An unprecedented move by big retailers to stop sales of the blockbuster video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" over a hidden sex scene has turned a brewing political flap into a costly liability for an industry looking to avoid government regulation.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle are raising concerns over the safety of games, although players and many in the industry say the process shows that self-regulation works -- despite the political stink.

The industry's own ratings group limited the game to an "Adult Only" audience on Wednesday in response to a "mini-game" unlocked by downloadable software, which allowed players to have virtual sex.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., whose Rockstar Games makes the controversial title, said the rating change would plunge it into a deeper-than-expected quarterly loss. "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" is part of Rockstar's No. 1 selling game franchise. Through May, sales of the game for Sony Corp's PlayStation2 console topped 5.7 million units.

But many in the industry said the harm was wider spread.

"Rockstar, you ruined it for the rest of us," Robert Khoo, a business development director at Penny Arcade, a gaming fan site with comics, reviews and online forums, said over the weekend as the controversy grew.

Game makers have long battled efforts to regulate violent video game sales, and some insiders compared the latest political maneuvering to the anti-Communist witch hunts conducted by Sen. Joe McCarthy decades ago.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who led a charge against the game, has sought a Federal Trade Commission probe, while others are using the scandal to call for government oversight of the industry.

But Entertainment Software Rating Board President Patricia Vance said her group began investigating the modification to "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" that allowed players make their characters engage in explicit sex weeks before calls from lawmakers started coming in.

"This is a fine example of self-regulation working," she said.

Game enthusiasts bridled at the idea of government oversight. "Is it asking too much for the government to kindly butt out of my video game collection?" one contributor wrote on a gaming Web site... (Continued Here)

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iv read so much about these senators and petioners claiming fould play that its getting to become somewhat sickening now...

if you dnt like gay people marrying each other, dnt marry a gay person.
if u dnt like people shooting each other, dnt shoot anyone.
if u dnt like the sex scene in GTA... DNT PLAY IT!

Related article on the boards. (im still fishing for more)

Did you just compare regulating video games to regulating guns? That has to be the STUPIDEST thing I have heard in a long while. They're not gonna put guns at Tops or Wegmans with a crappy warning label stuck on them!!!

:sigh:

Why do I even bother...

its not about regulating video games.
if it was, then they'd be going after more than one game.
if you've been following the posts on the boards, this is about the 2nd/3rd article relating to the banning of Grand Theft Auto to minors.
Each post covered the development of the case against the game developers (il post those links either toward the end of this post or when i find them).

the lobbyists want blood. they want to ban minors playing a game because of explicit sex scenes when there are reality shows on during prime time television (such as Big Brother ) where full frontal nudity and course language is encouraged because it helps us appreciate human behaviour!

once u read all articles ul find an almost vindictive pattern the lobbyists have against GTA.

im all for censorship to protect younger children, but when the average teenager is practising sexual acts as early as 15 years of age ( heres ur proof ) i think its quite short-sighted banning a game soley because of sexual acts.

this medieval attitude is encouraged by over-protective awkward parents and fueled by the lobbyists because when election time comes, its a nice thing to put on ur resume: 'fought for the protection of children'.

i say let the game be available and if the kid can afford to buy it (on their own), then he/she deserves to be allowed to access whatever part of the game they want.
and if its the case that parents are purchasing the game for their kids, they have a choice to make (THAT SHOULDNT have to be inflicted on the general population).

As for the guns comment. not once did i mention guns are sold at ur local convenient stores (altho some L.A gang members may beg to differ). i merely stated that if people are offended by the fact that people use guns to shoot each other (which i admit i am not pro-firearms), then by all means voice your concern. But dnt got all out to abolish the existence of firearms completely.

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found the links relating to GTA on the UGN boards:
LINK 1
LINK 2

incidently, i also ran across this article on the boards.
how interesting it is that this program is graciously embraced by society, given its nature.