GTA actor slams Rockstar

By Ellie Gibson Published 30 January, 2006

Woods doesn't like hot coffee.

Top craggy-jawed Hollywood star James Woods has made it known that he's not too happy about the Hot Coffee mod in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Woods played Mike Toreno in the game, which infamously featured hidden content of the sexually explicit variety.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Woods said that, "If someone said, 'We're going to have this in there, be aware of that," he could have made an informed decision about whether or not he wanted to be associated with the game.

Woods added that he "just doesn't like to be sandbagged." And who does.

Poor old Rockstar - it seems the Hot Coffee scandal just won't lie down and die. Not only are top craggy-jawed Hollywood stars on getting their case but now the LA city attorney's office has launched a lawsuit against them, too. Don't be expecting too many hidden sexually explicit mini-games to appear in future Rockstar titles, we'd wager...

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (46) Latest comment 6 years ago

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

  • Perry #1 6 years ago

    Get a life Woods

  • Ninjamagic #2 6 years ago

    LOL - Awesome

  • jack_klugman #3 6 years ago

    Don't be expecting too many hidden sexually explicit mini-games to appear in future Rockstar titles, we'd wager...

    I hear Bully was really riding on that sort of content. Shame...

  • phAge #4 6 years ago

    Perry: What makes you say that? No matter if you agree with Rockstar on their rather un-PC game content or not, surely a voice-actor has the right to know the full extent of the game he's getting involved with?

  • Bitkari #5 6 years ago

    James Woods.....

    This is the same James Woods who was in Videodrome, right?


    Videodrome...

    ...and he's worried about Hot Coffee?

  • Nige #6 6 years ago

    Yeah - I'm down with the swearing and killing people in nasty ways... but sex is just immoral.

    Time to dust off the word 'flid' I think.
    Edited by 1 at 30/01/06 @ 12:16

  • space_ace #7 6 years ago

    james woods rules
    he was born on the same day as i, some 30 years ago
    you know :)

    sorry, just trying to keep up with erogamer's standards :)

  • TurdBreaker #8 6 years ago

    obviously someone's PR agent said he should publicly denounce the Hot Coffee mod.. for whatever reason...

  • Sko #9 6 years ago

    Yeah, if he didn't it could harm his (checks IMDB) "career".

  • Darren #10 6 years ago

    It's not like the GTA games are made for kids, they're rated 18 for goodness sake! /rolls eyes/

  • Mr_Sleep #11 6 years ago

    Errr, Sandbagged, what exactly does he mean in that context?

  • smelly #12 6 years ago

    just that he'd have preferred to have known about it.


    Whats to know? They tried it, they removed it. Nothing to talk about.

    This whole thing is rediculous

  • LPXO #13 6 years ago

    i think he actually means teabagged. maybe theres some new unlockable content in GTA:SA that only he is aware of???

  • Ninjamagic #14 6 years ago

    Serves Rockstar right for blatanlty abusing their position at the expense of ££££ (sales).

    "Anything goes" was their motto.

    Well "Anything goes" with their downfall - negative publicity - lost sales - former actors discontent - law suits etc...

    If you cant do the time dont do the crime

  • regmund #15 6 years ago

    Mr Sleep- i think 'sandbagged' must feel like inserting a video tape into one's stomach and pressing 'Play'

  • el_pollo_diablo #16 6 years ago

    The thing is, Woods has probably never even seen the mod. He's just been told, as someone said, to make his position tenable by his agent.

    But it's REALLY REALLY TAME. It's like a carry on film. If Woods had seen it he would no doubt, like the rest of us, laughed at how innocent it is.

    What's going on with the world?

    Edited by 1 at 30/01/06 @ 12:53

  • DaveT #17 6 years ago

    "It's like a carry on film."

    And that's why he wouldn't want to be attached to it surely. carry on films are PAINFUL TO WATCH!

    Sorry, I never use caps like that, but the point needed to be made clearly

  • dbeamish #18 6 years ago

    who cares.. its an 18 cert game.

  • Salvia #19 6 years ago

    "Get a life Woods"

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

    He's an award-winning actor who's spent years refining his talent and you're titting about on gaming forums and telling him to get a life??????

  • Psi #20 6 years ago

    james woods was the bomb in vampires!

  • urban #21 6 years ago

    IT DIDNT FEATURE in the game thats the fucking point...it was hidden code that got found out.

    i say dont blame rockstar, it was up to you if you unlocked it or not.

  • Zuiyo #22 6 years ago

    You guys don't get it.

    THIS IS FREE ADVERTISEMENT!

  • Feanor #23 6 years ago

    The level of understanding about Hot Coffee on Eurogamer is rather sad. GTA is not 18-rated in America where the scandal has taken place. It is M rated. The American equivalent to a 18-rating is AO - Adults Only. This is what the game would have got if Rockstar hadn't misled the ESRB by not disclosing that there was a sex mini-game in GTA:SA that will be possible for gamers to play using a PC mod which only unlocks the mini-game.

    The ESRB can only rate games properly if game companies are honest about everything on the disc. Rockstar thought it would be fun to leave a fully functional sex mini-game in GTA:SA that required a very simple PC mod to play, and can also be accessed on the console versions using Action Reply. According to the logic some people here it would be fine for companies to leave porn on an E-rated game disc so long as you had to unlock it using a console cheat device or by downloading a tiny PC mod.

  • Moogrose #24 6 years ago

    Rated "M" - for over 17.

    17 or 18 big dif. same story really.

  • smelly #25 6 years ago

    And you include that on a disc why, exactly?

    Lots of games go out with features which were tried, but later turned off in them.

    It was probably disabled after they discovered it was a shit mini game which wasnt fun to play.


    According to the logic some people here it would be fine for companies to leave porn on an E-rated game disc so long as you had to unlock it using a console cheat device or by downloading a tiny PC mod.

    porn?!? I hardly call fully clothed simulated sex porn. I've seen more pornographic material in some soap operas.

    And less we forget you need to DOWNLOAD the patch from the WEB to activate it. There are FAR WORSE naughty things available on the web to download.

  • Freek #26 6 years ago

    James Woods? This is the killing, swearing, hardcore crime movies, bad guy James Woods, we're talking about here??
    Or the Family Guy-best friend of Peter Griffin, sing along, walks in the park James Woods?
    Probably the second one.

    On something that wasn't supposed to be in the game to begin with, simply left over code re-introduced by third parties with some nude skins, wich is pretty common practice for every game out there with a female character in it.
    That had nothing to do with the person that he voiced.
    Edited by 1 at 30/01/06 @ 14:52

  • Zuiyo #27 6 years ago

    It's FREE ADVERTISEMENT. Let me repeat it: F-R- ok you get the point.

    These comments come a few weeks after GTA : SA reaches platinum. Obviously Woods is doing his Rockstar pals a favour by adding up to the hype. He is not concerned about Hot Coffee...

  • Rambaldi #28 6 years ago

    I'm no prude, but this time I do think that Rockstar got what they deserved. They've always toed the line with style. This was just plain dumb.

  • Placebo #29 6 years ago

    Hard core violence = "M" for 17 year olds.
    Hard core profanity = "M" for 17 year olds.
    Soft core, badly implemented, bedroom fumbling = "AO" for 18+?

    I just don't get the problem, but then I'm European :)

    Let's just be thankful the game didn't include one of Janet Jackson's "accidentally" exposed rubbery breasts, think of the shock and outrage that would cause, America would have to invade Scotland, or something.

  • Feanor #30 6 years ago

    "According to the logic some people here it would be fine for companies to leave porn on an E-rated game disc so long as you had to unlock it using a console cheat device or by downloading a tiny PC mod.

    porn?!? I hardly call fully clothed simulated sex porn. I've seen more pornographic material in some soap operas."

    I didn't call Hot Coffee porn, silly. My point is that some people seem to think game companies COULD leave porn on an E-rated game and that would be fine so long as you had to download a tiny patch or use an Action Replay code to access it.

    Great point, ManicMinkerUK. I would love to see a honest interview done one day with Rockstar where they explain why they left a fully developed sex mini-game in, and more interesting to me, why they outright lied about it when the Hot Coffee mod was first released. And mod is really the wrong term because nothing was modified, just unlocked which is why the download was so tiny. I still remember people here agreeing with Rockstar that the Hot Coffee modder had created the whole thing from scratch! of course, then it turned up on the PS2 and Xbox versions, hehe.

  • Feanor #31 6 years ago

    "On something that wasn't supposed to be in the game to begin with, simply left over code re-introduced by third parties with some nude skins, wich is pretty common practice for every game out there with a female character in it.
    That had nothing to do with the person that he voiced."

    The nude skins for the PC version are a red herring. The clothed sex mini-game would have been enough to get an AO rating for the PS2 and Xbox versions which can not be modded to make the Hot Coffee females nude.

    The fact is Rockstar knew a sex mini-game would get them an AO rating. But they didn't want to take it completely out of the game. So they left it on the disc but never told the ESRB about it. The ESRB can't do its job unless it can trust the game companies to tell them what's on the game discs. Games are far too big for the ESRB to find everything on them, so they rely on game companies to show them anything that might affect the rating.

  • Freek #32 6 years ago

    That's a pretty elaborate conspiracy for a common practice: leaving in unfinished game features.
    And is pretty evident from what there that is unfinished and poorly done. No reaosn to see it as anything more then that; something innocent that got blown totaly out of proportion due to the hyporcritical double moral surrounding sex and violonce.

    There's no need for some conspiracy that they wanted to get out ratings nor that ESBR can't do it's job properly. This is inherent to the way games are made, some features are simply locked out, easier to do then remove the code completly. Some things are found and reintroduced by the community.
    But some poorly animated bumping grinding hardly effect the ratings in any meaningfull way, no kid would be scarred for life seeing that. Especially not considering the game is already 17 rated. Garry's mod for Half Life 2 allows for similar antics.


    GTA was already a controversial game but there was no way in for the moral brigade since violonce is fine. Oh but what's this there was some "sex" in there? Oh well that changes everything, now you can sue people instead of merely complaining about it. Rockstar trying to blame hackers instead of explaining it properly as a knee jerk reation to that only made things worse. Another case of the cover up being far worse then the "crime".
    Incompetence by the PR departement, yes, conspiracy, no.
    One little mistake that quickly snowballed out of control.
    Edited by 8 at 30/01/06 @ 15:56

  • Metalfish #33 6 years ago

    "GTA actor slams Rockstar"

    Has Eurogamer turned into The Sun and not told us?

  • Blood_and_Thunder #34 6 years ago

    Rockstar were stupid to leave it in. All of these anti-videogame campaigners will jump on anything like this, and they should have known what these people are like and the amount of trouble they could get in had it become common knowledge. To any normal adult, the sex scenes in San Andreas are nothing, but these campaigners will use anything they can against the games industry. Rockstar shouldnt be giving them ammunition like this.

  • matrim83 #35 6 years ago

    /Repeating to self

    Give a crap.Give a crap.
    Give a crap.Give a crap.

    Nothing. Sorry guys.

  • Khab #36 6 years ago

    Let's just be thankful the game didn't include one of Janet Jackson's "accidentally" exposed rubbery breasts, think of the shock and outrage that would cause, America would have to invade Scotland, or something.

    Hahaha!

    "Mr President, we have a problem."

    "What's up, Condi?"

    "The Scots."

    "What about the Scotch?"

    "Scots, sir."

    "Ah, er, ok, what about the Scots?"

    "According to our intelligence reports, they're having sex."

    "OMGWTFLOLBBQ! That's completely out of order! Mobilize the 101st! Have a carrier group deployed! NUKE THEM NOW! NOW GOD DAMN IT, NOW!"

  • Feanor #37 6 years ago

    It's not innocent at all to leave a sex mini-game on a game disc and somehow forget to ever mention it. They tried to slip something by the ESRB, got caught, lied about it, had their lies disproved, and so they deserve everything they get. It's amazing how naive people can be.

  • Drakron #38 6 years ago

    Sorry but it was disabled ... it required you go inside the files to reactivate it.

    A point in case its was ONLY discovered with the PC release, the PS2 was around for a longer time and NOBODY found out about it (until the PC release but then they knew eaxactly were to look).

  • EggyDeth #39 6 years ago

    James Woods turned Republican after recovering from his gigantic coke habit in the '80s. His career never recovered but he had some great roles before coming apart at the seams.

  • smelly #40 6 years ago

    /Repeating to self

    Give a crap.Give a crap.
    Give a crap.Give a crap.

    Nothing. Sorry guys.



    Well actually it's VERY important for ALL games. Is a game pornographic because some guy can edit the textures and put a mod online to show the main character nude? Does the sims invoke paedophilia becuase you can download a mod to make all the sims (including the children) naked?

    Does this mean that any game mod which is made potentially cause a lawsuit on the people who made the original game?

    If so, we could see the end to game mods. Game manufacturers could start putting in eula's to prevent people from "modding" their games. And start suing anyone who does in an effort to stop such a thing happening again.

    As gamers, not having game mods is obviously a bad thing, but that IS what will happen if this is succesful.

    So YES as GAMERS we SHOULD care.

    And developers will have to take more time making 100% sure nothing which was never intended for public viewing gets onto the disc. Which will mean more time in development and therefor more delayed games, and more costs, etc etc etc.

    So yup.. You should care.

  • Kiigan #41 6 years ago

    Jesus. Everyone needs to shut the fuck up about Hot Coffee. You'll find more explicit sexual content on prime time telly.

  • Xune #42 6 years ago

    Make war not love.

  • Genji #43 6 years ago

    DEATH TO VIDEODROME! LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH!

  • ozgamer #44 6 years ago

    GTA was aimed at adults. Wowsers and the like can piss off and play Barbie Horse Adventure.

  • Lagto_Soa #45 6 years ago

    Out of interest, did James Woods release a public statement after The Specialist came out, claiming the script he read was really great and the highlight was a cinematically astonishing set piece deconstructing the nature of war, rather than ten minutes of Sly Stallone and Sharon Stone nobbing like cold fish in the shower?

  • chronom4n #46 6 years ago

    what about the sex game in god of war?