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Take Two Settles Hot Coffee Suit For Millions
Amidst the furor over the various Manhunt 2 controversies, Take Two has announced that it just dealt with its last big scandal, Hot Coffee. Kotaku has the release from the publisher, in which it states that the class action suit leveled against it some two years ago has ended in a settlement that may end up costing the company as much as $2.75 million dollars. "The lawsuit against Take-Two is still pending, but should the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York agree to the settlement, claims against the company will be dismissed 'without any admission of liability or wrongdoing by Take-Two or Rockstar.' The publisher says that it will pay out between $1.025 million and $2.75 million in settlement benefits, which range from an edited copy of GTA: San Andreas to a cash payment up to $35 for those who can provide proof of purchase of the game from before July 20, 2005."
in an attempt to make some money.
I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
I wish I had bought my copy early to particiapte in this.
I recommend to all gamers who are entitled to this refund and disagree with our government acting as our parents, to submit for your check and sign it over to Take Two, mail it back to them with a thank you note.
I have a father and am one and I don't need someone else telling me what I can and can't do with my artistic media.
P.S. Give me Manhunt 2 - AO!
Both Take Two and McDonald's have learned that Hot Coffee can be expensive....
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
i don't understand how people can be upset about content that is effectively unlocked from the game unless you go out of your way to unlock it. how can you get offended by something you went out of your way to get, knowing full well exactly what it was? and if you didn't unlock it, how the hell are you offended by something that you can't access? i swear that this entire country is being populated by babies. people are getting offended even when they're not the ones getting insulted. its as if people are going out of their way to be offended. ugh.
But it's probably good for Take Two. Basically, if you really thought the game was horribly offensive and you're willing to swear to it, you get a brand new copy of the game that has the offensive material removed. If you're really outraged that it slipped out into public, and you want to stick it to the company, you can provide detailed receipts from over two years ago and they'll send you $35. I'm betting the take rate won't be very high on the settlement.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
Excellent idea. Mod parent up please. Me too if you're feeling generous.
Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
$2.75 million pays for one hell of a marketing campaign.
The "Hot Coffee" mod was so tame that I really don't see what all the fuss was about.
Go ahead, grab a receipt from 2 years ago. Seriously, go grab that Best Buy receipt that you actually saved for some odd reason like for warranty purposes. I'll wait.
Doesn't look like much of a receipt, does it? Actually it looks like a blank fucking piece of paper. That's because it was either printed on thermal paper or some very soft blue ink that's similar to the prankster's favorite Disappearing Ink. These things are lucky to last a month let alone two whole years. Go ahead and try to prove that you actually purchased Product X and that you didn't just find it off of the back of a truck.
Quite a crafty racket they have got there... I like to call it Purchase Rights Management.
Junior, it's ok for you to car-jack that poor old man. When you're done, feel free to fuck that hooker and then beat her to death with a baseball bat to get your cash back. Don't worry when the police come, just mow them down with your AK-47. Woah... wait.. There are boobies in this? This is horrible and disgusting, and now fucking jesus is crying.
It just goes to show how truly fucked our morals are. I love how all the senseless violence is fine and dandy, but nudity and sex is considered evil.
FOXTROT UNIFORM CHARLIE KILO
Bah, you obviously haven't had the traumatizing experiences some of us had.
I remember when someone made patch for The Sims that removed the pixelated blur when they were naked. E.g., in the shower. So I downloaded it.
Lemme tell you, I wasn't just upset, I was appalled. They didn't look anything like naked people. They looked like a barbie doll that someone dropped in a mud puddle. (Presumably so the contrast would look right through the blur.) Plus, not only they didn't have genitals, they didn't even have nipples.
And if you think all that's shocking so far, wait for the real horror. You know how the same blur showed up when they sat on the toilet? Well, without the blur you can see that they sit down and take a dump, without pulling down their pants first. Now that's an image that you'll wish you never saw.
So, yeah, sue their pants off, I say. Preferrably before they sit on the toilet
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I bought my copy in June '05, right when it came out for the PC so I'm eligible. The thing is, you have to submit proof of purchase (possibly receipt) to R* and they cut you the check. Needless to say, I wasn't offended at all by the hot coffee mod, and it isn't worth the effort to dig through old credit card receipts and cut up that nice DVD booklet for a measly $35 that may come next year.
Then again, I am tempted to mail in my proof-of-purchase with a letter thanking them and telling them that I don't want anything, just assurance that they'll never back down, they'll continue making great games, and that they'll keep ignoring those annoying lawyers and so-called "consumer" groups.
Sigs are for losers
Here's the full terms, note sections B, C, and D.
Under the terms of the settlement, class members will be able to claim benefits if they swear that they: (a) bought a copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas before July 20, 2005; (b) were offended and upset by the ability of consumers to modify and alter the game's content using the third-party Hot Coffee modification; (c ) would not have bought the game had they known that consumers could modify and alter the game's content using the third-party Hot Coffee modification; and (d) would have returned the game, upon learning the game could be modified and altered, if they thought this possible. Settlement class members who attest to these facts may apply for benefits that range from an exchange of the game disk for an edited copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to a cash payment of up to $35 for consumers who submit detailed proofs of purchase.
In order to get your $35, not only do you have to say, under penalty of perjury, that you bought the game, but that you also would NOT have bought it if you knew there was third party unlockable content of this sort...
So what Take Two should do is do some random trolling through the responses, and play a little "investigate the plaintiff" game. And then attempt to prosecute individual class members for purjury, as a way of putting a hurt on these stupid class action suits.
Test your net with Netalyzr
Like, what amazes me the most about these kinds of lawsuits, is why the companies settle. Why not take it to a jury trial? I don't see any way TT could possibly lose if they did. The whole reason the suit even exists is because people don't understand the issues - once they do there is no way it would be upheld. I mean, you can bring in ANY product manufacturer as a witness! For example:
TT Lawyer - So Mr Disney - are you aware that with a small 3rd party modification I can access PORNOGRAPHY in your motion picture Snow White?
i don't understand how people can be upset about content that is effectively unlocked from the game unless you go out of your way to unlock it.
... Hot Coffee was a risk that shareholders had a right to know about and the lack of disclosure did warrant government investigation from the SEC. The rules are different when you are a public company. You want to take chances, do it with your own money not with uninformed shareholder's.
If they are Take-Two shareholder I can see them being upset. Returns, replacements, refunds, lawsuits,
The rest was just political posturing, soundbites and quotes "proving" politicians want to "save the children".
I am sorry, you needed to go online and download a hack to make this work. If you had the access to get this mod, then you had access to way worse stuff on the internet. I am going to make a nude mod for battlefied 2142 and go start teabagging all the guys I kill. This is exactly the same thing with the Hot Coffee mod, so why does Rockstar need to pay for a change that someone else unlocked?
---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.
Usually, when a company settles like this, its because they don't want to continue paying the court fees. Going back to court in search of criminal prosecution, would not do them any good if this is the case.
Just because you can, does not mean you should.
What a sad sad storry this really is, the US have again shown how ridiculous law and order is caried out.
This case from start to end is one big fucking joke, showing how religious folkes have success in forcing
their moral standards upon others.
A lot of good stuff is comming out of the US, but boy am I glad living on the other side of the atlantic ocean,
when witnessing how the goverment supports peoples right to get offended.