Hot Coffee Rewind: Famed Dutch Modder Talks to EGM

R* have officially admitted their guilt over leaving the content on the disc already not long after it happened. The case is only being mentioned because GTA4 is about 2 months away now.

And thats why Rockstar is a joke

People are STILL going on about this shit? How old is the damn game? About 3-4 years old? Modifications are not the work of the companies. I seriously doubt that the bastard is right about the content already being on the disc. Modders can say anything. Skeptics will say, "Everything looks professionally done, it must have been the work of Rockstar." Bullshit. I've seen models and re-textures for The Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion, and they look just like they were places into the game. There are many nude character textures out there, so should I believe that Rockstar actually tried to get around the ESRB? I really don't. What would they gain from doing so?

Looking back at that whole fiasco, it seems almost surreal how overblown the whole issue was.
The Hot Coffee scenes were humorous (mostly due to CJ still being fully clothed the whole time) and not even the least bit erotic. To a kid it's like taking two G.I. Joe's and stacking them on top of each other (come on, you all did it >_>)

@Soroki:

Actually, no one is "still going on about this shit." EGM just interviewed him as part of a mini retrospective on the past GTA games and controversies for their GTA4 main cover story.

Oh, and the content was on the disk. I managed to access the content in the PS2 version by using a Gameshark and a hacked save file.

Look, if you have to actually "hack" the game in order to see this content then you are kinda opening yourself up to it, aren't you?

This was only a problem in the US because of your backwards nudity laws. In the UK there was no scandal over hot coffee for two reasons:

1 - The game was already rated 18 because it lets you kill cops.
2 - Even if the game had a 15+ rating, no one would have cared as scenes are pathetic and kids can look at titties in the UK by opening the Sun up to page 3.

The US needs to sort out its laws regarding nudity. They make no sense at all... (i.e. you can have sex 2 years before you can look at a porno! wtf?!)

So what ever happened between the game and the ESRB over this content. Multiple people have told me that they SAW copies of the game with AO stickers over the M stickers, with store staff saying it was a temporary fix until new copies with actual AO's on it came in.

It's quite a while later now, and i still see M's in the store... Were people lying, or did certain retailers overreact and make up thier own AO's?

@SeanB

Rock* released a new version with all the Hot Coffee code completely removed this time and it was given its M rating back.

I stand corrected. I thought the mod was for the PC version, because I generally think of mods for PC, not console.

I'm not a nutcase. I've seen some pretty sexually explicit mods for games and it was all the work of the modders. That's why I blamed the modders. I've been informed that it was already on the game disc.

Lego GoW would be awesome, too, but I think LEGO would frown on the chainsaw bayonet.

@kurisu7885

Where exactly was I screaming? Generally screaming in text IS WRITTEN LIKE THIS IN ALL CAPS. I have already admitted I was corrected on this matter.

@Soroki: In both the PC and the PS2 game, it's been confirmed and reconfirmed that the content was already on the disc. As Timson notes, PS2 disc images cannot be altered to include new content, so the content's existence on the PS2 disc is solid proof.

Before the game went into final production, Rockstar decided not to include the Hot Coffee content in the release build of the game. Rather than removing the content directly (which, in retrospect, would have been a good idea), the programming team flipped a few bits around in the code to prevent the conditions for accessing the content from ever being satisfied if the game were played as intended. For all practical purposes, the content was locked, it would never be seen, and the problem was solved.

However, modders don't just play games through normal means - they use various tools and methods (the details of which I won't go into) to look at how in-game content is encoded, make their own content either by (a) re-arranging existing parts in the game, such as custom levels and gametypes, or (b) writing new objects of their own, such as custom textures, weapons, or items. Patrick happened to be the first modder to notice the Hot Coffee content while examining the game, and as such, is credited with discovering it. Let's be honest - if he didn't find it, someone else would have eventually. Bravo for being #1, though.

So before you fire off accusations that modders make content and lie about its origins, do a little research to understand how things work. Because when you don't know what you're talking about, you just make an ass of yourself.

[...] Via GamePolitics [...]