this was on their sister site Kotaku yesterday

people are utterly unoffended by the language and violence, but heaven forbid there's a mod to unlock hideous polygonal sexual content. ffs. class action lawsuits for everyone!

I'm gonna spend mine on hookers to help soothe my moral outrage!

wait....

To qualify for the settlement, you must swear that you:

# Were offended and upset by the ability of consumers to use third party software and/or hardware to modify and alter the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas First Edition Disc to display the Hot Coffee content;
# Would not have bought the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas First Edition Disc had you known that consumers could modify and alter the game content; and
# Upon learning the game could be modified and altered, would have returned it to the place of purchase for a refund if you thought this was possible.

With these requirements, I will be shocked if even one person legitimately qualifies for the payout.

Hrmmm $5. I'll use it to purchase GTAIV.

Why would anyone who would be offended by this ever a) buy a GTA game in the first place, or b) modify their copy of the game to enable it?

@johnva: Because our legal system is collective idiocy that allows this bull shit to be sued over.

Yeah, uh, why would anybody be offended by this? If they're playing GTA in the first place they quite obviously aren't easily offended.

i hate censorship. you can watch a movie where a bad guy kills cops, rape, steal, etc, and gets away with it, but heaven forbid you put it in a video game.

@rmz: My guess is that it's more of a politically motivated attack on the company for making games some people don't like than it is genuine offense. Basically, activists are trying to censor them via the legal system. And it's worked, because I'm sure they will tone down some things in the future to prevent this kind of thing. Social conservatives are fantastic at doing the whole "fake outrage" thing in the media.

Yeah, it didn't bother me.

Fuck Congress & Jack Thompson.

I'm more offended that more of my games don't contain crude polygon sex.

Well, not Animal Crossing. You've gotta draw the line somewhere.

Good thing I keep my store receipts inside my video game manuals. $35 will be a nice down payment on the new GTA coming out soon.

This class action lawsuit has raised my Excitement meter to the level of near orgasm! I am titillated to Ashcroftian heights!

Meanwhile, the lawyers get $1 million.

I wasn't truly offended by the Hot Coffee "fiasco": it's GTA.
But I'm annoyed that Canadians can't benefit from this. Given that GTA:SA was a game I hated (in general), I wouldn't mind getting $35 back.

What if you got a version without 'Hot Coffee'? I did not like this game as much a previous incarnations and the act of unlocking the Hot Coffee is the only thing that made it interesting.

For all of you who got a version WITHOUT this mod I emplore you to join together and sue them class action style since you bought the game thinking you were going to get some hot sex action and all you really got was the same thing as in the previous GTAs.

Did congresspeople understand you have to hack the videogame to have access to Hot Coffee, in other words, you have to intentionally look for it? It's like going to a strip club voluntarily and then say you were offended by the nudity.

Yeah I remember owning that and I WAS offended. Send me $5

@deadlizard: Worse. It's like going to a dance club and the strip club is in the basement, hidden behind a fake wood-paneled wall, behind a steel enclosure that you need special tools to break into. Congresspeople are the ultimate dumb when it comes to technology issues.

I have a hard time being offended by anything - but still would like $5. Is this possible?

Five bucks is five bucks. I'll take it.

I think hearing "nigger" every 15 seconds is way more offensive than two consenting adults going at it. All this game required was a Klansman hood for the right feel. It amazes me that people killing each other and using racial epithets is fine, but procreating is not. Seriously, did the people who were offended hatch from eggs? I'm not a biologist, but I'd put money on my parents had sex, and so did theirs.

I could use a free 5 bucks to supplement my "pain and suffering."

@Benstein: Yeah, I can tell you were honestly offended.

Per the settlement agreement, if claims don't add up to $1.025M (or some such), RockStar will donate the balance to charity.

I'd rather the charity, or even RockStar keep the money, if I have to lie on 3 of the 4 questions.

Good, $5. Perhaps I'll use it to unlock the "Stale Coffee" mod wherein I can go to church to confess all my crimes, since moral substance is obviously the point of the GTA series. /sarcasm

Honestly, not to approve of this ingame behavior, but the consumer should not blindly accept that the game will be morally perfect. Did I run crying to my mum after visiting the House of Earthly Delights in Suran in ESIII? Heck no; I just 'cleansed' the place and walked away. Parents, research games before you buy them for your dumbass children. Caveat Emptor.

Ah, heck. I just bought this at a supermarket. Guess its only $5 for me.

If that. I assume the settlement has a provision that kicks the refunds to a charity if too many people respond.