Rockstar denies sex in San Andreas; ESRB investigating

By Rob Fahey Published 11 July, 2005

No bonking please, we're M-rated.

Rockstar has denied that the "Hot Coffee" pornographic mini-game, which is enabled by a mod for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, is actually a part of the game, after it became the subject of an investigation by the ESRB in North America.

San Andreas is currently rated M (Mature) by the ESRB, but last week the ratings board came under fire from Californian assemblyman Leland Yee, who accused the board of failing parents and generally being untrustworthy after news of the Hot Coffee mod broke.

It's hardly a change of tune for Yee, who seems to have made it his life's mission to prove that the generally well-regarded ESRB is in cahoots with the rest of the industry to put lower ratings on games than they actually deserve.

However, in this instance the board is taking claims that Hot Coffee should have led to San Andreas meriting a rare AO (Adults Only) rating seriously - and has launched a new investigation into the content of the game.

"The integrity of the ESRB rating system is founded on the trust of consumers who increasingly depend on it to provide complete and accurate information about what's in a game," ESRB president Patricia Vance explained in a statement.

"If after a thorough and objective investigation of all the relevant facts surrounding this modification, we determine a violation of our rules has occurred, we will take appropriate action," she concluded.

Rockstar has confirmed that it is aware of the investigation and claims to be "complying fully with their enquiries" - but it denies responsibility for the Hot Coffee game, saying that "the work of the mod community is beyond the scope of either publishers or the ESRB."

As to the question of whether Hot Coffee was actually included with the game but not actually enabled, Rockstar has addressed this directly for the first time, according to US website GameSpot - which reports that a representative of the company told them directly that the Hot Coffee code is not included on the GTA game discs.

That runs contrary to claims by the author of the mod, however - he says that his modification merely unlocks an unfinished mini-game already present in the code.

Which side is telling the truth may not be relevant, however - since as long as there's no way of accessing the mini-game in unmodified copies of the game, it seems unlikely - although not impossible - that Rockstar will be held responsible for it.

Other publishers will no doubt be watching the conclusion of this affair closely, as if Rockstar is punished over Hot Coffee, it could lead to the industry having to adopt much more stringent rules about what's shipped on game discs, even when it isn't part of the accessible game content.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraser #1 7 years ago

    My first first post!:D

    It's not accesible without modifying the game thus Rockstar can't be held accountable. Simple as that.

  • Lothar Hex #2 7 years ago

    Look at the screens for Hot Coffe, they don't even look remotely like the proper GTA style graphics.

  • Blerk #3 7 years ago

    What do you 'do' in this mini-game, then?

  • Bitkari #4 7 years ago

    Engage in gang warfare with assault rifles - OK
    Run down pedestrians with 4-door sedan - OK
    Clothed sex with your girlfriend - NOT OK

    ????

  • Frogger #5 7 years ago

    Strange, because some french journalists have installed the patch on the commercial version of the game. According to them, it modifies only two bytes in the code and adds absolutely no extra files. Which is the proof that the mini-game was, indeed, on the gold master of the game.
    Source (in french) : http://www.ove rgame.com/page/21539.htm

  • asphaltcowboy #6 7 years ago

    It still requires modification though? Right?

  • Frogger #7 7 years ago

    Bitkari, you can add this :
    Sell war weapons to teenagers : OK
    Show a Janet Jackson nipple on TV : NOT OK

  • captain-future #8 7 years ago

    (...) accurate information about what's in a game (...)

    when GTA is on the cover, guess what! - GTA is in the game.

  • itamae #9 7 years ago

    Doesn't that Yee guy realise that he's just shifted another 200.000 copies of the game? I bet he's really a Rockstar employee...

  • RedboX #10 7 years ago

    Considering the patch showed up a couple of days after the release of the game, I think its unlikely that someone managed to reverse engineer the internal workings of the game and produce a patch for the PC and XBOX version of the game so quickly.

    Game released: 2005-06-07
    Patch released: 2005-06-09


    I suspect that someone had some help from somewhere.....

  • Flabio #11 7 years ago

    The american 'M' ESRB rating is equivalent to getting a '15+' from PEGI.

  • RedboX #12 7 years ago

    also from reading around this morning, there is apparently a SAVEGAME for the PS2 version that enables the "minigame" in it.. no modification required at all.

    I think its clear that Rockstar had some hand in creating this, but wisely decided to not include it in the final game, but as they know people like to poke around in thier games they had to know someone whould find the mini game if they left it in the shipped game.

  • Genji #13 7 years ago

    In this game, you can get a well-obscured blowjob from a hooker. After that, you can get out of your car and beat her to death with a baseball bat, pummeling and shooting her lifeless corpse until you lose interest. When the ambulance comes along, you can steal it and run over her corpse some more.

    "Uh, sir, shouldn't GTA get an AO rating because of this?"

    "Why no, Jimmy! See, it says right there, the blowjob is 'well-obscured'!"

  • rocketScience #14 7 years ago

    "No bonking please, we're M-rated.."

    Why is it a hallmark of the whole UK journalistic fraternity to take tired, tired phrases, and re-arrange them with new words to make awkward, desperately unfunny headlines?

    I get enough of this on the BBC...

  • Tweakmonkey #15 7 years ago

    "What do you 'do' in this mini-game, then? "

    Ever played daley thompsons decathlon?

    lol

  • Xerx3s #16 7 years ago

    "It's hardly a change of tune for Yee, who seems to have made it his life's mission to prove that the generally well-regarded ESRB is in cahoots with the rest of the industry to put lower ratings on games than they actually deserve." - Actually, id recon that he would do just fine as a games reporter :)

  • MoFo #17 7 years ago

    @Rocketscience: In the same way it's a hallmark of the comments community to consistently complain about journalists' use of phrases.

    Now that I find far more tedious and annoying than the worst possible headline a journalist could dream up.
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/05 @ 13:50

  • Feanor #18 7 years ago

    "It's not accesible without modifying the game thus Rockstar can't be held accountable. Simple as that."

    I don't think that's correct. Rockstar submitted a signed document that's supposed to tell the ESRB about everything in GTA:SA that they should know about it. Unless that document had details of a sex mini-game that was left on the disc but not enabled then Rockstar could be in trouble.

    And no, I don't believe Rockstar's claim that the code is not on the disc. I've seen directions from the Hot Coffee modder as to how it can be proved that the code is on the disc.

  • davyuk #19 7 years ago

    So the hat-peg nipples, and interactive sex in God of War doesn't get a mention? That doesn't even need a damn mod for fecks sake!

    I wouldn't be surprised if Rockstar broke this story to clear stock.

  • davyuk #20 7 years ago

    >>I don't think that's correct. Rockstar submitted a signed document that's supposed to tell the ESRB about everything in GTA:SA that they should know about it. Unless that document had details of a sex mini-game that was left on the disc but not enabled then Rockstar could be in trouble.

  • sir_tripod #21 7 years ago

    I can see the quote now, "I did not have virtual sexual relations with that woman."

    - Close, but no cigar. d:-S

  • groovychainsaw #22 7 years ago

    So you're allowed to &*$$%in shoot someone, but the friendlier (IMHO) act of sex is worse? And in an 18 (or 15) rated game, this suddenly makes it worse? What is the world coming to....?
    (Or maybe rockstar feel they have saturated their market and are lookin for some more publicity....hmmmm...think i've been duped ;-)

  • Spiral #23 7 years ago

    Not the point. The problem probably lies with the fact that it wasn't declared. If you submit a version of a film that would get a 12 rating to the BBFC or ESRB and then release the 18 rated verion with the 12 rating on it you would get in trouble. This is the same thing, except the issue isn't as clear cut because the content wasn't supposed to be accessible.

  • symmetry #24 7 years ago

    Because it's so easy to unlock, it'll definitely get treated as part of the game. Other games have unlockables that require a download from the internet. However, the only sticking point is the author of the download, and that isn't Rockstar.

    I reckon Rockstar will get away with it this time and then the ESRB will change it's rules to include anything on the disks.

  • rocketScience #25 7 years ago

    "MoFo": In the same way it's a hallmark of theblah blah blah I find far more tedious and annoying than the worst possible headline a journalist could dream up.

    Riiight... complaining about the poor quality of professional writing is bad because....... it annoys some random person on the internet.

  • theweaze #26 7 years ago

    i cant believe this is even being discussed the game should never have got an 'm' rating in the first place. Dont know what it is with americans and sex but as people have said other things in gta are far worse. whole thing seems ridiculous to me.

  • MoFo #27 7 years ago

    Rocket: Your complaining about them and I'm complaining about you. We're both right.

  • Merefield #28 7 years ago

    Ah, bring's back memories of the "Blood patch" debacle ... where the retail version of Carmageddon had to make all spilt blood GREEN - ludicrous! The blood patch restored the good ole red stuff if applied....
    Edited by 2 at 11/07/05 @ 16:30

  • Tyronne #29 7 years ago

    The thing is that its the kind of mental attitute of the authorities to sex which goes towards why there is such a high level of teenage pregnancies.Instead of the approach of education which is straight to the point, they go round the houses either asking the parents permission to teach such things only to be told no by the parents but then like thats gonna stop little john and joanna going at it like rabbits and then wonder why they are having such a crap response.

  • Artemus #30 7 years ago

    Fact - this was in the early test code.

  • Machiavel #31 7 years ago

    Hmm, so supplying illegal porn on a disk is okay as long as it's not easily readable? Doubt it. Can't believe they're claiming the mini-game isn't part of the code - the censor remover PC mod is 36kb!

  • davyuk #32 7 years ago

    Hmm, so supplying illegal porn on a disk is okay as long as it's not easily readable?

    There's nothing illegal about it at all. It's not porn. It's not even up to the standards of late night UK cable channel erotica. It's fully clothed, low poly, dry-hump, cyber fumble. It's Benny Hill.

    The point that many people here are making is how this utterly comical mini game, that equates to that scene in Team America, is causing an outcry. Yet one prime objective of GTA, amongst other violent acts, is to blow peoples brains out with guns, lots of times. Then run 'em over, lots of times. Then pop another cap in there for luck.

  • Genji #33 7 years ago

    My guess is that the conservative attitude to sex is a result of many Americans' devotion to religion. Around 54% of them say that religion "plays a very important part in their lives". Sure, there's still some outcry over violence, but it pales in comparison to the horror of seeing an exposed nipple (*gasp*) on the Superbowl coverage.

  • Midnight_Raven #34 7 years ago

    Iīm pretty sure Rockstar have this all figured out. This just screams marketing ploy to me. The only thing I find a bit odd is that the mod was released so soon after the game hit the stores.

    In any event, banning the game now would just seem foolish anyway. I wouldnīt be surprised if Rockstar were made to eleminate that part of the code in future releases of the game, and thatīs it. Either way, itīs free publicity...

  • gamesb*tch #35 7 years ago

    /looks in teacup
    /sees storm
    /hears on radio that Euston and Victoria stations are closed for bomb scare

  • Machiavel #36 7 years ago

    Hmm, so supplying illegal porn on a disk is okay as long as it's not easily readable?

    There's nothing illegal about it at all. It's not porn. It's not even up to the standards of late night UK cable channel erotica. It's fully clothed, low poly, dry-hump, cyber fumble. It's Benny Hill.

    Oops, I agree it's not illegal porn. But I was wondering in the wider sense whether pornography laws applied if the supplier provided all the images 'locked' without a mod on a disk. I would imagine they'd still be guilty somehow. Not meant to imply that Rockstar's minigame was anything other than cartoon porn!