Rockstar and Federal Trade Commission – Settlement Reached
Hopefully draws a line under Hot Coffee scandal.
It seems that an agreement has been reached between the FTC and Rockstar to ensure that there will be no further repeats of the Hot Coffee scandal which rocked the videogame world last summer.
In case you have a memory problem, Hot Coffee was the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas mod that unlocked questionable adult material totally unsuitable for minors. Or prudes.
The FTC’s report on the matter said: "... the companies, in advertising the Entertainment Software Rating Board ('ESRB') rating for the game, did not tell consumers that the game discs contained potentially viewable nude female characters and a potentially playable sex mini-game."
Rockstar and Take-Two have been informed by the FTC this week that they are required to "establish, implement, and maintain a comprehensive system reasonably designed to ensure that all content in an electronic game is considered and reviewed in preparing submissions to a rating authority."
Should they fail to meet this fairly basic requirement they, will be subject to fines of $11,000 per violation.
Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said: "Parents have the right to rely on the accuracy of the entertainment rating system. We allege that Take-Two and Rockstar's actions undermined the industry's own rating system and deceived consumers.”
Paul Eibeler, Take-Two's chief executive - regularly under fire from game-hating idiot attorney Jack Thompson - told the Financial Times: "We look forward to putting this behind us and concentrating on what we do best, creating interactive entertainment."
Take-Two estimates losses of around $24.5 million due to the Hot Coffee scandal. SPOnG will be speaking to Rockstar reps next week to see if we can get further comments on this latest development. Let’s just hope this is the end of the whole sorry saga.
In the meantime, don't forget the PS2 version of GTA: Liberty City Stories is out later this month, a snip at a RRP of £19.99. (screens to the right of this news). Don't buy it for the kids, though!
In case you have a memory problem, Hot Coffee was the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas mod that unlocked questionable adult material totally unsuitable for minors. Or prudes.
The FTC’s report on the matter said: "... the companies, in advertising the Entertainment Software Rating Board ('ESRB') rating for the game, did not tell consumers that the game discs contained potentially viewable nude female characters and a potentially playable sex mini-game."
Rockstar and Take-Two have been informed by the FTC this week that they are required to "establish, implement, and maintain a comprehensive system reasonably designed to ensure that all content in an electronic game is considered and reviewed in preparing submissions to a rating authority."
Should they fail to meet this fairly basic requirement they, will be subject to fines of $11,000 per violation.
Lydia Parnes, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said: "Parents have the right to rely on the accuracy of the entertainment rating system. We allege that Take-Two and Rockstar's actions undermined the industry's own rating system and deceived consumers.”
Paul Eibeler, Take-Two's chief executive - regularly under fire from game-hating idiot attorney Jack Thompson - told the Financial Times: "We look forward to putting this behind us and concentrating on what we do best, creating interactive entertainment."
Take-Two estimates losses of around $24.5 million due to the Hot Coffee scandal. SPOnG will be speaking to Rockstar reps next week to see if we can get further comments on this latest development. Let’s just hope this is the end of the whole sorry saga.
In the meantime, don't forget the PS2 version of GTA: Liberty City Stories is out later this month, a snip at a RRP of £19.99. (screens to the right of this news). Don't buy it for the kids, though!
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Comments
config 12 Jun 2006 11:37
1/1
The only things questionable about the content of the hot coffee mod was the gameplay and explicitness.
The fact that it wasn't included indicates that it was crap and got cut (though not enough!)
The fact that the characters are low poly and poorly textured say that there's nothing explicit at all about it - certainaly no more explicit that the idle imaginings of your average 13 year old boy.
What a complete farce.
The fact that it wasn't included indicates that it was crap and got cut (though not enough!)
The fact that the characters are low poly and poorly textured say that there's nothing explicit at all about it - certainaly no more explicit that the idle imaginings of your average 13 year old boy.
What a complete farce.