Register Hardware

Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/01/take_two_talks_settlement/

Grand Theft Auto publisher tries to cool 'hot coffee' lawsuit

By Tony Smith
Published Thursday 1st March 2007 11:24 GMT

Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the controversial Grand Theft Auto series of games may be close to settling a long running legal battle with a New York granny who attempted to sue the company after it emerged one of those games contained adult content.

This week, a Manhattan District Court judge order the case to be suspended pending the outcome of settlement negotiations between plaintiff and defendant, Reuters reports. The judge may review the stay after lawyers report on their progress on 12 March.

The action centres on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' infamous 'hot coffee' sex scenes, originally hidden from players but exposed on July 2005 by a hack posted on the net. The game had been given a US Entertainment Software Rating Board 'Mature' classification, for its violent content. Once the blue material was revealed, the ESRB quickly re-rated the title 'Adults Only', causing some major US retailers to yank the game from their shelves.

Take-Two duly withdrew GTA: SA and reissued it with the offending eye-full excised, but not before an 81-year-old grandmother from New York, Florence Cohen, took the company to court, claiming she'd been misled into buying the game for her 14-year-old grandson.

As we noted at the time, the game's portrayal of murder, robbery, drug dealing, foul language and bad driving doesn't appear to have bothered her one jot...

In June 2006, Take-Two settled a similar case brought about by a Federal Trade Commission probe into the 'hot coffee' content.