Re: San Andreas Gta Hot Coffee
Berry Spitsberg
Bring it back with this combination classic meets contemporary coffee table. The Andreas Coffee Table has an oval wood top matching the traditional styles of mid-century modern form. However, its most striking feature is its unique leg design resembling 2 boomerang-like arrows pointed inwards appealing to contemporary enthusiasts. Its soft rounded edges are ideal for children and pets to be around. Its overall build reinforces its support with an unusual aesthetic for those who love interesting style mixed with outstanding versatility.
"Hot Coffee" is the unofficial name for a minigame in the 2004 action-adventure video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas by Rockstar Games. While it was not playable in the official game release, the modding community discovered hidden code that, when enabled, allows protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson to have animated sexual intercourse with his in-game girlfriend.
Rockstar Games president Sam Houser wanted to include more role-playing elements in San Andreas while also pushing the Grand Theft Auto series' controversial reputation. The development team was forced to curtail the nudity and sexual content of Houser's original vision, however, to obtain a "Mature" rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). Rather than removing the content, the developers made it inaccessible to players. Modders discovered the code on the game's PlayStation 2 release, and when San Andreas was released for Windows, modder Patrick Wildenborg disabled the controls around the code. He released this modified code online under the name "Hot Coffee".
The discovery of the "Hot Coffee" minigame resulted in intense legal backlash for Rockstar Games and their parent company, Take-Two Interactive. While both companies remained mostly silent on the matter, Rockstar Games released a statement claiming that modders were responsible for the minigame. The ESRB re-rated the game "Adults Only" after an investigation, while the game was banned entirely in Australia until the explicit content was removed. Rockstar Games and Take-Two received a warning from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for failing to disclose the extent of graphic content present in the game, while a class action lawsuit alleged that the company had misled customers who believed the game's content fell along the lines of a "Mature" rating.
San Andreas begins with CJ returning to his home state, the fictional San Andreas, to attend his mother's funeral. Upon his return, he engages in an overarching quest to become a kingpin in the area's criminal underworld. Although there is an overarching plot, San Andreas is primarily an open world game, where narrative missions are supplemented by other activities and interactions that have little bearing on the primary mission.[6] One open world task in which CJ may participate is romantic. San Andreas contains six unlockable girlfriends that can be discovered either through completing missions or by exploring the virtual world. Each girlfriend has preferences for CJ's appearance and date activities; if CJ impresses the girlfriend by catering to these preferences, the player unlocks certain rewards.[7][8] When CJ has sufficiently impressed one of these girlfriends, she will invite him home "for some coffee", a euphemism for sexual intercourse.[9] In the unmodified version of the game, the player hears muffled sexual sounds from inside the house, while the camera remains outside the front door and no explicit content is visible.[10]
The first commercially successful game in the Grand Theft Auto series was Grand Theft Auto III. Upon its 2001 release, the graphic violence and sexual content in the game were met with controversy from politicians and other public figures such as Joe Lieberman and Jack Thompson.[13] Both Grand Theft Auto III and its sequel Vice City received commercial success but faced scrutiny, particularly among those concerned about the impact of violent video games on children.[14][15] Both games received an "M" ("Mature 17+") rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in the United States,[2] and Houser responded to the criticism by stating that the Grand Theft Auto series, and video games as a medium, were not designed for children.[13]
On 7 July 2005, Leland Yee, the speaker pro tempore of the California State Senate, issued a press release condemning the ESRB for not providing San Andreas with an AO rating for its violence and the explicit sexual activity in the "Hot Coffee" minigame.[18] At the time, Yee had been promoting the AB450 bill, which would require the state of California to place warning labels on violent video games and require retailers to check for identification before selling these games to customers.[19] On the following day, while Vance criticised Yee for his "crusade ... to undermine the integrity of the ESRB", she also announced that the Board had opened an investigation into "the circumstances surrounding the 'Hot Coffee' modification".[20] On 12 July, meanwhile, the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) announced that it was opening its own investigation into the game at the request of Philip Ruddock, the Attorney-General of Australia. The OFLC had originally rated San Andreas MA15+, which limited purchase to individuals aged 15 or older.[21]
While "Hot Coffee" had been popular among the Grand Theft Auto modding community upon its release, Yee's comments drew the public's attention to the minigame.[22] In a statement on his personal website, Wildenborg clarified that although he was not responsible for the creation of any explicit sexual material present in the game, such material was impossible to access without modifying the source code, and thus "Hot Coffee" could "therefore not be considered a cheat, Easter egg or hidden feature but is most probably just leftover material from a gameplay idea that didn't make the final release".[23] On 14 July, Rockstar Games released a statement denouncing any responsibility for "Hot Coffee", stating that the minigame was "the work of a determined group of hackers who have gone to significant trouble to alter scenes in the official version of the game".[24]
Following the ESRB's announcement that they were investigating San Andreas, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to uncover the source of the game's "graphic pornographic and violent content", determine whether the game should receive an AO rating, and "examine the adequacy of the retailers' rating enforcement policies".[33] Clinton further declared that she would begin work on a bill that would make it a federal crime, accompanied by a mandatory US$5,000 fine, to sell violent or sexually explicit video games to individuals under the age of 18.[33] She filed the Family Entertainment Protection Act on 17 December 2005, with backing from fellow senators Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh.[34] In addition to preventing the sale of M- and AO-rated video games to minors, the bill recommended that the FTC check annually for hidden content in existing games, such as the code that led to the "Hot Coffee" mod.[35] The bill was referred to the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where it expired without action at the end of the 109th Congress.[36]
On 27 July 2005, an 85-year-old woman from New York filed a lawsuit against Rockstar Games and Take-Two in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The woman had purchased the game for her 14-year-old grandson before it received its AO re-rating, and she alleged that Rockstar Games had engaged in false advertising, consumer deception, and unfair business practices by marketing the game under its initial M rating.[40] A similar lawsuit was filed in January 2006 by the city of Los Angeles, headed by City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.[41] Several similar claims were ultimately consolidated into one case.[42]
In October 2006, a federal judge ruled that the initial plaintiff could pursue class action status for her lawsuit.[43][44] Settlement talks between the associated parties began in February 2007,[45] and the case was settled on 28 January 2008. All customers who purchased the game before its ESRB re-rating were eligible for a claim up to $35 (equivalent to $49.53 in 2023).[46] While San Andreas had sold over 21.5 million copies, fewer than 3,000 customers filed claims in response to this settlement.[47] While attorneys had settled the case for $1.3 million, it would take less than $30,000 to resolve the submitted claims, and most of the settlement cost would be in legal fees. Rockstar Games also agreed to make a charitable donation worth $860,000 as part of the settlement.[48] Because so few affected individuals pursued settlement claims, a judge decertified the settlement class on 31 July.[49][50]
At the time of the "Hot Coffee" controversy, Take-Two was already under investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on charges of insider trading involving company founder and chairman Ryan Brant. This investigation culminated in a $7.5 million settlement on 9 June 2005.[12][51] On 17 February 2006, Take-Two shareholders filed a class action lawsuit alleging that the company's mishandling of various financial aspects had caused a direct, negative impact on their earnings. One example of this financial mismanagement was the company's response to the "Hot Coffee" scandal.[52][53] Plaintiffs alleged that Take-Two had engaged in a securities violation, as by "merely 'wrapping' rather than removing the Adult Content, Defendants knew that the Adult Content would inevitably be made widely available".[12] This suit was settled on 2 September 2009, with Take-Two agreeing to pay over $20 million and enact changes to corporate governance policies and practices that would protect investors from future such issues.[54] By this point, shareholders had voted to oust most of the executive leadership at Take-Two, with Strauss Zelnick named the new chief executive officer.[55]
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