By now most of you have probably heard of the so-called "Hot Coffee Scandal". For those uninitiated, basically in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, if you download a mod/patch, you can gain access to some sex minigames (omg Google please don't pick that up). After this was discovered, the ESRB made Take-Two (the publisher of GTA) change the rating to AO (Adults Only, the equivalent of an NC-17 movie), from M (Mature, the equivalent of an R-rated movie.) What has followed has been one of the most awe-inspiringly stupid public/media/government uproars, resulting in a federal inquiry and $5 million class-action suit, where a woman claims she was "damaged" by learning of the unlockable content in the game, after buying it for her grandson. Her 14-year-old grandson.

I don't even know where to begin. One the one hand, I do think that it was monumentally stupid for Rockstar to keep that content in the game. Working in the games industry, I know it's a pile of bull poo that they didn't know that content was still in the game when in shipped. But on the other hand, this whole debacle is just another example of people not wanting to take some goddamn responsibility for themselves. Parents nowadays seem to want to rely on a ratings system to take care of their kids rather than, you know, actual parenting. This game, which already has strong violence and sexual content, shouldn't be played by kids anyway, hence the M-rating. If your kid is playing this game already, some heavily-pixellated nudity isn't going to turn him into Charles Manson. If you don't want your kid to play the game, get off your butt and don't let him play the game. Stop the goddamn fingerpointing and just raise your kid. And for all you politicians (ahem Hillary), there are many more important things to focus your attention on. Please.

(*) Required fields

* Name:


* Email Address: (Required, but will not be displayed)


URL:



* Please retype the above number:


* Comments:


Remember info?