AfterDawn: News

GTA 'Hot Coffee' class action settled with $20 million payout

When a game modder found a piece of locked away code within the 2004 blockbuster Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and produced patches to unlock it, who would have thought it would cost Take-Two and its insurers $20 million. Since the patch was released, Rockstar became the target of politicians such as Hillary Clinton, and the game was given an AO (Adult Only) rating instead of it's previous M rating due to the "strong sexual content" it then included.

Store shelves were re-stocked with copies of the game that did not include the unlockable code, which then carried the M rating. Now, five years after the this happened, Take-Two and its insurers have agreed to pay $20 million ($4,915,000 from Take-Two and $15,200,000 from its insurers) to settle a class action lawsuit that stemmed from the controversy.



"We are pleased to have reached this settlement, which represents another important step forward for the company," said Strauss Zelnick, chairman of Take-Two, in a brief statement.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 2 Sep 2009 21:21

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• 24 comments

• tin23uk

  this always amazed me, killing and stealing is seen as less offensive than two fully clothed animated characters bumping uglies. ha ha ha

  2.9.2009 21:57 #1

• elbald90

  yes as the saying goes "only in america"

  3.9.2009 03:28 #2

• Dela

  Originally posted by tin23uk: this always amazed me, killing and stealing is seen as less offensive than two fully clothed animated characters bumping uglies. ha ha haWonder why Hillary choose Hot Coffee to get mad about...... ;-)

  3.9.2009 04:00 #3

• KillerBug

  Yup...
  
  Kill a million people with torture: PG13
  Have sex with a prostitute, then kill her & a hundred cops: PG13
  Bring 200 Keys of coke into the country, killing everyone in sight: PG13
  Have sex with your girlfriend, then go home and sleep: NC17
  
  I don't know why that psyco ***** hilaree went after GTA so hard...I guess she was trying to get back some of the conservatives that she lost by being the world's most famous lesbian.

  3.9.2009 04:15 #4

• slickwill

  It's obvious and sad that we live in a society that looks down on the expression of what is natural; what is the basic act of all human beings and mammals of this planet in order to reproduce.
  
  @tin23uk: Where both the character fully clothed? As I remember the guy was fully clothed, while the woman wasn't, and only the motions of intercourse where portrayed. As in there was no display of private parts.

  3.9.2009 06:03 #5

• IguanaC64

  Ridiculous. This is honestly WAY worse than the McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit...

  3.9.2009 14:56 #6

• EEE31

  This is retarded. Obviously Hillary never saw the rest of the game, or she would have had other things to complain about. GTA is an awesome series and I get everyone of them, but if they are handing out $20m, where do I stand in line.

  3.9.2009 15:16 #7

• Amak

  Only in America is violence ok, but sex is the ultimate evil.

  3.9.2009 15:23 #8

• Footie979

  Hilary was trying to look good for her presidential campaign. All moot now.

  3.9.2009 15:55 #9

• Draama247

  Hillary was trying to get revenge for everybody saying that her husband had sexual relations with that monica girl.
  Remember ?

  3.9.2009 16:29 #10

• smokyrain

  Originally posted by Draama247: Hillary was trying to get revenge for everybody saying that her husband had sexual relations with that monica girl.
  Remember ?Yep, and that was a farce too.. I like the saying 'only in America'
  
  This is all very retarded indeed. Who exactly gets this $20 million.
  
  Seems like a lot too me over something so trivial.

  3.9.2009 16:51 #11

• EEE31

  There is a website where you can go and get some money. $5 for everyone with no receipt, more if you have documents.
  Settlement Site

  3.9.2009 16:56 #12

• smokyrain

  No thanks for me. I personally think there is nothing wrong with what they did.
  But at least I know now where the money is too go.
  I own all GTA games

  3.9.2009 17:23 #13

• DXR88

  Originally posted by Draama247: Hillary was trying to get revenge for everybody saying that her husband had sexual relations with that monica girl.
  Remember ?it was that or drink, quite frankly i couldn't care less if he banged every secretary in the white house, so long as he did his job.

  3.9.2009 19:17 #14

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by Amak: Only in America is violence ok, but sex is the ultimate evil.Actualy, this is rather common in evil republics like the USA. This is the same standard used by the Chinese, the Soviets, and the Nazi party...even Al Qaeda supports such standards.
  
  Originally posted by DXR88:
  Originally posted by Draama247:
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Hillary was trying to get revenge for everybody saying that her husband had sexual relations with that monica girl.
  Remember ?
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  it was that or drink, quite frankly i couldn't care less if he banged every secretary in the white house, so long as he did his job.
  In deed...I would rather have a president that screws every intern who walks in the door that one who spends all his time screwing the public.
  
  Becides, there are lots of women (and men) that would pay money for a lotery for a chance to give the president a B.J. I don't see the problem...other than the lies that he was forced to tell because he lives in such an uptight country, with such an uptight wife.

  4.9.2009 03:03 #15

• pphoenix

  unbelievable!
  
  this as the whole rating system equals censorship. It is to condition us into believing that "insert whatever" is morally wrong and should be subjected to intrusive government legislation, that should be the role of adults. we can blame either the religious nuts or the wannabe dictatorship governments.
  
  Tell us its over 18 & let us decide!
  
  animated breasts does not equal porn in any way.
  
  
  
  Originally posted by : http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/si...8584707575.html
  
  Simpsons cartoon rip-off is child porn: judge
  
  A Supreme Court judge has ruled that an internet cartoon, in which child characters resembling those from The Simpsons engage in sexual acts, is child pornography.
  
  In a landmark finding, Justice Michael Adams today upheld a magistrate's decision convicting a man of possessing child pornography after the cartoons - depicting characters modelled on Bart, Lisa and Maggie engaging in sex acts - were found on his computer.Quote: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/16/uk-man-faces-jail-ov.html
  
  UK man faces jail over 'made-up' child porn images
  
  A computer expert in Great Britain has been told to “be prepared, at least, for a prison sentence”. His crime? He scanned photographs of adult porn stars into his computer, and photomanipulated them to reduce the size of their breasts and add schoolgirl costumes. Again...pictures *of adults* photoshopped. No actual children involved, and no one is asserting otherwise.
  
  
  Won't somebody please think of the children? Pedophiles do, all the time.
  

  4.9.2009 08:13 #16

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by pphoenix:
  Quote: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/16/uk-man-faces-jail-ov.html
  
  UK man faces jail over 'made-up' child porn images
  
  A computer expert in Great Britain has been told to “be prepared, at least, for a prison sentence”. His crime? He scanned photographs of adult porn stars into his computer, and photomanipulated them to reduce the size of their breasts and add schoolgirl costumes. Again...pictures *of adults* photoshopped. No actual children involved, and no one is asserting otherwise. That one is quite astounding...does this mean that any woman with small breasts who wears a school girl uniform is automaticaly under 18? I bet there are a lot of 50 year old women with small breasts that would be willing to buy such a uniform just for the legal status of being a minor again...at least in G.B. I imagine there is a lot of such 'child porn' around since not all porn stars have big tits, but most porn stars have worn the school girl uniform.
  
  I wonder if it goes the other way...that is, take a picture of a minor, blow up the breasts, and put something an adult might wear on her...like a school girl uniform from a sex shop (they only come in adult sizes).
  

  Current System: Windows 7 RC1, DFI M2RS, ATI 3870HD, Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600, Athlon 9950, 6GB Corsair DDR2, 3TB RAID 5, 750GB Raid-1, 500GB RAID-1, 640GB RAID-0 Boot, 3ware 9690SA, Adaptec 2610SA, Adaptec 1430SA, Intel Gigabit NIC (PCI), LG 20X Lightscribe DVDR, Coolmax 1200w Power Supply, Logitech G15(first edition), Logitech G5(Second Edition), modified dell poweredge 1800 server case.
  Overall configuration: Perfect chair, two 22" widescreens overhead, Logitech 5.1 Audio

  4.9.2009 08:27 #17

• pphoenix

  Originally posted by KillerBug: That one is quite astounding...does this mean that any woman with small breasts who wears a school girl uniform is automaticaly under 18? I bet there are a lot of 50 year old women with small breasts that would be willing to buy such a uniform just for the legal status of being a minor again...at least in G.B. I imagine there is a lot of such 'child porn' around since not all porn stars have big tits, but most porn stars have worn the school girl uniform.
  
  I wonder if it goes the other way...that is, take a picture of a minor, blow up the breasts, and put something an adult might wear on her...like a school girl uniform from a sex shop (they only come in adult sizes).lol, censorship is sometimes insane.
  
  be careful if you own mostly all manga out there including akira with under-age breast scenes, so you'd better look through ur dvd collection before you are deemed a paedophile.
  
  Gantz is another popular one, & what about the manga cartoon aeon flux that displayed graphic violence and sexuality, including fetishism and domination which was made for MTV i do believe!
  
  see its ok for some to get away with it, mainly the established cartel of media conglomerates!
  
  bypass the gatekeepers and feel their wrath.
  
  what companies have tried to purchase take two to ride the competition i wonder?

  4.9.2009 08:44 #18

• Unfocused

  So, the fact that the EULA clearly states that you accept the software as is and are unable to modify the code in any way doesn't mean anything?

  4.9.2009 19:02 #19

• ST2006

  Originally posted by Amak: Only in America is violence ok, but sex is the ultimate evil.
  GOOD TIMES WITH WEAPONS - South Par; if you haven't seen it you must !!

  5.9.2009 21:56 #20

• donGTA

  Seriously? So any modification to a source code and the producer(creator etc.) is liable?
  
  I'm sure we've heard of PS3's being used as cell processing aids in research labs running linux platform. Now if one of these companies comes up with a biological weapon which ends up in the wrong hands and the worlds at stake, is SCE and/or linux creators to be blamed for that? In that case Microsoft should have been shut down when the IBM compatible OS was first released, and all the wealth/assets of Gates made after the creation of MS should have been confiscated. Think about it how many people use PCs and out of them how many have windows installed on them? We're taling about terrorists/KGB or anyone who might use a PC for destructive purposes. Hillary and her office are after any one they can get their hands on and this is just a public support gimmick, they are deviating our mind from the recession. Instead they are suing companies whose sole purpose is to produce content rich in entertainment. Not to mention how many other entertainment companies have envied the GTA series for its highly profitable sales throughout the 90s and going on...Here's a question you should think about, agreed that San Andreas had unlock-able Adult Content, which was unlocked by a programmer creating/uploading a patch, with me so far, good, now how does that compensate by TAKE-TWO/insurers paying 20 million? I mean the kids(under 18 and less) who bought the earlier copy, with the adult content, such copies were never taken back, right? Parents probably didn't even find out about this until this made national news, so what good does the company paying twenty mil does? This surely didn't correct the problem(according to Mrs. Clinton) under age gamers could just download the patch on the earlier version and play the adult version of the game. The way this goes TAKE-TWO got scammed by the government and the under aged people might still be playing the game.
  
  
  
  Dr.Insight

  6.9.2009 20:36 #21

• KillerBug

  I just came up with a conspiracy thoery...
  
  Experiencing something on a screen repeatedly will tend to reduce the chances that a person will seek out that same activity in real life. For example, a person who spends lots of time watching violent movies and playing violent video games will tend to be less violent than someone who does not watch such movies or play such games. A less violent populous is a favorable thing for those in charge, as violent people start violent revolutions.
  
  By holding back sexual material, they effectivly reverse the process. This leads to more unplanned preganancies that will ultimately lead to more slaves for the powers that be.
  
  Of course, these fascits do not care about anything but power...so they now ban things that somewhat resemble the things they have banned in the past, just to show that they can.
  
  On a side note, I will be claiming my $5, I would not normaly do so...but Rockstar took a bribe from Microsoft to keep me from being able to play the last two GTA games on my PS3...so I don't mind taking money from them.

  9.9.2009 03:43 #22

• EEE31

  They say that countries that show sexual activity on TV (such as Japan) experience far less sex crime than does America. But if one boob pops out on American TV then all hell breaks loose from 'concerned parents' that they just destroyed their kids minds. Never mind that they let their kids go to the movie theater and see the same stuff without being tramatized.

  9.9.2009 11:47 #23

• blivetNC

  Quote:Wonder why Hillary choose Hot Coffee to get mad about...... ;-)
  'Cuz she wasn't getting any at the time.
  On a more ironic note,
  This game was on the approved list of video games for a detention center filled with sexual predators and kids with violent tendencies. Wonder if they were the study group?

  9.9.2009 12:10 #24