Take-Two Faces $20 Million Settlement For "Hot Coffee" Scandal

eldavojohn writes "Take-Two has settled with shareholders to the tune of $20 million dollars over the 'Hot Coffee' debacle. Ars brings the details on how a badly-handled situation resulted in shareholders suing Take-Two. '[The scandal] led to a media panic because it was assumed the sexual content was easy for children to get to (it wasn't) or that sex themes were becoming common in games (they aren't). Still, the lawsuit shows how badly the company bungled the situation, and it's easy to see how Take-Two's management directly caused shareholders to lose money. ... The suit alleged far more than a single misstep with Hot Coffee, however. "Take-Two's management was not cooperating or assisting with the Company's audit committee and was failing to keep the Board of Directors informed of important issues or failing to do so in a timely fashion," the complaint stated. Inventory was misstated, as was software development costs."

Kopi Luwak

[El_Muerte_TDS]

So, does this make it the most expensive coffee in the world?

Re:That's what you get

[tfmachad]

Don't worry, organized (?) societies at other parts of the world are inconsistent as well.

I reckon the real issue is not depicting sex in itself, but rather depicting it as an entertaining and carefree activity. I doubt it that the whole Hot Coffee debacle would even exist if the Easter egg depicted instead the protagonist involved in worriedly procuring a condom, doing it under the sheets as to not expose himself and his partner (in a closed room), having erection and ejaculation problems and so forth.

It's not that you can't have sexual content; what you can't have is guilt free sexual content. Oh, no, mister.

Re:That's what you get

[db32]

You know what...you can go to hell. I for one am very concerned about our poor public servants that would have to clean up the mess left by drive by orgies. This isn't about children, this is about stopping sex from happening in society all the places violence does. How the hell would the post office function if people would just quit and it turns into a big damned orgy? School orgies?! Do you really want that!? My god...those poor janitors...

Re:That's what you get

[Jason Levine]

Let's be honest here, imagine killing spree scenes would be like the average sex scenes, we'd get to see people running around with their index fingers pointing at their enemies and shouting "pew pew"

Why am I reminded of LOLBat from PVP? http://www.pvponline.com/2008/08/28/epix-battle/ [pvponline.com]

On another note, imagine what movies would be like if the average sex scenes looked like the average movie's killing sprees. The hero would be surrounded by the (female) villian's bodyguards - fifty drop dead beautiful women. He would "take them on" all at once in the most graphic way possible. Finally, just when you thought the hero couldn't go any further, he and the female villian would have their "show down." Meanwhile, they'd toss some violence (in the form of a wedgie or two) in for good measure.

It's the message!

[xtracto]

The idea of recalling the game is to give a message to kids:

Do not dare to play a video game where you simulate making love with a woman, GO OUT AND DO IT!!.

Re:That's what you get

[Sylos]

then I guess Watchmen is NC-17 eh? So much giant blue cock o_O

Re:Proof how screwed up society is

[Late Adopter]

I still can't believe Rockstar had a mandatory recall...

And if it were on a Kindle, it would've been deleted! I'm sure that functionality will be built into our next generation of consoles, "I'm sorry, you can't play that game because it's been recalled. Please see your retailer for a refund."