Los Angeles Sues Take-Two for THEFT

I agree Rockstar should have been more upfront, but I don't think it's cool to nail them for a part of programming that wasn't accessible unless you had a way to hack the program to begin with (playing just the game without cheat codes or a disk that enabled cheating.

The people that need to be sued is the stores that sold the games to children. Take Two and Rockstar have no control over how people get the games. If a 16 year old buys a pack of cigeretts from a gas staion, the maker of the cigerette doesn't get in trouble, but the store that sold it to him does.But all that set aside, the people that are really responsible are the parents. Raise your children yourselves instead of depending on video games to do it.

If the pornographic scenes were included in the program on the disk in the box that was purchased and the product was not marked as containing pornographic material than yes, Rockstar is liable. It does not matter that this content could only be accessed with cheat codes or whatever. Children are as likely as anybody to have cheat codes.

Would you like to purchase a rated R movie for you kid only to find out, Hey! it contained scenes of rated X material?

Bottom line this is no kids game so why do kids own it? Take the genre. If I buy a rated R movie for my kids and it has X-rated material so what. I asked for it. Stick to safer forms of entertainment. Either let kids play it all or keep it to Disney related material. I can't believe this is even an issue. I agree retail outlets and parents are in complete blame here as with most child disobedience issues. If we start censoring all forms of media we loose our individual rights as Americans. This is already happening due to overprotective individuals and it’s wrong.

Theatres check IDS for "R" rated films, video game stores should also. I also agree about parents watching what their kids do. If they just hand 'em off $50 and say "Get what you want, Timmie" they shouldn't be crying about it later when Timmie buys an "M" (for people above 18) game. Too many parents still see video games as a child's past time. They ain't playing Pac-Man anymore.

the stuff in that game isnt exactly xrated. god of war has a sex mini game in it and no one seems to care. whats the big effin deal? people need to realize that games arent for kids anymore. this is an adult game. these lawyers are bloodsucking vampires. this is such a joke of a case. everything is regulated for the "kids" but the kids arent the ones who seem to care. its all these bible thumping republican nazis. i say screw em.

I thought this game had "M" rating for Mature even before anyone knew about the Hot Coffee mod. So the stores are legally supposed to not sell this game to kids (but they still ended up getting a copy). And what about the parents? Where the hell were they while junior was gangbanging virtually? If anyone should get sued it's parents who are lax in their responsibility not the makes of this game who intended this be for MATURE players not kids.

Excuse me, but what parent is allowing their kid to buy what was then an M rated game? Roclstar did what they needed by having the ESRB rating on their product. If parents are complaining, maybe they need a lesson in parenting. M mean MATURE, folks, so that mean NO KIDS. I hope the lawsuit falls through!

mochakat you are WRONG on the r rated movie containing x rated material, not a good comparison there buddy. There is a big difference between those ratings. NOW, here is the deal on this game. You had to be 17 to buy this game legally under the ratings system. HOWEVER to buy porn in this country you must be 18. This game contains porn and the ratings officials were not told of this when they gave the game the rating it received. Rockstar either did not know - as it had some jack ass employees hiding shit in the game, or they withheld this information on purpose. Either way they are liable. Now on another issue, I would hope to GOD that EVERY parent is monitoring what their children play. The fact that this game is owned and played by MANY 14 year olds is rather sickening and those parents need a bitch slap. That does not change the fact that Rockstar is liable for the game marketed to 17 and above contained material that really is for 18 and above. In the eyes of the average person 17 and 18 really is the same, but in the eyes of the law there is a difference. Rockstar = guilty

Ok, I've seen a problem in some of these posts: The ESRB (and MPAA) ratings are completely voluntary and self-imposed by the industry. They carry no legal meaning. Therefore, the statement that you have to be 17 or older to legally buy this game is false. You need to have money to legally buy this game, and that's about it. Now, a store can create a policy that enforces the ratings system, like Wal-Mart does with movies (and I hope video games as well), but that is a voluntary choice by the retailer. The ratings for both video games and movies exist as a guide to individuals and parents so that they can have some kind of concept of the content before they let themselves or someone they are responsible for play/see it. So you cannot argue that Rockstar is liable for minors being exposed to this material because there is technically no law saying minors can't play it.

Moreover, GTA:SA is rated M = ages 17+ for "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs." What part of that is unclear to any literate parent? That is far more information than you get from the MPAA regarding an R rated film. Moreover, an R rated film can have a sex scene in it that is just as revealing as the scene in this video game with terrible graphics (rd: hot coffee mod does not equal pornography). Take the movie 'Taking Lives' with Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke. There is a sex scene in that movie in which Angelina is quite naked (not porn). I find it hard to believe that the hot coffee mod and the awful GTA graphics can possibly be more revealing than that sequence with real people. So I do not see how the rating of 17+ is appropriate for a movie, but not the video game.