Source engine if they wanted...or remake "Far Cry" into a 'Jurassic Park Trespasser TC for Far Cry' game or even something ENTIRELY new...with or without sex scenes...

Game fans who mod or TC are more creative than Hollyweird has been lately and I hope that continues.

Now can someone please tell me how to unlock the secret level in "Halo" where Master Chief gets out of his Spartan armour in the Library AI core for a hot and heavy naked holoencounter with his gorgeous purple cyber-companion Cortana???

Just kidding...or was that a hint to modders? ;-)... LOL.

[CollegeRepublicanNU]

No kidding. Most kids these days know a lot more and computers and games then the parents.

It will be interesting to see my generation react to these games when we start having children and getting older. We are in our 20's now and have grown up with these games and technology. I can understand todays parents maybe having problems with understanding what their kids are playing but it is not hard to learn the ratings system and to say N-O.

Pushing GTA to an AO rating is just going to make kids want the game even more. That just makes the game even more intriguing to younger teens and kids.

[CollegeRepublicanNU]

LOL, I'm not much of a gamer myself. My parents allowed me to watch the news and read the paper when I was young. For music.. What music? My Dad would pop in Rush Limbaugh audio books for me to listen too... LOL, I did play some games though. And I enjoy GTA but never play the missions I like to put in the cheat codes and just fly around or steal cars. It does not encourage me to go out and steal a car though.

[FYREDEUS]

I applaud your position - you are a responsible parent who takes the heat in your house to stand for good values against negative pop culture influences on your children...BRAVO.

I wont play GTA for the same reason that its about crime. I have no more desire to play at being a murderous criminal street thug than to play at being an Al Qaeda terrorist blowing up London.

Though I suspect there is probably some modder making a mod for some game to allow a player to do exactly that :-(...NOT a hint to modders.

Well thats a free choice...for ADULTS...but I wont play that either.

[RandallFlagg]

MMMMmmmm....
Cortannnnna.

[MediaMole]

Hot Coffee isn't a "mod." It is more like an easter egg put into the game for people to find.

The entire game is vile. The amoral nature of the graphic violence is far worse than the sex scene.

Best Buy and the others pulled the game because they have policies banning sale of adult only rated games. This game has severely harmed the rating system Since Rockstar games left in adult-rated content in a mature-rated game, they are the ones who have given politicians an opportunity to attack video games.

[TheOtherOne]

Is this guy great or what? A brilliant dissent and nice putdown of liberals on the court. "We have neither the authority nor the expertise for such an enterprise." Isn't this exactly what we want to hear from judges? I can just guess what he thinks about the court's expertise to judge when life begins.

You nailed it. The reason the Hillary is right, in this case, is that the games need to be rated correctly or parents can't make the proper decisions. I am not for censorship, but the ratings need to be accurate. By the company leaving the Adult material in the game and yet selling it as a Mature game it invited scrutiny on itself.

[TheOtherOne]

opps, the italics quote is from another thread, but my comment is right.

Hmm, seem to have crossed threads and posts? My bad

[FYREDEUS]

"The entire game is vile. The amoral nature of the graphic violence is far worse than the sex scene."

yes I agree the context of the violence is more disturbing to me than any sex scene but from what I understand [since I dont play it I stand to be corrected] the game intends for you to play at violent criminality as a violent criminal 'thug' character...that is not Amoral violence but IMmoral violence imo.

Contrast with "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" [which I do play and is my favourite game next to Halo] which can perhaps be more fairly described as Amoral...in KOTOR one has the MORAL CHOICE to develop your own character and play as either a 'light side' Jedi or turn to the 'dark side' of the Sith...and there is a well developed system of MORAL CONSEQUENCE that affects gameplay following from one's choices...yet one CHOOSES which path to follow [I choose the light side for my character Kel Fyr] and can 'win' the game either way...but what kind of 'person' your player character becomes is determined by your behavioural choices...just like in Real Life.

This imo is better than a game like GTA that if i understand it correctly forces you to play as a murderous thug character...if you could as easily play and succeed at the game as a COP protecting the citizens of San Andreas from murderous gangsta thugs like the main character is THEN maybe GTA might interest me.

[FYREDEUS]

MMMMmmmm... Cortannnnna

I actually thought she was more attractive in Halo with the short hair than Halo 2...maybe because I got used to my glowing purple Cortana dol...err...action figure [and what a figure ;-)]...men buy action figures darnit ;-) LOL

But long hair or short any superintelligent shining sleek gal who can virtually read ones mind [and hey if shes purple and named for a sword all the better] has to be quite MMMMmmmm indeed.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Shooting cops, prostitutes and innocents, running over anyone, unhinged violence all throughout this game....and Clinton's worried about a little cyber-nookie?!?!

Exactly. Games like that shouldn't be available. At the least all the killing and mayhem should pit good guys against bad guys.