Grandma sues Rockstar Games

[jayfish]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050727-5143.html

<SNIP>
It was only a matter of time, and the woodpecker has popped out from the clock: a civil suit against Rockstar has been launched seeking unspecified damages as a result of the entire Hot Coffee fiasco. The suit alleges that Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, engaged in misleading and deceptive practices in packaging and selling Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The suit was brought on behalf of consumers by Florence Cohen, aged 85, of New York. And I know you guys are going to love this one:

Grandma bought the game for her grandson. Her 14-year old grandson.
</SNIP>



Jay

[SmileyBoy]

1. This is so fucking wrong.

I don't know what else to say.

It is SOOOOOO fucking wrong.

[ixion]

20. yep... talk about frivolous lawsuits

:-(

[Anarcho-Socialist]

2. Grandma is just mad

because she couldn't get past San Fierro missions to get access to Las Ventuas.

[name not needed]

3. .

:rofl:

[wli]

5. not at all

She's mad because she caught Sweet falling off the fire truck and all she got was a lousy tank and harrier.

BTW, go for gold on the flight training missions. The Hunter helicopter is an immense help on numerous missions, and is even useful for gang wars on the open-terrain areas. The other vehicles from the training missions are largely useless so it's not really worth bothering to get gold on those (plus the flight training mission is by far the easiest of them all).

[Canuck55]

4. She is stuck in the Clinton Era...

Buy a game for a 14 year old grandson that involves running people over with vehicles at will, fucking them up with clubs and guns, and generally following a blue storyline...

but now it has cocks? COCKS? Where is my Lawyer!

[Anarcho-Socialist]

6. I wonder why she didn't get it from the title...

"Grand Theft Auto"? Did she think it was about fluffy bunnies? :shrug:

[Tux]

16. LOL

Grand Theft Auto: Thumper's Whore House.

[greyl]

8. I haven't seen any cocks. ?

Only the silver vibrator.

(yes, I have hot coffee)

[Canuck55]

11. I highly doubt grandma has either...

...just a found 'victim' that a lawyer saw he could probably get his name in the press with. Was more light sarcasm noting how easy it is for the Right to 'complain' when a game has violence (unless its military violence), and 'sue' when it involves sex. The myth has always been that its kids who buy these games, when really the bulk of sales/revenue comes from people 24+. 14 year old kids don't buy numerous games a year at $40.00-$60.00 a pop, working people do.

[Sean Reynolds]

7. Grandma doesn't know how to read.

It says right on the box 17+

Last I checked 14-years of age is not 17.

Oh and WTF did she expect from a game titled: GRAND THEFT AUTO?

[merwin]

9. Enabling that "hot coffee" thing requires you to download a patch

from the internet and actually change the files of the game, which violates the license agreement that you agreed to when you opened the game.

Therefore, first of all, the game that was bought did not have that scene in it. There was no natural path in the game to get to that point. Second of all, changing the files violates the license agreement which is a huge no-no.

Maybe Grandma should be paying more attention to the websites her kid visits.

[KareBear]

21. So... She's admitting her grandson violated a software license agreement..

Time to countersue under the DMCA. Looks like granny just got junior locked up!

One stupid idiotic law deserves another heh.

[greyl]

10. Grandma should be prosecuted for supplying contraband

to an underage citizen. ;)

But seriously, what are the precedents for prosecuting a consumer "breaking ESRB rules"?

[jayfish]

12. I Think The ESRB Is A Meant As A Guide Only.

I don't believe there is any enforcement mechanism.

[Newsjock]

13. Follow the money

Who's paying the grandma? The trail probably leads to somewhere verrrrry interesting.

[PittPoliSci]

14. i was misled!

How was I supposed to know the coffee was hot when I spilled it on myself?!!! I shouldn't research ANYTHING I buy EVER!!!

Give me a FUCKING break...

[baron j]

15. She probably hasn't even seen the so-called sex scene.

He doesn't even take off his pants. It looks like he's just helping her get into yoga poses, and her nudity is laughably blurry.

I saw this posted on Yahoo! message boards regarding a similar story (usually the posts on Yahoo! are horrid, and this one is in all caps, but it is profound, nonetheless):

REAL WAR IMAGES ON NEWS WORRY ME
by: rickthedick2k3 07/28/05 02:34 am
Msg: 382 of 686
1 recommendation

SHOULDN'T THAT BE THE REAL ISSUE HERE? I MEAN, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE BEEN KEEPING UP WITH CURRENT EVENTS, BUT BUSH HAS TAKEN US TO THE BRINK OF WORLD WAR 3.

BUT NEVERMIND GLAZE EYED SHEEP, THERE ARE CLOTHED SEX SCENES IN A VIDEO GAME CATERED TO THE 18+ DEMOGRAPHIC. EVIL MUST BE PUNISHED IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SUN, AND THE HOLY GHOST.

WE'RE DOOMED.

[Bark Bark Bark]

17. Aren't There More Important Things? (Warning: Irony)

http://www.benmautner.com/widerangle/2005/07/why-grand-theft-auto-arent-there.html

So you probably heard that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was given an "Adults Only" rating, which prevents it from being sold from now on at Wal-Mart (Always Low Wages), et al. Who cares? The video game industry, and it seems like not too many other people than legislators and a few outraged citizens. If history tells us anything, it's a good thing those citizens didn't gather half-a-million strong in New York to protest, or this game would still be rated "M" (for mature).

A condemnation for a game like GTA is lame by any account, but what is outrageous is that games like Ethnic Cleansing by Resistance are still A-OK. Wheee!

...Prancing around as a KKKman and getting points for killing black people and hispanics is much more harmful to minds of any age than, what was it? Two people having sex?

Irony Number One: Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series...

...exhorted players in its latest iteration to start a Cuban-Haitian race war.

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=13661

So hey, hooray, let's all rally to Rockstar's defense. They're just innocent victims in all this. They just rendered, then hid, hardcore sex in their game and, somehow (cough) the method of uncovering the scene just happened to become publicly available. Somehow. And for no reason...I mean, what would they have to gain from this? Surely the bad publicity is hurting them. ;) Of course, next time, they'll have to TOP this, so maybe they'll make...GTA: Ethnic Cleansing.

Irony Number Two: So many Liberals and Progressives wasting so much time rallying to Rockstar's defense--complaining that others are wasting their time attacking Rockstar.

There's a difference between defending Larry Flynt's First Amendment rights, and defending Larry Flynt. Just because Rockstar feeds you your whacking material doesn't make them The Good Guys--not that there are ANY "Good Guys" involved here...

Irony Number Three: NOBODY seems to get the "Hot Coffee" reference. (One poster in this thread almost does, but just repeats the sort of misinformation about the McDonalds case one gets when one's info comes exclusively from stand-up comedians and talking-head pundits.) It's a before-the-discovery acknowledgement by Rockstar that they realize lawsuits will be forthcoming, and will do them more good than harm.

...And I'll post THIS again, just because it's funny:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-07-20&res=l

[JerseygirlCT]

18. So it dandy for her 14 yo grandson to play

with a game in which people are murdered, crimes are committed left and right, violence rules... but the problem is a hidden sex scene?

This is so f'd up.

[matcom]

19. SHE bought her grandson a video game with a FELONY as the title?

and NOW she is upset?

hey granny, get back on those meds honey. maybe time for a home? :eyes:

[Liberal Veteran]

22. The critical piece of info isn't in the article.

Which platform did she buy it for?

If she bought it for her grandson's PS2, then the Hot Coffee mod is meaningless.

[Candide]

23. Grandma also upset to learn

that the rabbit magazines she buys her grandson contain lewd pitcures