The GTA Furore grows

Hillary Clinton and the damn House of Representatives have got involved in this Hot Coffee patch for GTA San Andreas now. The House today overwhelmingly voted for an investigation into RockStar/Take Two, because kids might buy the game, accidentally visit the patch website, download the hack, load it and see semi-nude simulated sex.

It is garnering so much attention now anyone would think this was actually important. Considering the Shuttle flew for the first time in two years today without a hitch, considering the ongoing Iraq Adventure, and considering all the other news in the world, is Hot Coffee really worthy of so much attention?

One amusing outcome is that this controversy is threatening to scare off marketers that have just started exploring, and spending small slices of budgets on ads in games in a bid to reach the “lost boys” -- men 18 to 34 who are abandoning TV for Xbox and PlayStation. So-called advergaming spending is currently small, and the plan had been to expand it in the next few years. Marketers who have placed ads in games include Cingular Wireless and Burger King, in Electronic Arts’ "Need for Speed Underground 2".

Whilst big companies are desperate for ways to capture young men’s attention, they hate controversy more. The problem now is that with this GTA debacle, any future advertisers in-game will require more stringent guarantees. This brings up the grim spectre of advertising companies dictating game content.

Is nothing free of the chilling touch of sponsorship and advertising any more?

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