Take-Two enters settlement for Hot Coffee

Video game publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. got themselves in a bit of hot water some time ago over their infamous Hot Coffee unlockable in the smash hit Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The company was brought up on lawsuit charges stating that the company had been distributing video games with sexually explicit content under the wrong ERSB rating, according to a recently released court document.

A US federal magistrate in Manhattan issued a signed order Tuesday allowing this case to go into settlement. The magistrate has given a March 12th deadline for the details of this settlement to be agreed upon. Obviously since settlement has only just begun, no official numbers have been announced on how much Take-Two can be expected to pay for its follies. In a letter, the lawyer for Take-Two stated that the parties, "agreed to engage in settlement discussions with the hope of amicably resolving this matter."

Source:
Reuters

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 1 Mar 2007 6:58

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9 comments

webe123

To get to the hot coffee mod...you have to first find it on the net, download it and then know how to apply it to the game..not very difficult to do at all, but not exactly easy as pie either.....

But they complain about the sex content which has to be unlocked and then turn a blind eye to the violence... which is a big part of the game? So it is OK to blow someones head off in a game and have kids see that, but NOT show them having sex? And all because the RATING was off? Kinda hypocrytical if you ask me. Here's an idea...if you DON'T want your kids playing it, DON'T buy the game for them in the first place,or let them play it at someone's house! GTA was NEVER meant for young kids.

Actually, they should just put a mature rating on it from now on and be done with it. That way they can have whatever they want in the game and not have to worry about stupid lawsuits like these. I can understand wanting to protect kids, but ANYONE that knows anything about the GTA series, is going to know what kind of content is in it!

1.3.2007 09:13 #1

emachine

Well it was M but they changed it to A/O. aka adult only.

1.3.2007 09:21 #2

webe123

Originally posted by emachine:Well it was M but they changed it to A/O. aka adult only.
Yeah, I meant put on it whatever the strongest rating was....they should have had "adults only" on there in the beginning, but I guess they were worried about sales.

1.3.2007 13:48 #3

trejkaz

It's a valid concern. In some countries it isn't even legal to put A/O games on the market, even for adults to buy.

1.3.2007 14:03 #4

Pop_Smith

As far as I know they can not put an A/O rated game out on the shelves. This is due to the content in A/O rated games. This would probably result in a major decline in sales. I know many people who buy their 12-14 year olds M rated games but if San Andreas was rated A/O they would have said "I can't buy you that game because it has adult content in it"

That is probably the reason this "Hot Coffee" was never finished.

1.3.2007 17:14 #5

veyron

An NC-17 rating will kill a movie just like an AO rating will kill a game. Mainly because stores will "choose" not to sell it. Blame WalMart and the like.

1.3.2007 17:20 #6

Rikoshay

The only reason I wanted to read this article was to see how much they had to pay, and it didn't even say =/

1.3.2007 17:30 #7

trejkaz

Originally posted by Pop_Smith:I know many people who buy their 12-14 year olds M rated gamesAnd then people say the developer and publisher are the ones responsible for making them available. Go figure.

1.3.2007 20:00 #8

ZippyDSM

this is STUPID you dont buy a kid a porn vid then sue the maker for it being pron.......

ASSHOLES the judge should be flogged for stupidity,its akin to buying a R rated movie on DVD thats not rated and has a NC17 rating if it were rated then suing the maker this is jsut stupid.

you need a to mod the game in order to get to it and moding it can take awhile and you need a computer you just don't pop it in and press 5 buttons and get dry,clothed sex.... oy vay.....

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the US rating system dose need some tweaking
http://www.gamepoliticsforums.com/showth...24357#post24357

as I go over it in this post but heres a bit abotu the M rated stuff

M rated games need to be in 2 category's the first would be older teen 16+ the next would be Adult teen 18+,no game at 18+ can be turned away based on violence or theme alone if you think otherwise look at SAW or hostel they are R rated

that leave sex/nudity based games to be 19+ by the region

2.3.2007 12:51 #9

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