Regulate video games the same as movies. Can't make it any more clear...

Take-Two president and CEO Paul Eibeler said. "We look forward to putting this behind us and focusing on what we do best - creating video games."

You and me both brother. I'm getting sick and tired of hearing these whining politicians. They need to get the corncob out of their posteriors and take care of the real problems.

Its not as if a 13 yr old kid is going to know how to have sex once they watch the hot coffee mod! Half of them probably already know how to anyway. I don't know the full story, but isn't it the case that free to air tv in america has very strong censorship, so there's little violence, sexual scenes etc. However, on pay-tv (cable etc) it practically open-slather.

Now if people blame frequent/young sex and violence on tv they have to remember that the people involved in those activities are generally of the lower socio-economic group. Those without the pay-tv to watch the stuff in the first place. So in that case, violence and sex is inherited from the real life society, and not from artificial reality or complete fiction which is tv.

Probably the closest bad influence comes from reality shows (ie. Survivor, Big Brother, etc.) which are real in a sense, but still fake as its staged. Its reality in the sense of the people on there, but they only represent the small group of people that the shows producers etc want portray. These people are generally not what you would call 'the average' person. I know its difficult classifying the definition of an 'average' person but I'm sure people would know what I mean. Another description - normal people? everyday people?

The same goes for video games. A person from a wealthy socio-economic group playing the same game as a low socio-economic group will be less likely to commit the acts seen in the game because they aren't exposed to that in their physical lives.

The people doing the shielding are blaming the video games when they should be blaming the society, as its society that influences and not the games/movies. If games/movies have that influence, it means either the person is not social or that they have a mental disability.

So it can be open slather with games and movies as long as people get exposed to real social scenarios. In that case, its the parents and societies fault, which is much harder to blame than the makers of the video games and movies who are easy targets.

"Additionally, the company is barred from misrepresenting the content of a game in the future."

i dont get why there is always some kind of agreement like the above when a company is sued by the government.. as if it was legal for them to misrepresent before? It's like someone stealing a radio from a store, gets caught and the DA makes him agree to never steal again.. wtf

Just another excuse blahman2005 to get a cheap shot at America in general. Not all Americans are the same, as not all Brits are the same nor are all French the same, etc. etc. So please, keep your ignorant and totally one sided opinions to yourself.

I don't think its acceptable that "pornographic" material was hidden in the game. I dont think they should have to hide it at all.

No doubt it would have been banned if the content was accessible from the beggining without modification.

This is the twisted logic behind American censors.. They allow the violence, which to me is much more of an issue, but of course its greatly offensive to see lame simulated sex scenes..

America is controlled by sexually repressed religious freaks and stone-age moralists.

If anyone was going to be concerned about anything in the game it should be the violence.

I am glad a patch was released. This was good to me. It had to be modified to see the material anyway.

To be quite honest anyone whoever is capable of downloading and applying the patch most likely should be able to view the material anyway...

If kids were to access the game Id be much more worried about them seeing the violence than the sex scenes...

But as for the violence and sex as far as I am concerned ANY adult should be able to play ANY content whatsoever that they wish in a game. Its a fantasy. If someone wants to go around raping and murdering people in a video game that is fine by me. Games are not real life.

There should be more sex in video games... I have this strange suspicion that if more sex was available, violence would become less popular.

Interesting ideas.

Most folks would call them horrific or misguided.

Thos would be the same folks drunk on the beach in the bahamas. (If you can see over the bar, you're old enough to drink....funny how the only drunks on the beaches are the US tourists...)

If an R rated movie can have very detailed sex scenes then M rated video games should also be allowed to have lots of sex. The two ratings mean the same thing: you are supposed to be age 17 or older to view the content.

I don't think anyone was disagreeing with that....

Amen. Treat them the same.

So I don't misunderstand you other posters - I want to get this straight, because I've been reading this for a long time.

Are you folks saying it is acceptable for game creators to hide pornographic content inside video games? Are you saying it's wrong to seriously fine game developers for putting vulgar content in their game discs, especially without disclosing said contents to consumers?

Who cares about "how much money the FTC could get" because that amount is probably trivial compared to what the government gives them anyways.

Are you folks saying it is acceptable for game creators to hide pornographic content inside video games?

You forgot the "inaccessible" part. It was there, they pulled it last-minute. The *only* reason it got out there was because someone hacked the game, and then rteleased the hack.

A simple, "Game Subject to change drastically if modified" should be *more* than sufficient.

Again, it's the responsibility of the parents, not the "morally concious while being morally bankrupt" politicians.

I definitely agree with you bro.

You are the man. :)

Nah.

Joey Belladonna's the Man.

I'm just a fan.

How'd ya know?

I pretty much agree, I just wanted some recognized responsibility for leaving the pornographic content in the game.

I don't know why this was such an issue, with all the REAL pornography out there that's easily accessable via the internet and elsewhere. So we can stab, shoot and rob people in a videogame, but we're not allowed to see a simulated sex scene that contained no nudity? I've seen worse offenses in a PG-13 movie. The game was originally rated MA (17+). What's rated R? 17+. There's plenty of boobies in rated R film. Getting a ticket to a rated R film is super easy, to boot. The bottom line is parenting. It's said and will be said again and again. Do they listen to the people that say that? Of course not. They'll never point the finger at themselves. All they can do is censor. Not listening is part of the cause of today's misguided youth.

No money to be made suing the parents.

Pure and Simple.

> So we can stab, shoot and rob people in a videogame

Don't forget the hookers! You can pickup a hooker, have some fun in your stolen car (to boost health), and then kill her to get your money back.

I don't know why this was such an issue, with all the REAL pornography out there that's easily accessable via the internet and elsewhere.

They already tried to sanitize the internet and elsewhere, and were told they couldn't.

Not everyone is happy with the settlement -- barely a week after the two sides reached the agreement, Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee slammed the FTC for being too lenient in its sanctions against Take-Two.

Does 'lenient' mean not suing them for s***loads of cash? Seems like the problem has been delt with, and Take-Two is happy that their hands weren't slapped too hard.

It cost them a boatload of money in returns and re-rating the game. The rating the game was given was more than enough in my opinion... its not like a nude sex scene changed its wholesome nature.

"The ESRB originally rated the game’s three versions, for PlayStation 2, PC, and Xbox, as “M” for Mature, with the accompanying content descriptors of Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs."