Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Ryan Weaver. In today's episode, we take a deep dive into "Hot Coffee," the infamous 2005 mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that unlocked a hidden sex mini-game left in the game's code, prompting denunciations from moral crusaders, calls to regulate violence and sex in video games, and the filings of so many lawsuits.

Topics discussed include:  how hard was it to actually access the hidden content, ways Rockstar/Take-Two might have avoided the scandal, and Take-Two's various shady financial wheelings and dealings,

Shout out to some great write-ups on the scandal, which provided some of the basis for this episode's research:
David Kushner, Jacked: The Unauthorised Behind-the-Scenes Story of Grand Theft Auto (London: Collins, 2012).
Simon Parkin, "Who Spilled Hot Coffee?" Eurogamer, December 2, 2012: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-30-who-spilled-hot-coffee. 

Theme Music: Occam's Sikhwee by Sikh Knowledge (Free Music Archive: https://bit.ly/33G4sLO), used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US (https://bit.ly/33JXogQ) 
More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.