Another TEN YEAR milestone, though dubious

[BlackListedB]

Sam and Dan Houser's new way of running Rockstar studio, dubbed Rockstar North primarily, an outsider from World and USA game maker politics found out the hard way, your own way doesn't always work best.....

 

HOT COFFEE as a hidden mini-sex game unearthed July 20th 2005 this month in history caused the most angst and difficulty for the somewhat fledglinged company in all of it's history.

 

 

It didn't help that Rockstar even as DMA with GTA's first introduction...pre-introduction of it's top down classic... courted

Controvesy that was rather contrived at the time, due to connections and an idea that word of mouth rumor could aid the game growth outside of the normal avenue of advertisment.

 

I was reminded of what Hot Coffee represented and it's now 10 year discovery thanks to a new USA Terrestrial DTV broadcasting channel part of our local CBS channel expanding (for the first time) to TWO channels on digital broadcast (former restructuring of analog UHF and VHF TV airwaves to digital convention)

That channel is called 'Decades' and took some time getting going, for more then a month it had no sound and offered VERY old black and white programming, much of what it still does, but with main host Bill Curtis, hosts and hour dedicated to World events that happened on 'this day in history'.

 

The HC report they had was condensed with not as much on Rockstar and the Housers or the real story of Hot Coffee but how it effected video games evolution over all.

As I started this article, I mention the origins of Rockstar and DMA don't take into account video ratings as they stood for years prior.

Their main mission was moving video game evolution beyond where it had even been, but didn't do themselves ANY favors by staying 'clothed mouthed' and secretive, in fact the backlash against GTA putting them as 'deer in the headlights' made them more secretive then ever, and that sadly continues to this very day!!

 

I was there watching Rockstar evolve prior to San Andreas even coming out, and I remember flat denial that Hot Coffee was there, this was confused by what we, even as outside fans knew, and the idea of user mods, and Patrick who found the hidden code, basically accused of creating a mod, rather then finding one the studio created, this was the perception without his input, which put the spotlight back on Rockstar and exactly what was Hot Coffee embedded within GTA SA

Edited July 28, 2015 by BlackListedB

[Trevor_Philips]

Rockstar should have come right out and admitted Hot Coffee was something they played with instead of trying to deny it.

[BlackListedB]

The book Jacked shed the most light, and astonishingly, Hot Coffee leads to and indicative of even more secretive nature Rockstar North followed with the public and industry back-lash. I remember from my experience, the outrage over killing hookers to get back cash spent on 'favors', this sparked the US violence concerns when Vice City GTA was the latest, we heard game pundits say you as game player are open to what game activity, in this regard, you under-take, not mandated by game plot, and there really was no nudity or cursing, this all followed in the wake of the outcry, Rockstar deciding they were coming under fire anyway, but they did under-estimate the USA legal matters and game industry, but with admiration for adult action USA Hollywood, including TV of course, Miami Vice the most obvious example.... Scarface was readily hinted at within Vice City as well.

 

I feel they should have at least worked more openly with the USA games industry, but they seemed to this day closed off from that avenue, in large part at least.

[Guest MarlenesFutureDad]

The book Jacked shed the most light, and astonishingly, Hot Coffee leads to and indicative of even more secretive nature Rockstar North followed with the public and industry back-lash. I remember from my experience, the outrage over killing hookers to get back cash spent on 'favors', this sparked the US violence concerns when Vice City GTA was the latest, we heard game pundits say you as game player are open to what game activity, in this regard, you under-take, not mandated by game plot, and there really was no nudity or cursing, this all followed in the wake of the outcry, Rockstar deciding they were coming under fire anyway, but they did under-estimate the USA legal matters and game industry, but with admiration for adult action USA Hollywood, including TV of course, Miami Vice the most obvious example.... Scarface was readily hinted at within Vice City as well.

 

I feel they should have at least worked more openly with the USA games industry, but they seemed to this day closed off from that avenue, in large part at least.

You sound like a conspiracy theorist but I like it. And the fact that you get your TV entirely through an antenna suggests that not having satellite or cable is not as bad in the United States of America as it in Canada. In Canada, you can't get any good programming unless you pay $90/month for cable or $190/month for satellite television. And once fiber optic TV comes into play, expect to pay about $140/month just for the basic package and the ability to watch "major league" sports like the MLS, FIFA, UEFA Champions League, MLB, NBA, NFL, CFL and the NHL.

[BlackListedB]

I've been lax on a few fronts, and I mentioned Decades TV a local CBS terrestrial digital channel new in operation the past year or so, documenting historical events like Wikipedia does on their landing page, a rather interesting formula given that it's archival programming from CBS and new and old features shown in 6 hour blocks. The 10 year anniversary for Hot Coffee was a segment more or less on video game violence, originally aired on CBS I believe.

 

Since I had issues replicating the broadcast, I filmed a DVD recorded playback and put it on my YouTube freshly uploaded tonight.

 

Another article on the channel talked about girls and gaming, tech, computers and their overall feeling of 'boring' in relation to the contrast of male interest, that was also interesting given how long ago it originally broadcast.

 

To this day I think Rockstar lost genuine talent who left after the HC fallout mess. It could have been avoided but in one capacity or another, GTA has always matured in it's content as it evolves, distinctly from chief competitor Saints Row which is not thought to be competition these days because Rockstar showed how adept they REALLY were at HiDef gaming

Edited September 10, 2015 by BlackListedB