Rockstar Entertainment's wardrobe malfunction.
A
hack in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas where, after using several cheats and going through
pain-staking effort, one can see GTA character Carl Johnson receive fellatio and play a mini-game of having sex with his girlfriend. The term "hot
coffee" comes from the fact that, if the girlfriend enjoys herself on her date, she will invite you back to her house for "
coffee."
Became a controversy due to
Hillary Clinton, who called for a House vote urging the Federal Trade Commission to step in and investigate the Rockstar Entertainment "scandal." Since this happened, the ESRB has re-rated GTA:SA with an Adults Only (
AO) rating (as opposed to the original Mature (M) rating), meaning that the game is not suitable for anyone under the age of
18. This has caused stores like Best Buy and
Wal Mart to yank the game off of shelves, as most electronics stores have a policy that does not allow the sale of AO games.
To add to the irony, law suits are now starting to rise from independent consumers who supposedly bought the game for their children (who were under the age of 17), claiming that they thought that the game was rated M and not AO (the age difference between an M and AO game is one year).
The hot
coffee hack has definately taken a toll on sales, since most of the stores that used to carry GTA:SA no longer allow for its sale. On the other hand, the media attention has only served to cause greater public interest in the product, which could help in the long
run.
