RockStar Confirms Sex Mod Not a Hack

UPDATED The fight over Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas came to a climax on Wednesday as the Parents Television Council called for a recall of the video game, and a statement from the game maker Rockstar seemed to confirm the Hot Coffee modification was indeed not a hack and was present within the game.

RockStar issued a statement late Monday saying it was providing a patch to prevent the modification in already purchased titles, and would stop selling the game while it works on a non-modifiable version. Wednesday's developments ostensibly confirmed that the scenes depicted within the game were created by the game manufacturer.

Effective immediately, the ESRB has changed the rating of the current version of the game to "AO" for adults only, and would provide stickers to retailers wishing to continue selling the current version.

The updated version would retain the original "M" for mature rating. It is not immediately clear how the change would affect its availability.

Earlier Wednesday, research provided to BetaNews demonstrated codes that could open up the same questionable scenes on both Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2 gaming consoles.

The discovery indicated that the scenes were likely produced by Rockstar itself, at it is practically impossible for the code of an Xbox or PS2 game to be altered unlike PC games.

"Take-Two and Rockstar Games have always worked to keep mature-themed video game content out of the hands of children and we will continue to work closely with the ESRB and community leaders to improve and better promote a reliable rating system to help consumers make informed choices about which video games are appropriate for each individual," Paul Eibeler, Take-Two's President and CEO, said in a statement.