Take-Two settles 'Hot Coffee' sex content case

Game developer Take-Two Interactive Thursday announced a
preliminary settlement on all consumer class action lawsuits in the U.S. related
to a software modification called Hot Coffee, which unlocked sex scenes on the
popular game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

The preliminary deal, if accepted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York, would end the suits against Take-Two and subsidiary Rockstar
Games without any admission of liability or wrongdoing by the two companies,
Take-Two said in a statement.

The lawsuits were filed over a controversial sex mini-game on "Grand Theft
Auto: San Andreas" (GTA), discovered in 2005. A software modification that
came to be know as the Hot Coffee mod unlocked the adult content, which otherwise
could not be accessed.

The point of the mini-game was for the main character, CJ, to impress his girlfriends.
A successful mission would end with a girlfriend asking CJ if he wanted to come
in for a cup of coffee, meaning sex. The mini-game showed the characters having
explicit, simulated sex. But the content was not available unless users actually
downloaded and ran the Hot Coffee mod for their PC or games console, such as
the Xbox and PlayStation 2.

At the time the controversy broke, U.S. parents, lawyers, religious groups
and politicians such as New York Senator Hillary Clinton attacked Take-Two,
and some retailers, including Wal-Mart, removed GTA from their shelves.

Take-Two's preliminary settlement offers a cash payment of up to $35 for customers
who provide proofs of purchase before July 20, 2005, and attest that the Hot
Coffee mini-game upset them; or users can simply trade in for an edited copy
of GTA. The company will pay additional monies to cover defendants' out of pocket
costs as well as the cost of providing notice to class members and legal fees.

The company said it believes "the court would have agreed that Take-Two
was not liable for consumers acting independently to modify their games with
third-party hardware and software to access normally inaccessible content,"
but that "it is in the best interest of the company to avoid protracted
and costly litigation to prove our case and finally put this matter behind us."

Take-Two may still face lawsuits in other countries. The game was also shipped
to Europe and other parts of the world, including Australia, where a ratings
board revoked its classification and ordered stores throughout the land to remove
it from their shelves. Prior to the discovery of the sexually explicit content,
it had been sold to anyone 15 years of age or older in the country.

IDG News Service

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