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The other issue to deal with in this drama was the ‘Hot Coffee’ modification where you can have full blown sex and a blowjob from your girlfriend, Denise. However, it was soon pointed out to Houser that to include this would stop 80% of the shops from stocking it, particularly in the US. In the end, they had to take the scene out, but in reality it was still there in the code – it just wasn’t normally accessible. And to remove the code would’ve caused issues elsewhere in a cut-scene where a bit of “how’s your father” was taking place.
Cue a dutch hacker who found the unused animation, causing Jack Thompson to get back on the case. With the Hot Coffee exposure, the game was reclassified ‘Adults Only’ in the US, resulting in every game being removed from stores, and Rockstar being accused of fraud for misrepresenting the game to the ratings board. However, the upshot of all this was that they’ll have to be more rigourous in checking for such things before submitting a game in future. And that’s it.
The stupid thing in life is that doing he business is legal, yet getting out your Uzi and doing other business with that is NOT legal.
Along the way, Sam Houser began to get more and more demanding, and started to become a bit of a dick, blaming everyone else apart from himself. And I liked the way he showed his disdain for role-playing games, such as World of Warcraft, shouting that he wants games to be for adults, not just something where you become “a penguin or a shitty, hairy elf”
He also had a T-shirt listing all the drugs Don Simpson, his favourite film producer, had in his system when he died. Terry Donovan countered the best is James Cameron. Sam discounts Cameron as being just a director, yet he is a producer, too. And Bill Paxton was in Aliens. And Titanic. And True Lies. And, of course, The Terminator!
At the start, it was stated that some events were presented out of sequence to heighten the film’s dramatic effect – artistic licence and so on. Looking up some of the events I was unaware of, after the film, I can see why they’d so that, as life doesn’t play out like a film, but it got across a decent story pretty well, even if the whole 90 minutes did feel a bit linear. In the acting stakes, Radcliffe and Paxton were both okay, but everyone else just phoned in the bare minimum.
The origins of Rockstar’s Table Tennis game are in there. Oh, and at one point, the sound effect of Jack’s son walking along, as he goes to talk to his father, was the exact same sound you hear of a character walking in GTA V!
The Gamechangers is an entertaining film, but not hugely essential – more like an extended TV advert. It’s something you’ll definitely watch if you’re a big fan of the GTA games, as I am. However, like a recent advert starring Mark Weinman (Terry), this film is good… but it’s not Carling.
It’s also worth noting that this drama was not sanctioned by Rockstar. It was put together from the contents of court documents and interviews with various people.
In conclusion, Jack Thompson was permanently disbarred from law, Devin Moore remains on death row, and Hilary Clinton stuck her nose in, banning violent video games from being sold to children, but in the UK they’re sold to over-18s only, and in the US they have a ‘Mature’ rating (aimed at 14-year-olds). So blame shops if they’re selling to younger children. And blame parents if they’re letting children play these games. You could also blame an uncle if he let his nephew play GTA San Andreas…. (oops!)
The Gamechangers can be watched on BBC iPlayer until October 15th.
Score: 7/10
Director: Owen Harris
Producer: Jim Spencer
Screenplay: James Wood
Music: Vince Pope
Cast:
Sam Houser: Daniel Radcliffe
Jack Thompson: Bill Paxton
Jamie King: Joe Dempsie
Jen Kolbe: Shannon Esra
Tom Masters: James Alexander
Dan Houser: Ian Keir Attard
Terry Donovan: Mark Weinman
Michelle Gerilikos: Inge Beckmann
Patricia Thompson: Fiona Ramsay
Pat Vance: Jenna Dover
Devin Moore: Thabo Rametsi
Johnny Thompson: Garion Dowds
JP: Christiaan Schoombie
Bridjet: Alex McGregor
Doug Lowenstein: Nick Boraine
Judge Moore: D David Morin
Judge Dava Tunis: Nicole Sherwin
Police Officer Arnold Strickland: Garth Breytenbach
Steve Strickland: Thorsten Wedekind
Hillary Clinton’s PA: Lex King
Laila: Abena Ayivor
Fayette Journalist: Pierre Malherbe
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman: Stephen Jennings
Californian Geek: Nathan Lynn
Rockstar Woman: Lara Adine Lipschitz
Patrick Wildenborg: Gideon Lombard
LA Gang Leader: Nafis Kariem
DJ Dog: Richard September
Ray Reiser: Dean Fourie
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.