When the latest tip concerning Grand Theft Auto reached my inbox, I could hardly believe my eyes-- then I remembered that Hamza touched upon this a few months ago. As reported by the MSN Money staff, the retribution site is now open for business, and those who claim to be "offended" by the Hot Coffee mod that caused so much controversy a few years ago can fill out a form and claim up to $35 for their troubles.
Now I don't even pretend to be an expert on litigation, but I see this as having the potential of being abused left and right by those who simply want to make a quick buck. Chances are great that if you purchased GTA: San Andreas in the first place, you can remove any hope of ever convincing any of us that you are the type that takes offense to what they see in games. When you take into consideration that you have to seriously go out of your way to access this content in the first place, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that anyone who bought the game is entitled to anything other than a replacement disk. Since you can play through the entire game and not witness this in the first place, even that seems a bit of a stretch to me.
More on this, after the jump.
I'm not going to say that it was a bright idea on Rockstar's part to include the code in the game to begin with (whether hidden or not), but this is settlement is just asking for trouble. Anyway, if you insist on taking part in the witch-hunt, and have a first-edition disk of the game, here's the conditions you must follow:
-Submit a detailed store receipt and get a cash payment up to $35.
-Prove your purchase by credit card or check statement and get a cash payment up to $17.50.
-A disk without purchasing details lands you a cash payment of up to $10.
-No disk, but have purchase details gets you a cash payment up to $5.
If you so desire, Rockstar is offering a replacement disk for those who have one with the offending code. I'm still wondering why squeamish gamers can't simply choose to not take the necessary steps to make this work if it offends them so, but then again, I'm not one of the lawyers making a million bucks off of this suit. Like Hamza alluded to earlier, I wonder how many of them (lawyers included) have already pre-ordered GTA4 with that money.
[Thanks, dragon]
Contest:
3:20 PM on 01.30.2008
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Nobody.
Rockstar: 1, Whiny Consumers: 0
I have my receipt as an electronic document in my document manager, but I think I'll keep the game as is since I'm far from offended by it and have never seen the coffee shop portion.
And it's not quite as simple as you'd think. If you claim to be offended and say you bought the game but no longer have the disc and are lying, there is always the risk of getting in trouble for lying. It's like swearing an oath in court to not lie. Perjury.
Hmm wait I think i have a reasonable analogy, the television watershed. Think about it there is a lot of stuff after the watershed that is deemed unsuitable for earlier hours but with a little effort (i.e not going to bed) you gain access to this offensive content. Could you sue the networks for producing this 'filth' that minors (with a little effort) could gain access to?
I think its $39.99 though, so you'd still have to pay $5 for it
Yes, it was in the game, but it wasn't accessible without work. Without -trying- to see it. So this all makes no sense.
If, by some miracle, you do have your receipt, and do decide to take their money, go buy a new copy of Bully. At least it has a symbolic name.
to me this looks like one giant "fuck you" to JT and soccer moms everywhere
Jack aint losing a few million dollars(maybe his license), Rockstar is.