San Andreas Gets AO Rating

San Andreas rated AO, Take-Two suspends production - PlayStation 2 News at GameSpot

Video games are always in controversy spotlights, and this week is no different. This week, the ultra-violent best seller "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" officially became the first major AO rated game to be released. Of course, last week the game had been on store shelves for months with the M rating. So why did the rating get changed now? Because of a sex mini-game that some hackers discovered in the code. No big deal right? Well, actually, it IS a big deal! It's a VERY big deal! Not the mini-game itself mind you, which is quite honestly one of the stupidest mini-games I've ever seen, one that offers no fun or (excuse the pun) pleasure for the person playing the game, but the big deal is what went on to hide this game from the public.

Like stated above, I take very little offense to this mini-game. It was made by some perverted men, it was put in the game, and then it was locked away under every layer of code so that no one could unlock it. Since I don't play GTA to the extent most people do, I highly doubt I would have ever stumbled upon it myself. What I have a problem with is that Rockstar looked everyone in the eye and said that they did not create this mini-game, and that it was the creation of a hacker. Once the game was found in the code of ALL the versions of the game though, then the curtain was pulled back to reveal that Rockstar had, in fact, created the mini-game. Then they continue to claim this was a hacker incident. What a bunch of bull.

Right now I am in support of the ESRB giving San Andreas the AO rating. Not only do I think this is the rating the game should have gotten in the first place, but it is a good warning to other game makers that you just can't slip stuff like this in games...even if it isn't meant to be seen by anyone (if this is the case then why keep the code in the game in the first place?). Really, that's all there is to it. I'm sure many of you are wondering where my rant is about Hillary Clinton is, or wondering why I'm not questioning the difference between the M and AO ratings (there are, unfortunately, too few differences to base a discussion around them), or that maybe this is some censorship conspiracy. No, my problem with this whole situation is that Rockstar lied to us, and they got what they deserved.