http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Mon, 25 Jul 2005 19:33:50 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/21/000545.php#comment-189326 No one is forcing stores to remove it. They are doing so voluntarily. EB is still carrying it, albeit behind their counter. It will be re-released later this year with a M rating and the offending code completely removed. The scene is accesible in all versions. And why would the ESRB want to hurt sales? That makes no sense. 189326@blogcritics.org Mon, 25 Jul 2005 19:33:50 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/21/000545.php#comment-189321 This is regulation at its worst. From what I understand the scene that people are so worried about requires a downloadable patch to reach which may mean it only exists in the PC version of the game (I could be wrong). But that's beside the point. The ESRB is basically giving GTA a porn-level raiting as a tactic to try an hurt sales of the game because it forces retailers to remove it from their shelves. This is under-handed and if internet porn can be protected by free speech legislation this game certainly should be able to as well. Bottom Line: Parents, be parents and if you don't want your kid playing a game made for adults-DON'T BUY IT FOR THEM! Read up on titles before you let them play and help us keep the government out of this. 189321@blogcritics.org Mon, 25 Jul 2005 19:28:50 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/21/000545.php#comment-186570 Also, I find it odd that there weren't complains for a while about "The Guy Game" which had actual human female breasts" rather than the "pixelated realistic bodies" having sex. It took the fact that there was a topless 17 yr old to get people mildly upset about the Guy game and even still, there is no "mass outcry" against it. 186570@blogcritics.org Thu, 21 Jul 2005 13:51:52 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/21/000545.php#comment-186542 And you clearly have sex in Playboy Mansion. And it is more of the story then the girlfriend system in San Andreas. 186542@blogcritics.org Thu, 21 Jul 2005 13:18:02 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/21/000545.php#comment-186315 i like gta3! this seems dumb! 186315@blogcritics.org Thu, 21 Jul 2005 01:58:15 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/21/000545.php#comment-186294 Man... I don't think there was any criticism over the Playboy Mansion game... was there? 186294@blogcritics.org Thu, 21 Jul 2005 01:14:27 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/21/000545.php#comment-186284 I'm just at a loss for words at how ridiculous all of this is and how far it went. I think this case is worse than the Janet Jackson debacle. Janet's incident happened during something that was supposed to be relatively harmless and family-friendly. This rating change was made to a product that already had a rating for mature audiences. That's like an R-rated film suddenly being rated NC-17 after it already went into theaters. If anything positive comes out of this is that it might open up the idea of legitimate adult entertainment, entertainment that isn't pornography. GTA games are consistently popular and if the next title gets an AO rating as well then those outlets that do sell AO games could end up benefitting so much that some stores may change their tune. 186284@blogcritics.org Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:54:37 EDT