LAYTON, UT – When Kolton Mahoney fired up his new Xbox 360 console Christmas day to play Madden NFL ’07, he didn’t expect to see a warning label reading “What follows should not be distributed to minors.”Young Kolton really didn’t expect to see what came on screen next; instead of the familiar EA Sports logo and trademark ‘E-A Sports; It’s In the Game’ sound byte, Kolton allegedly saw explicit pornographic images.
“This is definitely not Madden,” Kolton said he thought to himself as the images first appeared, according to the Associated Press.
The game, manufactured by Electronic Arts (the “EA” in “EA Sports”), was purchased by Kolton’s uncle at a Circuit City in Modesto CA. According to Kolton’s mother, Linda, the game was still in its factory packaging when it arrived in Utah.
“I’m totally shocked,” Linda Mahoney said, according to Utah-based ABC4.com. “It’s very triple-X rated. I’m very disappointed he had to see that, on Christmas day especially. I mean, no kid should have to see that.”
Dan Mahoney, Kolton’s uncle, confirmed to the Modesto Bee that the Madden game he purchased was a “brand new game,” and was “entirely wrapped with those security seals on them.”
“Somebody had to have done something at the factory,” added Dan Mahoney. “I just happened to get that copy.”
According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, the Mahoney family has notified Utah’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force concerning the problem. Although it’s not clear how this incident is related to the internet, an official from the task force told the Tribune said they will work with local police and California authorities to determine how the game was altered.
“The hard part will be finding out who did it,” said Lieutenant Rhett McQuiston of the ICAC, according to the Tribune. “We’ll give it a shot. I would go through the roof if this happened to my kid.”
Kolton’s father Timothy told ABC4.com that while his brother Dan has been trying to run down some answers from his home in California, “it’s hard for him to go to the store without the facts that we have, and it’s hard for us just to use the phone and email systems to get in touch with whoever is responsible.”
Timothy added that he’s upset about the incident, especially since it happened “here in Utah where we’re trying to get away from the pornography and the exploitation of children.”
Stephanie Nightlinger, a spokeswoman for Circuit City based in Richmond, VA, told the Tribune that the company had received no other complaints similar to the Mahoney’s problem with the Madden game, but that the company would investigate the incident.
According to Nightlinger, Circuit City’s corporate headquarters first learned of the problem from an Ogden-based newspaper that contacted the company for comment.
