| Hot Coffee Mod |
Article Index for Hot |
Website Links For Hot |
Information AboutHot Coffee Mod |
|
The Hot Coffee mod is a ). When installed, it unlocks a hidden part of the game which involves having Sex (featuring Oral Sex with an "invisible" Penis and Dry Humping ) with the main character's girlfriend to try to improve the relationship between the two. MOD OVERVIEW During the course of the main plot of the game, the player (as main character ) may date up to six Girlfriend s, carrying out various "date missions" in order to improve his relationship with a particular girl. Once Carl has become particularly close to a girlfriend, she may end a successful date by inviting him into her house for " Coffee "—a Euphemism for Sex . Improving relationships with girlfriends through successful dates and other related activities will eventually reward CJ with new items (vehicles, weapons or special wardrobes) and benefits during gameplay (e.g. cost-free visits to the hospital after dying). In the unmodified version of ''San Andreas'', the player sees an exterior view of the girlfriend's house while hearing the muffled voices of Carl and his girlfriend as they engage in Coitus . However, the Hot Coffee modification enables a minigame which allows the player to actually enter the girlfriend's bedroom and control Carl's actions during sex. None of the six possible sex scenes involve any Nudity . However, an updated version of the "Hot Coffee" mod swaps the girlfriends' partially-clothed Textures with modder-created, Flesh-tone d Bitmap s. This Third-party addition, like most Nude Patch es, can only be applied to the PC version of the game, and does not incorporate visible Genitalia . Rockstar Games , the publisher of the '' Grand Theft Auto '' series, initially denied allegations that the minigame was "hidden" in the video game, stating that the Hot Coffee modification (which they claim violated the game's End User Licence Agreement ) is the result of hackers making "significant technical modifications and Reverse Engineering " to the game's code. The creator of the mod, Patrick Wildenborg (under the Internet , shortly after PatrickW's PC mod was released. The PC mod itself is actually just edited copies of the main.scm and script.img script files. Mods for the ''Grand Theft Auto series'' are nothing new. The mod community has flourished for years creating additions to the map, new cars, and even a mod for Multi-player gameplay. All of this is possible because Rockstar left the scripts open for mod makers to edit in order to have user created content. These mods ''do'' violate the license agreement that comes with the game and until recently were partially encouraged by the company. There is evidence demonstrating that the content had already existed in the game, confirming that Wildenborg's statement that his mod merely "unlocked" the hidden code is true. The or Gameshark cheat disc. It is also possible on the Microsoft Xbox by either installing the mod on a Modchip ped Xbox, by using an Action Replay Max saved game or, more conveniently, using the ''GTA:SA'' Censor Remover on a ''San Andreas'' saved game. This shows that the sexual intercourse content is part of the game's original code, rather than something inserted into the game by the mod. However, it is not possible to access the sexual content simply by playing the game as intended by the developers. The sexual minigame may well have been abandoned before completion, as suggested by the fact that one of the six girlfriends, Michelle, is flagrantly mistextured. CONTROVERSY The introduction of the Hot Coffee mod has now sparked a fair amount of controversy around ''GTA:SA'', with some politicians firing harsh words at both the game's developer and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the organization which establishes content ratings for video games in the United States . It has also rekindled the debate over the influence of video games in general with new protests against several other games such as '' Killer 7 '', '' The Sims 2 '', and '' Bully ''. Jack Thompson , a lawyer and anti-video game activist from Florida was one of the first to attack the game for its recently found content. Thompson believes that violent media such as video games are one of the main sources of violent crime in America and has lashed out against Rockstar on several occasions for previous games they have developed. Thompson has gone to some extremes in his battle by insulting gamers and comparing the head of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), Douglas Lowenstein , to Hitler . He has also dared the video game industry to create an ultra-violent game of his specifications and has done some verbal sparring with the game-related webcomic, '' Penny Arcade ''. U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton has jumped into the fray by suggesting new regulations be put on video games sales . The ESRB is also conducting an investigation into whether the game's publisher lied about the game's content in an attempt to avoid the Adults Only 18+ rating. Also, Congress just passed a resolution to have the Federal Trade Commission investigate whether Rockstar intentionally undermined the ESRB by having the content in the game. In New York, a Class Action Lawsuit has been filed by Florence Cohen, an 85-year old grandmother who purchased the game for her 14-year old grandson (it should be noted that even according to the old rating, the game is typically considered inappropriate for this age). Cohen's lawsuit claims that Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive , the publisher of the game, are guilty of Deception , False Advertising , Fraud and Abuse . The accusation of deception is based on the change from M-rated to AO, meaning according to the lawsuit that the original rating was a deceptive practice. There was also a recent protest that occurred at Rockstar's headquarters. A protest group known as the Peaceholics organized a protest on August 4 , 2005 . The group organized against ''San Andreas'' as well as the upcoming game '' Bully '', which they want cancelled because of fears that the content could inspire children to become bullies themselves. The protesters had signs that read "Put the Cuffs On Rockstar", "Prosecute Rockstar Games; they are felons", "Hey hey, ho ho, Rockstar Games has got to go" . Peaceholics had several demands for Rockstar: # Not to release ''Bully'' under any circumstances # Volunteer to sell its violent and sexually explicit games in adult video stores only. # Let parents return Grand Theft Auto for a full refund until they do a national awareness campaign to educate parents of content and possible effects. # Create a fund for victims of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and car-jackings, etc. # Make a national apology for misleading and lying to children, parents, and legislators about their intentions and causing insurance premiums to sky rocket. # Give a written response within five business days of receipt of these demands.. However, there are several people who disagree with these critics and feel that the attacks on video games are unfounded. While not as organized as the anti-gaming groups some gamers have decided to fight back against the anti-game backlash. A few sites have emerged as beacons of pro-game activism such as {Link without Title} . Gamerandy even has a petition to combat Jack Thompson and the other anti-video game activists. These sites provide sources to support their arguments. One particular article circulated by video game proponents cites the diminishing crime rate as one of the major distortions that have emerged in the new fight against violent and sexually explicit video games. This recent article details how the overall crime rate has actually gone down since the fighting game, '' Mortal Kombat '', caused a major controversy in the early '90s. The youth crime rate has diminished as well. GamePolitics has also launched some attacks of their own directed at Jack Thompson because of distortions he has made about their reporting, putting Thompson's credibility into question. Thompson has taken information out of context from GamePolitics to claim that '''' also has a sex minigame. Some have also argued that the code is not as pornographic as claimed, since no genitalia are shown. Many people claim that the content unlocked by the mod is no worse than what someone would see in an R rated film. Indeed, the mechanics of the minigame could be compared to a rhythm game such as '' Dance Dance Revolution ''. Anti-videogame activists have also frequently claimed or implied that the Hot Coffee mod involves rape. This is not the case as the sexual content is depicted as being consensual. While there may be merit to claims that it objectifies or demeans women, assertions of rape are unfounded. RESPONSE Product rerating In the middle of July 2005, the ESRB, as well as various politicians including Senator Hillary Clinton ( D - NY ), launched an investigation into the Hot Coffee mod. Initially, Rockstar released a statement that strongly suggested that the Hot Coffee content was entirely created by " Hacker s". However, this claim was undermined when codes were released on web forums for the PlayStation 2 Gameshark and AR Max cheating devices that demonstrated that the controversial content was, indeed, built into the console versions. On July 20 , 2005 , the ESRB announced that it was changing the rating of ''GTA:SA'' from Mature (M) to '''Adults Only 18+''' (AO). Rockstar stated that it would discontinue manufacturing the current version of the game, and produce a new version that would not include the content that is unlocked by the Hot Coffee mod. In the fourth quarter of 2005, Rockstar released this "clean" version with the "Hot Coffee" scenes removed (Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas 1.01), allowing the game to be rerated to an '''Mature 17+''' rating. On August 10 , 2005 , Rockstar Games officially released a patch for ''San Andreas''. Nicknamed the "Cold Coffee Patch" by some, the patch fixed many performance issues and bugs. However, the most major addition was that the patch disabled the controversial "Hot Coffee" scenes, even if the "Hot Coffee" mod was reinstalled. The "Hot Coffee" controvesy dashed financial expectations for Take Two Interactive, which lost $28.8 million in its fiscal 3rd quarter of 2005 (May to July) partly because of the rerating; the company lost $14.4 million in the same quarter in 2004. On July 29 , 2005 , as a result of the newly-discovered scenes, the OFLC revoked the game's "MA15+" classification (the highest currently available for computer games in Australia), and changed the game's status to "RC" (Refused Classification) meaning that the original version could no longer be sold in Australia. The patched version was given an "MA15+" classification on September 12 , 2005 . As of July 23 , 2005 , however, the PEGI rating for the game has remained unchanged, although it is likely that the PEGI sexual content label will be added to the game cover. The effect on ''San Andreas'' sales is as of yet unknown, but Take Two Interactive has revised its projected financial statement for the quarter to reflect a further anticipated loss. There has, of yet, been no reaction in Europe , perhaps because each country would have to reclassify ''GTA:SA'' in order to have it taken off the shelves. It is already only available to adults 18 or over in most European nations, so no further action is necessary. Product withdrawal and recall The day after the rating change, several North America n chain stores pulled the PC and console versions of the game from the shelves, including major chains GameStop , Sears , Hollywood Video , Blockbuster , Wal-Mart , Target , Best Buy , and Electronics Boutique . Rockstar has given some retailers ESRB "Adults Only" rating stickers to put on their copies of ''GTA:SA'', should they decide to keep selling the original product. EBay has been removing copies of ''GTA:SA'' that have been reported by the eBay community. eBay claims that ''GTA:SA'' violates the terms of the eBay seller policy and cannot be sold unless it is located in the ''Everything Else > Mature Audiences'' section. This section requires a credit card to validate the age of the eBay user. Since eBay relies on the community to police itself eBay users have to report a game before eBay staff will remove the listing. Several games have been unreported and have sold for extremely high prices. On August 24 , 2005 , Rockstar announced a Mandatory Recall for all games still owned by the general public. Consumers who had already purchased the game were allowed to keep it in certain areas, but with the patch installed, although many serious players refused to use it as it did little but block out an unused part of the game's code. Some commentators have anticipated a product recall of ''San Andreas'' once the "clean" version is available, although given the high value of the "uncensored" versions, it is doubtful that many gamers will return their copies voluntarily. Presently, the original version of ''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' is highly coveted. Many will seek this game in its factory seal and will spend top dollar on it. One may find citings of the game for over the US$ 50 Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP), and the price will only rise as the original games becomes increasingly rare. Certain Pirated Or Illegally Distributed versions of the original game may also be made available on the Internet or from illegal retail outlets. Federal and legal action In December 2005, Senators Hillary Clinton , Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act , which calls for a federal mandate enforcement of the ESRB ratings system in order to protect children from inappropriate content. On January 26 , 2006 , the city of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against Take-Two Interactive , the game's publisher, accusing the company of failing to disclose the game's sexual content. Rockstar has also since vowed legal action against any subsequent sources that reveal how to access this part of the game, mainly cheat device code sites. HOT COFFEE SPOOFS '''' features an unlockable dubbed "Hot Coffee" that stars Daxter and his girlfriend Tess. Instead of having sex, however, they are seen drinking coffee, ending with Daxter looking at the camera and saying "What?". '', the game's protagonist, if he wants to "go to her house and have some coffee" to which Toni replies "I'm not interested", alluding to the controversy surrounding the Hot Coffee minigame in ''San Andreas''. In . It is also combined with another related game, '' 25 To Life ''. Other media on have also feature spoofs of the Hot Coffee feature. A recent Comcast television commercial has featured a woman asking her alien boyfriend if he wants to come in for some coffee after a date. REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|