Take Two facing possible class action lawsuit over Hot Coffee

A new lawsuit filed in New York against publisher Take Two Interactive is seeking class action status to press a claim of damages on behalf of purchasers of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas over the recent Hot Coffee scandal.

The suit - which has not yet been granted class action status, it should be noted, but may be only the first of several legal actions of this type taken against the firm - accuses Take Two of using unfair business practices, false advertising and consumer deception.

The background to the case is that it's being brought by one Florence Cohen, aged 85, who is claiming damages after discovering that there was sexual content in the game, which she bought for her 14 year old grandson.

Anyone familiar with the game, the scandal or the ESRB rating system may now pick your jaws off the floor - yes, this woman bought an M-rated (17+ recommended) game for her teenage grandson, featuring car theft, shootings, muggings, cop-killing, prostitution and plenty more, but now wants compensation because it also turned out to feature badly animated dry humping which could be unlocked only by deliberately downloading a patch off the internet.

The absolutely astonishing stupidity of the case when laid out that simply aside, it presents yet another headache for Take Two - already faced with having to take a $40 million hit on its revenues through recalling the now Adults Only rated product, and more recently with an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into the matter.

Given the prevailing conditions in the United States over this issue, many commentators believe that Take Two is likely to settle out of court after a short battle rather than face losing outright - but none are prepared to speculate on how much this might cost the publisher.