RSSFTC, Take-Two Settle Over 'Hot Coffee'
By Ed Oswald | Published June 8, 2006, 12:45 PM
The Federal Trade Commission said that Take-Two Interactive, the maker of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," had agreed to settle charges it failed to disclose information about the game's content to consumers. The commission approved the settlement by a 5-0 vote.
Take-Two was accused of not disclosing the sexually explicit content that was found in the Hot Coffee modification. Gamers were able to access the scenes in the PC version through a modification available on the Internet, and a method was discovered to unlock the scenes in Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions of the game as well.
The game was originally rated "M" for mature, however upon discovery of the "Hot Coffee" mod and an ensuing investigation, the ESRB changed the rating to "AO" for Adults Only. This caused most retailers to pull the game from store shelves.
Most retailers have a policy of not selling "AO" rated games in their stores. Take-Two later reached an agreement with the ESRB to release a patch that would make "Hot Coffee" inaccessible, and replace original copies with the patched version in order to regain the "M" rating, which allowed retailers to restock the popular title.
"Parents have the right to rely on the accuracy of the entertainment rating system," said Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "We allege that Take-Two and Rockstar's actions undermined the industry's own rating system and deceived consumers. This is a matter of serious concern to the Commission, and if they violate this order, they can be heavily fined."
Under the FTC settlement, Take-Two must now prominently disclose any questionable content on the cover of the game, unless the company had already informed the ESRB of its content. Additionally, the company is barred from misrepresenting the content of a game in the future.
As well as the above stipulations, Take-Two is now also required to establish and maintain a system where content is reviewed prior to submission to a rating authority. Failure to comply with the order would result in fines of up to $11,000 per violation.
The FTC will also require Take-Two to file compliance reports on a regular basis, according to the settlement.
Take-Two Interactive had not commented on the settlement as of press time.
GTA taught me how to jack cars and helicopters. I'm now serving a 20 stretch for grand theft, but plan to do over the local casino on my release. I would have been a priest if I hadn't played GTA.
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|11k per incident? that's all? the lowest person on the totem pole probably makes 20k a year. what a joke 11k is to take-two.
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|agree. 11k seems way too small. they can generate huge sales just by creating a controversy such as this one.
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|Why do you two want them fined at all? Sorry, but this doesn't seem like an issue, considering what the MA version of the game contains, I think that is more detremental, if at all, to ANYONE's psyche than dry-humping.
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|This is just funny didn't you need a game hack to see the sex scene and if you can get online to get that a kid easily could look up way more graghic stuff.
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|So what the hell is the difference between M and AO? Don't you technically have to be an adult to buy an M rated game? And if you are old enough to buy an M rated game aren't you old enough to buy an AO game?
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|M is 17, and AO is 18. It's very similar to R movies and X movies.
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|You mean NC-17 and X.
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|Don't you mean NC-17 and R?
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|Nope.
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|i miss X ratings ... even though i was probably five when they were done away with.
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|Actually, MA _is_ the equvalent to an R-Rated movie. AO can run the gambit from NC-17 to X, to XXX is a company was so bold to produce such a game.
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|The basic difference is the same as movies rated beyond an 'R'. Meaning, an NC-17 or X rated movie will not be carried by most theters and DVD/VHS vendors, as would too AO games over MA. Toy R Us I believe sells MA rated games, yet, ofcourse would not sell AO games, and that's understandable, being a mostly for children's store, but also most ther retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, EB, do not carry AO games as well, because they think it would hurt their image, so when GTA got re-rated, most of those stores dumped GTA until the newly minted MA games were shipped. That is perhaps the main reason some companies like Take-Two might not be as forthcoming with ALL of their content, especially for something that you couldn't access unless you hacked it, and it was a tiny portion of the game, yet it warranted, to the ESRB, to be branded with AO, which is like a suicide death for games, since the market place just won't carry them. Maybe if the market place would open up more to the possibility of supporting AO games, just seperately from the others, maybe companies would be more forth-coming.
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|Finally... when the rhetoric quiets down, and all the politicians are stealing lollipos again, a little slap on the wrist comes -- and it's a totally appropriate response.
Bravo for not succumbing to Hillary's Witchhunt.
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|"Under the FTC settlement, Take-Two must now prominently disclose any questionable content on the cover of the game,"
Yeah.. like there is enough room for that..
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|Wait...
Put it on the cover?
Naked chicks, and sex-acts on the cover are going to *deter* kids?
Uh.....
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|bahaha, good point. The box will have to be 3'x5' to fit all of the explicit content on their games. I even found myself wanting to steal a white box truck once after playing way too much GTA III. Then I slapped myself in the face and said "what the hell was that?" and went on my way.
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