Latest Grand Theft Auto explores full frontal nudity; court kills attempt to regulate game sales to kids

Credit: Rockstar Games.

A parents group is warning about explicit footage in a new Grand Theft Auto video game, even as a California law banning such material from being sold to children was struck down as unconstitutional.

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group that reviews games, movies and other entertainment for children, sent out a message late Thursday warning against Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned.

"Heavy violence, strong language -- and now nudity," the group said. "Thought this M-rated game series couldn't go any lower? Think again." Common Sense Media reviewer Marc Saltzman said that The Lost & Damned, developed by Rockstar Games and published by Take-Two Interactive Software, contains depictions of full-frontal male nudity. It also includes graphically violent scenes, including one in which a gang member's face is pressed against the spinning wheel of a motorcycle -- splatter! The game, Saltzman said, "should be kept away -- far away -- from children."

The Lost and Damned is a $19.99 add-on game, released Tuesday, that's available only as a download on Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console. To play, one must already have Grand Theft Auto IV, which launched in April with little protest from parental groups. This version offers ...

... new characters, weapons, vehicles and music, among other things.

Both titles are rated Mature, a voluntary designation given by the industry-funded Entertainment Software Rating Board. That means the board recommends that only people 17 or older play the title, and most retailers choose not to sell such titles to minors. The board also noted that The Lost and Damned contains "blood, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content and use of drugs and alcohol."

Lawmakers from California, New York and other states have tried various measures to prevent minors from getting their hands on Mature-rated video games, but their efforts have met stiff resistance from federal courts.

Today, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a District Court ruling from 2007 that invalidated a California law banning the sale or rental of violent games to those younger than 18. The appeals court agreed with the trial court that the law was a violation of the 1st Amendment, which protects free speech. Similar laws in Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan and Louisiana have been struck down by federal courts on 1st Amendment grounds.

-- Alex Pham

Comments

[Josh]

You forgot to mention one important detail of this expansion's availability: That only adult Xbox Live accounts can purchase this content. Xbox 360 has great parental controls that make it so teens won't even *see* ads for this game while using their Xbox 360.

[Old Man Dotes]

The game, Saltzman said, "should be kept away -- far away -- from children."

That's the function of parents. If the parents don't want to supervise their children, they should hire a nanny, not expect the government to perform that function. Personally, I made sure my kids got their video game play time *with* me, not *instead* of me. But then, I was raised to believe that parents are responsible for teaching their kids what they need to know, by example if possible.

[Alex Pham]

Excellent point, Josh.
Alex Pham

[spencer]

Quit bashing the games game developers have every right to make any game they want its the artistic freedom the industry needs. they dont go handing them to 10 year old kids. parents give them the money to get them and walmart will sell anything to anyone. parents put a leash on your kids........

dude its just a game

[Harman]

"Thought this M-rated game series couldn't go any lower?" Actually it's higher, because it's pushing the M -rating to the highest. Why do people make games sound like bad things. Of course you should have GTA to a 12 year old, but c'mon. There's barely any controversy over R rated films, so why over games? Just don't give ultra-violent games to kids, and everything will be fine, just like with movies. Jeez.

[Malcolm Boura]

Violence - almost certainly harmful to children

Pornography - may be harmful to children.

Nudity - no evidence that it is harmful to children and substantial evidence that prudery is harmful and that that harm is often major.

Try comparing the teenage abortion rates for the most prudish western countries with those for the most liberal. That pattern is not coincidence and the reasons are well understood so why are we still allowing prejudice against the human body to do so much harm?

Encouraging body shame is little better than child abuse.

[Rev.Zachary Beason]

All game consoles come with parental controls that allow parents to say "I don't want my kid to play games that are rated past this level" use them. people have to come to terms with the fact that adults make up the majority of video game players. Most games aren't made for kids. also the video game business makes as much money as the film industry, but how many movies do you let your children watch that are rated PG13 or R without your supervision?

[Jesu Christie]

the original generation of gamers are over 30. porno has been here for ages, are we NOW trying to censor just nudity? i may not agree that it violates the 1st amendment to ban video games sales, but i think it violates something much more innate and necessary, freedom to have fun while not harming others.

[Kurt]

Wait....full frontal nudity somehow makes the game worse? It's a game with murder and not just murder every type of murder possible. The throw in a little theft to go with that murder and you have yourself something that you should monitor. I don't see how nudity in any form could make this game worse for "the children". Would we rather our kids commit murder or even witness a brutal murder then see a naked person?

[gwodu]

Oh come on. It's just nudity. Not near as bad as the violence shown in just about every game.

[Steve]

Parent's need to do their jobs and "parent" their kids the Xbox is no different than TV/Movies. It is rated M for a reason. Don't blame the creators. Blame it on yourselves.

[Mac]

Old Man Dotes, you're the type of adult who makes complete sense in this mad world. Thank you for having the sense to regulate the world your children view rather than dodge responsibility and lay any blame on the government and products aimed at adults. I also love the quote: "Heavy violence, strong language -- and now nudity," oh no! Not nudity!

[Switch]

Greetings from Digg ...

Harold and Kumar 2, Walk Hard, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Those all came out in the last year, and all feature prominent male AND female nudity. Where's the outrage story on those?

The fact Saltzman went out of his way to pick apart a GTA expansion just proves that the people at "Common Sense" are only interested in pushing a "hip" agenda against gaming and don't really give a damn about the so-called "message" they hide behind. If they really cared about "protecting" children, outcries like this would be so common place that Alex and his editors wouldn't have even considered it news-worthy.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Common Sense Media.

[WTF]

Out of all the comments posted here no one seemed to find a problem with this game? That is whats wrong with our society. Its probably the people writing these comments that are keeping these vile games on the market. Sure a kid might not be walking into a store buying the games, but as we all know, kids will be kids. You cant always be breathing down a childs neck saying what are you doing, what are you looking at. At what point do we say enough is enough? Never according the filthy bastards making this crap. Even as an adult I would be disgusted at this kind of play. What is wrong with you people?

[Rev. Zachary Beason]

we have had nudity in games for years now, The biggest change is that this is male nudity. much like with the recent film "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" we're now introducing male nudity into an environment that doesn't mind female nudity and seeing the double standard. it doesn't even look realistic, it's like a toilet paper roll attached to the groin of the character and unlike most breasts that are in video games it doesn't move realistic either.

[iwillshowyoumine]

we are ALL naked under our clothes...
here we are once again with the ancient Puritanical/Victorian thinking that the human body is shameful and not to ever be seen. we ALL have a body, and the sooner we stop feeling ashamed about our own bodies, we can then get on with ending the self hatred, and then end judgmental attitudes toward others. that should only take another 200 years or so...

[TJG]

While I agree that you can't watch everything your kids do if more parents spent time with there child(ren) instead of using the video games machine as an electronic babysitter we all would be better off.

[Passmeabrew]

The whole crusade against objectionable material in this country is bass-ackward. These groups have complained little against gruesome violence and bloodshed, but campaign the hardest when nudity and foul language is involved. Nudity is natural, shoving someone's face into a spinning motorcycle wheel isn't. And it's a-ok for someone to be brutally beaten and steal their car, but god forbid a swear word is used in the process. All I can conjecture is that the flawed value system of fundamentalist Christianity is usually involved...

[Switch]

@WTF:

The people who think taking the moral "high ground" means stamping out whatever they're opposed to regardless of what others think are what's really wrong with our society.

The funny thing is, you preach your righteousness and assume anybody who disagrees with you is a heathen, but the fact that you would so readily put people out of jobs and shut down somebody else's creation with such a clear (and understandably disinterested) lack of knowledge about what you're trashing only proves that you're just looking to climb up on your high horse. That's why you're as big a hypocrite as Saltzman, and why nobody cares what you think.

We hope you keep talking, WTF, because we need people like you. As long as your kind keep taking your self-righteous tones, my kind will keep making these games. We need people like you so that we have an envelope to push, and without games like GTA, you'd never get to ride that high-horse you love so much.

Admit it ... you need us too.

[Russ]

The problem is parents are unwilling to monitor their kids, to actually be a parent.
I work two jobs, and one of those jobs is at a big box retailer in Electronics. Whenever I have some parent come in with a kid and the kid says they want a M rated game, I will explain to the parent exactly why the game is rated M. 9 times out of 10, the parents response, "Oh I dont care just whatever, its fine." I have sold games like Manhunt2 to parents for their 7 year olds to play.
Personally I don't think the games need to be changed. I don't think the laws need to be changed. It's the parents that need to be changed. Their are far too many genetic donors and far too few parents out there.

[Kay]

Seriously, that's what should people worry with GTA.. nudity? Hah, now that's a killer joke =)

[None]

It's a +18 game. Where the hell is the problem?

If a 15 yo kid is playing this game it's not the developer's fault...

[James]

Still disappointed they haven't seen fit to put a golf course in the game to either play golf on (would beat Tiger Woods Golf 09 IMO) or more originally bury your victims in the bunkers.... ;)

[Adam]

While female nudity can be seen as a form of objectifying women in certain contexts, male nudity hasn't seemed to cause any real issues in the thousands of years it has existed in art. If anything, it's simply not terribly attractive to many people.

Children having access to games in which they roleplay as murderers is understandably a social issue, because we still don't know what kind of effects they're causing, and whether or not they're making children think or act more violently. It's a social issue because as a society, we want to reduce murder and crime.

If we find that kids who play games with nudity tend to publically expose themselves, well, there might be a case for alarm. But in the meantime, nudity - especially male nudity - should not be demonized. Parents and lawmakers should look to their local museums, and ask themselves if nudity in art has ever had any effect on their own behavior.

I certainly believe that games should be rated appropriately and responsibly sold, as movies are. And parents should know what games their children are playing, and use discretion with age-appropriate material.

But making a fuss about nudity in a game seems like a waste of time.