The continuing saga known as Hot Coffee-gate took another unexpected turn as the mod community reacted strongly against the ESRB and U.S. senators that have gone after Rockstar and the community regarding the GTA: San Andreas sexually explicit material.
The entire gaming industry stood accused last week as US senators managed to point the finger at Rockstar and the modding community and claim that they both undermined the entire U.S. game rating system.
Some of the leading modders got together at GTAGarage.com and put together a variety of letters and a press release that were sent out to U.S. senators. The letter sent out to senator Clinton, Mr. Yee and Mr. Thompson states: In recent statements by the ESRB, they have accused the mod community of undermining their ratings by putting sexually explicit material into PC games, namely San Andreas, which was already rated "M". However, if you look into a game by the name of "Singles - Flirt up your Life", it becomes quite clear they are doing a good job of that all by themselves. This "M" rated game features full frontal nudity (and not androgynous "barbies" like The Sims) and characters engaging in interactive sexual scenes.
The letter also goes on to point out that other games are not treated in the same way claiming that: ...for that matter, what of the game "Playboy: The Mansion", which is based on the skin magazine, and is also rated "M"?!
The modding community has reacted and it has done so in style, in an attempt to expose the entire GTA:SA story as a hypocritical exercise aimed at what was considered a soft target and serving many purposes, few of which have anything whatsoever to do with decency.
All we can say is: Good Luck.
To read all the letters sent out by the modders and the press release, follow the download tab above.
