The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) San Andreas may be a phat game but parents groups are even more enraged with a recent discovery made by some game players and that is the apparent presence of graphic, animated sex in the game.

The Grand Theft Auto series of PC and console games never lacked for controversy. The premise of the games has to become established in a career (an admirable trait right?) and advance in that career. The controversial part comes in the career choice, which is that of a thug, gangsta or mafia hit man, depending on which title you prefer. Career advancement comes from successfully stealing cars, eliminating the competition, picking up “hos” and the ever-popular random acts of sex and violence.

With many PC games on the market, users have the ability to modify the game in the gaming code to personalize the game, make it their own. A group based in Amsterdam claims to have unlocked something in the code. At one point during the game, the lead character pays a conjugal visit to a lady friend and in the standard version, players get to hear what’s going on. In the “mod” version, players get to see what’s going on. Rockstar games, the maker of the GTA series has remained fairly tight-lipped on the matter and the leader of the Amsterdam group claims they’ve added nothing, they merely worked to get at what was already there.

The electronic game ratings group, Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) began an investigation and could well change the rating of the game depending on what the investigation turns up. Currently, the game is rated M for mature which is essentially an R rating meaning 17 and older.

Parents groups charge the game is too violent and sexually explicit for children, charges made long before the new development and this new round of issues will only fuel those charges to have the game marked AO for adults only. If the rating is issued, the game will lose much of it’s marketability because chains like Wal-Mart would like quit carrying the game and many other places will quit carrying it or make a request only game.

John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.