Lately there has been a lot of discussion in the gaming industry regarding the latest edition of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game, San Andreas. In all versions of the game sex scenes made by Rockstar were available, only locked out so they never appeared during regular gameplay. However, a small patch made this content available. The game in its current state had to be rated Adult Only in stead of Mature by the ESRB. Now Rockstar has taken the game off the shelves and is producing a new version without the content in question, so it can be rated M for Mature again.

Now Miami attorney Jack Thompson, who was on the forefront of making San Andreas rated Mature, is after The Sims 2, T-Rated (Teen) by the ESRB. According to Thompson, the game shows full nudity including genitals - although that is all custom content, not included in the game or made by Maxis or EA (whereas the content was made by Rockstar in GTA). Thompson claims the game includes all the detailed content in the game, as he read on gaming sites. He also says a cheat, which does indeed exist, can turn off the censor easily. The fact that not only adults, but also children can be seen naked this way - though without downloaded content without any deatils - "much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse." EA too responds that when the blur is removed, all that is revealed is a "mannequin-esque smooth body."

According to EA's Vice President of Corporate Communications Jeff Brown, says it "is nonsense. We've reviewed 100 percent of the content. There is no content inappropriate for a teen audience. Players never see a nude sim. If someone with an extreme amount of expertise and time were to remove the pixels, they would see that the sims have no genitals. They appear like Ken and Barbie." Thompson doesn't buy this, and says even Ken and Barbie like content should not appear in the game. It's no different than San Andreas, although worse. He also claims that EA is fully cooperating with the modding community to allow the Sims to be a pornographic game.

Currently the Sims 2 and The Sims 2 University (and previous Sims games) are rated T for Teen, which means 13+ by the ESRB. Nightlife is set to be rated the same. In Europe, PEGI has rated the original game for ages 7+ with depictions of violence. The University expansion pack has been rated 12+ with depictions of violence and nudity, as well as sexual references. The same will go for Nightlife. If the rating will actually be changed, or if the game will be banned, is not yet sure, although many don't think Thompson stands much of a chance. It is rumoured that China has already banned many games, including the Sims 2, but so far we've been unable to verify this.

We've had no word directly from Maxis concerning this matter yet. Fans are generally upset about the matter, and find trying to ban the game ridiculous. Many are disgusted by the nude Sims though, and the fact that some might be downloaded with other Sims on the exchange. A discussion can be followed in this thread, this thread, this thread, this thread, this thread, this thread, this thread and quite possibly many more on the official BBS. There are probably also many discussions on other fansite forums. To read the original story, read this article at GameSpot. Thanks to TheSidDog and Laku for submitting some of these links. For discussion about this topic, you can enter a comment to this news post, by clicking the "comments" link. You need to be registered to place a comment. Naturally we'll keep you posted on the latest news about this issue.