DailyTech - Take-Two Settles "Hot Coffee" Class-action Lawsuit

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Software Take-Two Settles "Hot Coffee" Class-action Lawsuit
Chris Peredun - November 9, 2007 9:47 AM

27 comment(s) - last by murphyslabrat.. on Nov 14 at 4:43 PM

A cup of Hot Coffee may cost up to $2.75 million

Take-Two Interactive has taken a short breather from the media frenzy surrounding the gratuitous violence in Manhunt 2 to address another transgression from their past -- the infamous “Hot Coffee” mini-game in copies of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. A settlement has been proposed for consumer class-action lawsuits, and the price of that cup of coffee could cost up to $2.75 million. The terms of the settlement are fairly specific. In order to receive the benefits -- either an edited copy of GTA:SA that cannot be modified to expose the Hot Coffee mini-game, or up to US$35 cash -- a member of the class-action suit must swear to that all of the following conditions have been met in their specific situation:

The consumer purchased their copy of GTA:SA before July 20, 2005
The consumer was “offended and upset” by the ability to modify the game’s content using third-party tools
The consumer would not have bought the game if they had known beforehand that such third-party modifications were possible
The consumer would have returned the game to the store upon learning of the modification, if this were possible (as most vendors have a strict policy prohibiting the return of opened software)

Take-Two has committed to spending no less than $1.025 million on settlement benefits, in addition to the cost of notifying class-action members and paying legal fees; however, even with the proposal of settlement and possibility of significant out-of-pocket costs, Take-Two isn’t backing down from their stance that they were not to blame for the Hot Coffee scandal.

“If the case had continued, we believe 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,” said Ben Feder, CEO of Take-Two. “Nonetheless, we believe it is in the best interest of the Company to avoid protracted and costly litigation to prove our case and to finally put this matter behind us.”

Whether or not another class-action suit will be launched as a result of Manhunt 2 remains to be seen, as the second iteration of the horror title was released just over one week ago on Halloween.

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Violence OK Nudity a no no

By 1prophet on 11/9/2007 11:07:41 AM , Rating: 5

You are buying a game centered around committing felonies and a little nudity is offensive because some kids might see it?

RE: Violence OK Nudity a no no

By BladeVenom on 11/9/2007 11:14:10 AM , Rating: 2

Well the game was rated 17+ when it should have been 18+. So there are a bunch of young naive 17 year old kids who must have been shocked at first learning about oral sex from a video game. /sarcasm

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RE: Violence OK Nudity a no no

By darkpaw on 11/9/2007 11:29:28 AM , Rating: 5

Welcome to what is wrong with American standards!

All the violence in media we want, but oh nos we can't have any sex at all. That would tramatize poor little Billy for life.

Then again we're talking about the same people that thought a half second of boob during the Super Bowl was a sign of Armaggedon.

I love my country, but there are way too many prudes.

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RE: Violence OK Nudity a no no

By Misty Dingos on 11/9/2007 1:15:30 PM , Rating: 2

Personally I like my sex before my violence.

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RE: Violence OK Nudity a no no

By FITCamaro on 11/9/2007 1:52:49 PM , Rating: 3

I like to mix the two. Dominatrix's are hot.

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RE: Violence OK Nudity a no no

By Oregonian2 on 11/9/2007 2:31:07 PM , Rating: 2

Two points:

1. Yes, the taking of life in glorious color is permitted and celebrated. Anything having to do with the creating of life is forbidden and to be punished. Especially if enjoyment is involved.

2. Most of the prude'ness is probably fake. It's public prude'ness in front of lewdness in privacy. The porn business sales which get mentioned in the press from time to time is a significant percentage of "mainstream" hollywood sales. Somebody is buying it in mass quantities. Not to speak about Skinemax, HBO "Real Sex', Sex in the City (pretty lame, but still some nudity), etc.

In North Carolina, at least in years long in the past, there were by-county rules about whether liquor was allowed. There was a common "joke" about how those who lived in dry counties would go to the polls to vote "dry", but only if they were able to stagger up to the polling booth. Something similar, but substitute sex.

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RE: Violence OK Nudity a no no

By scrapsma54 on 11/12/2007 9:35:22 AM , Rating: 2

Violence is the opposite of sex, people feel pain and people can die if they use a wrench or a gun. Sex makes the person who's recieving feel sexy and in the end makes babies. So using a condom is like not using a wrench.

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This is BS

By Bioniccrackmonk on 11/9/2007 11:06:24 AM , Rating: 5

And a sad state of affairs for the video game industry. Here is an idea, if you don't like it or if it offends you, don't buy it. If you do buy it, and use 3rd party software to unlock previously unavailable content and then become offended, you should slap yourself in the face, and then return it or sell it to someone who wants it.

At the rate this is going, in the next 5 years all video games will be completely PC (politically correct, not the other PC) and not worth a minute of play time. There is a reason it is a video game, usually the stuff you do in them can't be done in real life w/o consequences. If I have a bad day at work and want to beat someone down with a bat just cause, GTA:SA has always been there for me. If I want to beat some young punk kid talking trash with the but end of my rifle, Halo has always been there for me. They are just that though, games, video games, and if it is not for you, then leave it be.

I have a real issue for you, if drinking and driving is illegal, then why do bars have parking lots? Where is all the class action suits from all the overzealous people on this issue?

RE: This is BS

By ElFenix on 11/9/2007 11:09:08 AM , Rating: 2

yup, this is retarded. oh noes, using third party tools that i'd have to seek out and apply i can make my game about killing cops have a pixelated sex scene! the cop killing didn't offend me but pixelated sex is too much!

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RE: This is BS

By FITCamaro on 11/9/2007 12:32:15 PM , Rating: 2

I argue that video games save lives. Instead of taking your frustrations out on the world, you do it on a video game.

I unlocked the Hot Coffee content just to see what the fuss was about. It was retarded. This goes back to parents buying their kid whatever the f*** they ask for without even thinking about it. And then complaining when they actually see them playing it. Any 17 year old knows far more about sex than that game shows you.

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RE: This is BS

By AlphaVirus on 11/9/2007 4:12:52 PM , Rating: 3

It was merely an easy target, say you are "trying to look out for the kids" and you have every mother on the planet saying its a good idea.

How about we do things now that should have been done a long time ago.

-Get rid of cigarette companies
-Sue car companies for clogging our lungs with Cardbon Dioxide
-Sue computer monitor companies for making my vision worse
-Sue paper companies for tearing down trees that we need to clean the air and make Oxygen
-Sue stupid people for being so irritating
And while we are at it lets sue God for making the stupid people

These are a little far-fetched so lets bring this down a bit as it relates to the lawsuit.
They claim you have to go online to download this "feature" to watch the game have some good ol' adult time....
Ok lets see what we can do...

-Sue AMD and Intel for allowing us to go into BIOS and overclock the cpu
-Sue the staple companies for allowing me to put the staples in a gun and use it as a weapon
-Sue car companies because I added a high performance exhaust pipe and now it causes noise polution

The feature is there but the consumer has to go out of their way to access it so the company should not be held liable for something the consumer wanted.

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RE: This is BS

By murphyslabrat on 11/14/2007 4:43:57 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
And while we are at it lets sue God for making the stupid people

There was a movie about a man suing God, see: the Man Who Sued God

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ESRB Warning

By Aiserou on 11/9/2007 12:12:10 PM , Rating: 6

ESRB Warning: Content may change if you change the content yourself.

RE: ESRB Warning

By Polynikes on 11/9/2007 12:50:41 PM , Rating: 2

LOL. That's great.

That said, it would prevent any further legal problems of this type if such a statement was stamped on the boxes.

Kind of like how games with a multiplayer mode have a warning that the game experience may change when played online.

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RE: ESRB Warning

By darkpaw on 11/9/2007 2:03:56 PM , Rating: 2

Glad to see you got a 6 for that one, its well deserved. Sad thing is I wouldn't be surprised to see a warning like this soon.

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RE: ESRB Warning

By BMFPitt on 11/11/2007 9:31:56 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
The consumer was “offended and upset” by the ability to modify the game’s content using third-party tools

I think anyone who claims this should be fed to the lions.

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The pain! Oh the pain!

By Misty Dingos on 11/9/2007 11:09:15 AM , Rating: 2

So the offended consumer will get $35. I would be surprised if the company ends up paying out more than $350 total for this. If the offended consumers will be honest.

Come on how many of you bought this game because of the hack? Be honest now.

RE: The pain! Oh the pain!

By Axbattler on 11/9/2007 11:17:12 AM , Rating: 3

I know I didn't. The game was fun without any polygon sex.

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RE: The pain! Oh the pain!

By augiem on 11/9/2007 12:40:42 PM , Rating: 2

>> If the offended consumers will be honest.

That's a hoot!

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RE: The pain! Oh the pain!

By Polynikes on 11/9/2007 12:47:44 PM , Rating: 2

My question is, how many parents who were or MIGHT have been offended by this will actually find out about the lawsuit's outcome? I've been notified by email of class-action lawsuits before regarding a couple products, but I bet a lot of clueless parents wouldn't even realize what they were looking at if they got one regarding this.

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Parents...

By iFX on 11/9/2007 11:15:52 AM , Rating: 2

Stupid parents buy their child a violent video game. Stupid parents are then offended by the violent video game. Stupid parents sue the video game publisher.

I should sue the parents for being stupid.

RE: Parents...

By FITCamaro on 11/9/2007 12:34:01 PM , Rating: 2

I'm in. The sentence should be sterility. To limit their impact on the world to the children they've already had.

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RE: Parents...

By Bioniccrackmonk on 11/9/2007 1:25:31 PM , Rating: 2

I agree, there are several gene pools(families) I have come across in my life so far that could use a lot of chlorine.

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RE: Parents...

By tdktank59 on 11/9/2007 4:25:08 PM , Rating: 2

Im with you guys on this lol.

Most people who complain are the ones that bought the thing for there child because they spoil them rotten.

If a parent were to say ok you can get the game but you have to show me why you want it and do some research. i think a child might be more inclined to possible not get the game in the first place...

But still people need to stop worring about these little things such as a guy staring at a womans boobs for instance...

Its not an insult or supposed to saying anything in any way to harm the woman. When i do it im saying Damn those are nice boobs... why else would i be looking ...

anyways tell me when this come up ill so be there to sterilize idiots...

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omfg

By Gul Westfale on 11/9/2007 11:19:08 AM , Rating: 3

quote:
The consumer was “offended and upset” by the ability to modify the game’s content using third-party tools

that "consumer" should be institutionalised. on top of that, you had to purposely download and install a mod from the internet to see the hot coffee mod, and anyone with internet access has been exposed to much more explicit content than some yo-yo doing it with his hoe-hoe. the people who brought this lawsuit should be fined for wasting the courts time and taxpayers money.

RE: omfg

By fic2 on 11/9/2007 12:02:25 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
internet access has been exposed to much more explicit content

Why else would you get a high speed internet connection?

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Makes no sense

By viperpa on 11/9/2007 4:07:25 PM , Rating: 2

We expose the kids to sexual education in schools which can get pretty graphic these days but if the kids access a nude character in a game, it's a no no.

This really makes no sense to me.