“What did I do?”
Globetechnology: Australia outlaws Grand Theft Auto — This is rich. Australia bans Grand Theft Autho because of the patch that opens a lame cartoony sex scene. So what they are telling us is that cop killing and hooker bashing is OK, but casual sex is not. OK, whatever. Interesting priorities, eh wot?
It’s been pointed out to me that with each Grand Theft Auto game, as the sales wane, some publicity grabbing-PR appears to get some last gasp income. Now this.
SYDNEY — Australian officials effectively banned the computer game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and ordered it removed from stores Friday because it contains hidden sex scenes that can be viewed with a special Internet download.
The Office of Film and Literature Classification said in a statement it had outlawed sales of the game by stripping it of its official classification after learning of the explicit content.
Make war, not love!
I think it’s hilarious that our government is coming down hard on gaming but yet real sex and violence is taught in our schools: Cheerleading and Football.
Let’s face it, kids are ACTUALLY being hurt playing football. They are ACTUALLY being violent. And cheerleaders are DAMN sexy. And don’t even get me started on teens hunting (I’m from the Midwest, so hunting is almost MORE important than football!)
Yet if we virtualize the violence and the sex, somehow it’s worse. It makes no sense to me. I’ve been an American my whole life and yet I’m no closer to understanding it than someone who’s never been here.
“So what they are telling us is that cop killing and hooker bashing is OK, but casual sex is not. ” –JCD
Thanks for noting the absurdity of this; it’s amazing how much “coverage” is being done with blinders on.
Meanwhile, the predictable and silly lawsuits are already beginning:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/29/technology/take_two.reut
What’s even more hilarious is that the game carried a “Mature 17+” (U.S.) rating even at the time the “hidden content” was discovered.
Heck, I was reading Playboy by the time I was 10. Are we supposed to believe that the plaintiffs were damaged by seeing the content at age 17, whereas if they had been a few months older they would not have been damaged? (The game now carries an 18+ Adults rating.)
I notice Wal-Mart and Best Buy are pulling the product from their shelves. Talk about two chains with no moral high ground upon which to act….
This is all bull of course… But the entire sex vs cop killing scenario is getting a bit over used (even if it is true).
It’s like telling the same story over and over but adding a new chapter ever once in a while.
To have documented examples of that culture that promotes sex is what probably bother’s people. Why is T.V. so harshly censored? Because it’s mainstream and it’s lasting proof of our culture.
Oh it’s okay if we actually do these horible things as long as we don’t tell everyone about it. I guess it’s like the saying “do as we say not as we do”.
These are just the thoughts that came to mind when I read the Football & Cheerleader comment. As for banning the game in Australia? Does this mean that pirate sites will get in even more trouble for distributing GTA? Imagine having an anti GTA squad that acts like a anti child porn squad. Not that I support child porn but think of how the Australian government could use these powers. Even the pirate sites should be scared of distributing GTA!
What’s so horrible about sex? Or anything related to sex? As far as you don’t hurt anyone (or anyone’s feelings), IMVHO sex is A-OK, 100% of the time.
Killing someone is never OK…
Y’know, I used to be a huge fan of the GTA series – Vice City is still my fave game ever – but because my eyes have been suffering lately my doctor recommended I tried to stop activities on the computer that demanded too much attention and that I could live without – read GAMES. Therefore I stopped playing computer games, cold turkey, some 2 years ago.
A couple of weeks ago I saw a demo for HALO 2 or something, and was absolutely AMAZED at the amount of violence there is in these games. Something I was completely oblivious to when I was playing them. But now it turns my guts upside down. Really!
I’m not going to say we should ban games for kids… Just that you lose sight of what’s happening in the game… And maybe when you get older it all stops looking like a game and you actually think what it’d be like if you actually went shooting people… I’m almost 40 now, maybe that’s the thing…
And sex? What’s so shameful about it? Only the silly exploitation of a ‘forbidden’ thing in our idiotic media. Can you stand 2 minutes of Playboy TV without puking?
Oh brother…
You deplore violence, but no one is actually getting killed. The depiction of violence isn’t as close to violence as the depiction of sex is to the depiction of sex. In a film, it actually is the actress (or a double) who is nude, perhaps actually being felt up by an actor, etc. Add to that, that many parents don’t have a problem with violence especially if it’s done in a moral context. They wouldn’t give a R rating to John Wayne, but would to Titanic.
Typical Christian behaviour, it’s okay to play games that kills ppl using ANYTHING as a weapon, but let one female nipple show and the parents ride the streets yapping that the game is satanic because it shows some sexual behaviour.
IMO, I agree with Lopes’ first post, “Make love, not war.”
the game is already OLD…sheesh…anyone who WAS going to play it has played it, and there are newer games to spend money on. So….this will make the NEXT GTA an even BETTER seller.
The puritan’s sure did screw up this country…. right to have guns, but, cover your ankles, you wench. See what happens when you let a bunch of MEN decide what’s important?
Titanic didn’t get a R rating. It got a PG-13 rating.
From IMDB: Rated PG-13 for disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality and brief language.
I’m confused: Is the sex scene in the Mod that’s downloaded?
Or is it already there and “unlocked” by the download?
I.e. Is a third party taking advantage of the Modifications API (now standard with all these games) to program their own scene/level/scenario that depicts porn?
Or was some engineer at Rockstar Games really stupid enough to include a bad porn “Easter Egg” in their game?
When I saw headlines on Digg and Slashdot that talk about the mod community and the game’s authors responding that “Everyone knows what a mod is. This is ridiculous.” I thought it was the former.
I know, and I think many parents would have preferred an R rating for it instead.
Can’t believe it is Australia. Their women’s swimming team posed naked to bring interest for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
thx for the link.. no comments (c)
GTA is my favorites CP Game, since i was starting browsing internet games, i like the story and viewing, characters and the stads..