Don’t worry, I’m not going to go off on some kind of rant about how appalled I am at the whole ‘Hot Coffee’ deal. There’s really nothing that I could say that hasn’t been said elsewhere, and there’s really no sense in rehashing it yet again.
Here are some quotes that I’ve culled from various websites regarding the matter:
From Eccentricities: “The newest Grand Theft Auto game is being pulled from many stores, getting a new, “adults only” rating, and promising parents a refund. I think this is really great, and will send everyone the message what America is all about: stealing cars, shooting cops, and beating hookers. with no sex involved. I mean, what kind of a country would we be if we allowed people to be sexual all the time, and get the “hot coffee” hookup whenever they wanted? I tell you, the mere thought of it makes me want to bash a hooker in the head with a bat and steal her money!”
From 1UP: “[B]ecause GTA is a ‘known’ title, [i]t’ll get people who don’t know much about games to pay attention. God of War had more accessible sex (off camera), and higher-rez naked female chests… nobody says anything.”
From GameSpot: “[S]ome business writers are suggesting Take-Two is privately reveling in the publicity the “Hot Coffee” controversy has brought it. “After all, nothing says ‘buy me’ to a 15-year-old quite like a message that this product is too racy to sell at Circuit City and GameStop,” Business Week columnist David Kiley wrote. “In my opinion, censorship and uproar will only make San Andreas and future GTA games more appealing to teen gamers, Take-Two’s target audience,” said Motley Fool editor Nathan Alderman.”
From Game Girl Advance: “What’s okay in GTA (the series) for seventeen year olds:
Assault with a deadly weapon.
Battery
Murder
Assassination
Vehicular homicide/manslaughter
Grand theft auto (duh)
Sex with prostitutes (tastefully hidden!)
Racketeering
Drug trafficking
What’s not okay in GTA (the series) for seventeen year olds:
Consentual softcore sex between two adults, one of which is fully clothed.”
From Penny Arcade: “There’s no question that the industry is beset by career opportunists and lazy people willing to outsource their responsibilities as parents, but the pronounced winking and looking the other way on the industry side of the equation won’t fly with this level of scrutiny en route.”
From an interview conducted by IGN: “The industry has a voluntary system right now whereby they rate various games, “M” for mature audiences, “Adults Only,” or for all ages. There is a rating system that the ESRB has established. The gaming industry has argued that the voluntary rating system should be sufficient to deter any [under-age] individual from going in and purchasing a game. The problem with that is that it is a voluntary system, and that voluntary system doesn’t work. There are two reasons why it doesn’t work. If the voluntary system works, why don’t we have a voluntary system in the sale of cigarettes to children, the sale of alcohol or adult magazines to children? The reality is that just doesn’t work. Secondly, by statistical data and anecdotal data, the Federal Trade Commission has reported that in 80% of cases you can find young people under-age going into stores and purchasing these games. We’ve got emails from students on school projects. In one case in the East Bay, they’ve gone out and in 50% of the cases they’ve been able to purchase “M” rated video games while clearly under-age. It simply doesn’t work.”
From the National Institute on Media and the Family: “What about the rating?
This game was rated