Kolton's mom Linda Mahoney said the game arrived packaged like the other games her kids received for Christmas, in a factory sealed case with the cellophane intact and the Madden seal on it.
But when Kolton and his 17-year-old brother began to watch the game, it wasn't football, but an explicit image.
Linda said it's bad enough that her 14- and 17-year-old saw it, but it could have been her 9- or 12-year-old who viewed the image instead.
"It was totally shocking. We were stunned," Linda said on Wednesday.
While there are instances of videos and recordings being packaged with the wrong covers, Linda said, in this case it was more than a mistake. She believes it was intentional, because the Madden seal was on crooked.
The Mahoneys contacted Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force who will work with local police and California authorities where the game was purchased and sold.
She said the authorities haven't picked the video up yet, but she's hoping they find out what happened so others won't be exposed to similar videos.
She plans on viewing all games her children receive before they're allowed to play them from now on. "I'm not just going to let them take the games and play them without seeing what's on them first," she said
Meantime, she's done a little investigation of her own, and has found on Internet blogs, that the practice of altering games isn't uncommon. Still, she doesn't understand what would cause someone to alter such videos, when they have no way of knowing who will view them.
Electronic Arts of Redwood City, Calif., which manufactured the game and Circuit City, where the game was purchased are sending the family replacement games.
She believes the altered video also may have had a virus, because their Xbox hasn't worked properly since.
mwilliams@davisclipper.com
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