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A former Rockstar Games producer says the famed studio is careful to scrub cut content from its game files in an effort to avoid accidentally shipping anything it doesn't want the public to lay eyes on, and we can thank the GTA San Andreas Hot Coffee scandal for that.

For context, more than two decades ago, GTA San Andreas and Rockstar Games found themselves in the middle of a scorching scandal. The open-world game maker at one point developed a sexually explicit minigame for 2004's San Andreas, but eventually decided to scrap the idea before launch to avoid getting slapped with an 'Adults Only' rating that would keep the game out of most US retailers.

But instead of outright bleaching the minigame off the game's files, the GTA San Andreas devs simply made it inaccessible to players. That didn't stop the modding community from finding the hidden code come launch, enabling the so-called Hot Coffee minigame, and then kickstarting a wave of legal backlash against Rockstar. The controversy got so loud, the studio had to reissue a version of the game devoid of Hot Coffee.

Speaking to Kiwi Talkz, former Rockstar Games lead producer John Ricchio said the scandal made the studio much more careful about how it handles cut content. "One of the things after Hot Coffee, obviously having things on the disc is dangerous," he explains. "You don't want to necessarily have stuff on the disc that people can find."

Ricchio goes on to say that Rockstar now puts in "a huge effort" to "strip everything that is not included out of the game," and ensure that unintended content doesn't accidentally ship, even if it's hidden in the game's code.

On the topic of cut content, Ricchio shares that it's not very common for Rockstar Games to reuse scrapped ideas in future games. An exception is GTA 4, which actually includes some levels that originally began life in a different unannounced and eventually-canceled game. Transferring code or scripting tools just depends on how much the tech has changed from game to game. Maybe don't expect GTA 6 to include anything left on GTA 5's cutting room floor, then.

Former Xbox boss says GTA: San Andreas and its infamously NSFW Hot Coffee minigame "signified a maturing of the industry" and put games "on par with movies and music"

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Archaeologists in Russia have discovered a rare medieval wild-boar tusk that was likely used by a warrior or noble as a good-luck charm, a new study reports.

The unusual finding, a large tusk mounted with an engraved metal cap, dates to between the mid-12th and early 13th century. It was found in Novgorod the Great (also called Veliky Novgorod or Novgorod), one of the oldest major towns in Russia. One characteristic of the amulet, in particular, stood out.

"It's extraordinary because of its size. It's extremely big," Natalia Eniosova , co-author of the study and a metal scientist in the Department of Archaeology at Lomonosov Moscow State University, told Live Science. The tusk isn't complete, but the length of what's left is 3.9 inches (10 centimeters) long, with the widest point measuring 1.1 inches (2.8 cm) across. She and her colleagues' research revealed that the tusk came from a wild boar that was at least 8 years old and weighed over 220 pounds (100 kilograms).

"Such an animal would not have been hunted for food," she said, explaining that domestic pigs were a more practical and common food source at the time. The wild boar may have been eaten anyway, but the team doesn't know for sure.

Another trait that makes the amulet unique is its mount. While it looks like it's made of silver, Eniosova was surprised to find that it was almost 100% tin ‪—‬ specifically, a silver-imitating tin-lead alloy. Just like today, tin wasn't as valuable or as expensive as silver, but because there weren't many tin sources in Europe at the time, it was still rare.

A close-up of the tin mount and its engraved decorations. (Image credit: Tyanina E.A. et al. The Volga River Region Archaeology (2026)) It's interesting that such a soft material was carved with engraved decorations, Eniosova pointed out. "It wouldn't have been easy, and this ornament is quite elaborate," she said. "It's a very, very well-done object."

All of these unusual characteristics seem to align with the artifact's discovery in a part of the Troitsky XVI excavation area that would have been inhabited by wealthy individuals. In fact, it was probably a hunting trophy belonging to an aristocrat, noble or military man, Eniosova said.

Historical texts report that wild-boar hunting in medieval times in what is now Russia was a privilege of the "druzhina," or military retinue, and the nobility, according to the study, which was recently published in the journal The Volga River Region Archaeology . Regardless of whether the wild boar was eaten, at least one of its tusks was extracted and then mounted with metal. The team thinks it was kept as a good-luck charm, mostly because of its size.

"It is highly probable that this mounted tusk functioned as a martial or hunting talisman," the researchers wrote in the study. "It symbolized the transfer of the beast's physical prowess to the hunter and served concurrently as a charm for good fortune."

Similar animal amulets with holes at the top, worn as necklaces, were popular in Veliky Novgorod during this time period, Eniosova noted. The newfound wild-boar tusk is missing its top part, but it may have once had a hole.

A close-up of an engraved ornament on the boar tusk's mount. (Image credit: Tyanina E.A. et al. The Volga River Region Archaeology (2026)) It still would have been a rare object, however. Boar tusk amulets were common in earlier periods, but they were very rare between the second half of the 11th century to the first half of the 13th century, despite the enduring widespread belief that these tusks had magical qualities.

The amulet could be linked to Scandinavian mythology, according to Eniosova. Indeed, some of Veliky Novgorod's first settlers were from Scandinavia. But the amulet was created over 150 years after they left the area, so the relation is hypothetical, Eniosova said.

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Veliky Novgorod first appears in historical documents in the ninth century and was a major trading hub in the medieval polity known as Kievan Rus. Archaeologists theorized that at the time the boar tusk amulet was made, the city was inhabited by landowners and/or people involved with the fur trade, Eniosova said.

The finding is a "highly significant and unusual discovery," Alexei Gippius , a philologist at HSE University in Moscow who is familiar with Novgorod archaeology, told Live Science in an email.

Gippius, who knows the researchers but wasn't involved in the new study, added that the research sheds "new light on the origins and functioning of the mythological beliefs of the early Rus elite."

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One-third of new vehicle inventory is priced below $40,000.

Toyota has the tightest supply of any brand in the US.

Jeep’s stock runs at double the industry days’ supply figure.

There’s no getting around the reality that new-car buyers face. The average price of a new car in America is consistently hovering around $50,000. That’s becoming much, much harder to manage for the average American. That said, there’s still some good news in the latest inventory data. A quarter of most dealer lots feature cars that are $35,000 or less, and a third of the lot is $40,000 or less.

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Read: America’s Average New Car Hit $51,456 While China Sells 200 EVs Under Half That

According to Cox Automotive’s latest Auto Live Market View report, dealers ended June with 2.82 million new vehicles in stock. Inventory was down 2.4 percent from May but was largely unchanged from a year earlier.

The average listing price increased to $49,336, up 1.4 percent from June 2025 and 0.3 percent from the revised-lower May figure. On its face, that’s another reminder of how expensive new vehicles have become. But averages can be deceptive, especially in a market where six-figure luxury SUVs, heavy-duty pickups , and premium EVs can skew the numbers upward. The more telling statistic is where inventory is actually concentrated.

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The Sub-$40,000 Cars Are Still Out There

Nearly one-quarter of all new vehicles available in June, more than 688,000 units, were priced between $30,000 and $40,000. Within that group, the average listing price was $35,377, and those vehicles carried a 70-day supply, well below the industry average. That bracket also accounted for 28 percent of June sales, meaning it moved at a faster pace than it was stocked. Expand the range slightly, and roughly 34 percent of all new vehicles on dealer lots were priced below $40,000.

June Days’ Supply of Inventory by Brand

Source: Cox Automotive

That suggests the oft-repeated “$50,000 average new car” doesn’t accurately describe what many shoppers will find when they walk onto a dealer lot. Instead, it reflects how the industry’s growing mix of premium trucks, luxury SUVs , and high-end EVs continues to pull the average upward. Inventory also remains highly uneven depending on the badge.

Toyota Sells Out While Stellantis Piles Up

Toyota went into July with the tightest supply of any brand at 37 days, with Lexus at 41 and Honda at 48 right behind. Subaru (67) and Cadillac (69) also sat under the 80-day national average, along with Kia at 74 and Chevrolet at 76. Stellantis occupies the other end of the chart, where Jeep, Ram, and Dodge all carry more than twice the industry figure.

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Jeep is the extreme case at 160 days, the worst on the board. Brands buried that deep usually start writing checks to dig out, but Jeep’s incentives came in at 6.7 percent of ATP in June, under the 7 percent industry average. Essentially, the brand with the most unsold metal in the country is discounting less than rivals with a fraction of the problem. Walk into a Jeep dealership expecting to name your price and you’ll probably leave disappointed.

Despite persistent concerns over affordability, inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty, the broader new-car market has remained remarkably steady this year. Inventories have stayed balanced, sales continue at a healthy pace, and while the average transaction price may be flirting with $50,000, the data suggests there’s still a real supply of new vehicles available for buyers shopping much closer to the mid-$30,000 range.

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Monthly New Vehicle Data USA

Month Inventory

Volume Days’

Supply Sales Avg. Listing

Price

25-Jun 2,816,717 84 1,012,492 $48,673

25-Jul 2,707,559 77 1,094,241 $48,496

25-Aug 2,730,357 75 1,133,566 $48,566

25-Sep 2,855,668 87 990,819 $49,057

25-Oct 3,005,433 89.6 1,039,591 $49,193

25-Nov 3,053,128 90 1,017,139 $49,454

25-Dec 2,967,543 85.5 1,076,180 $50,351

26-Jan 2,741,173 94 904,431 $49,591

26-Feb 2,854,721 96.3 829,864 $48,856

26-Mar 2,890,423 80.6 1,112,070 $48,598

26-Apr 2,857,903 80.2 1,069,065 $48,923

26-May 2,893,414 78.3 1,146,011 $49,176

26-Jun 2,822,805 80 1,054,012 $49,336

SWIPE

Source: Cox Automotive