'Grand Theft Auto' slapped with lawsuit

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"Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" features characters that commit crimes such as murder, drug dealing and pimping
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The city attorney's office has sued the makers of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" for allegedly hiding pornographic material inside the video game, officials said.

Rocky Delgadillo said his office sued Rockstar Games and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, for making misleading statements in marketing the game and engaging in unfair competition.

A telephone call made after business hours to a Take-Two spokesman in New York was not returned.

The game, released in October 2004, features characters that commit crimes such as murder, drug dealing and pimping.

The game also had an embedded "mini game" in which characters could engage in explicit sexual acts.

The industry board that rates video games gave it a mature rating but would have given it an adults-only rating if it knew of the explicit content, Delgadillo said.

The game's rating was later changed and retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Best Buy Co., pulled copies from their store shelves.

But the game was re-rated only after more than 12 million units had been sold, generating about $600 million in retail sales. The city attorney's office estimated that more than 200,000 units have been sold to date in California, generating more than $10 million in retail sales.

"Businesses have an obligation to truthfully disclose the content of their products -- whether in the food we eat or the entertainment we consume," Delgadillo said.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, was part of an ongoing investigation into the marketing of video games, authorities said.

The game also spurred several states to crack down on sales of mature-rated games to minors.

Delgadillo is seeking civil penalties from Rockstar Games Take-Two Interactive.

He also is requesting that Take-Two and Rockstar take action to ensure full disclosure to consumers about the content of their video games.

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CNN

LMFAO, the game's an 15 I think, so most 15 movies have pornographic stuff in them so I honestly don't see the problem here. The game's good, and I don't think LA's City Attorney office will get that far

This was because of me, sorry. I shot about 50 people last week in an attempt to copy a scene from the game.

Serriously, this is terrible that they target a game for something that movies have had for decades. Why not stop all the violent movies too if you're gonna stop it from a game? I call shananigans. :cool:

I think the worlds government etc should stop treating people like idiots and stop this 'wrapping up of us in bubble wrap' its getting seriously out of hand. Them doing this just makes me wanna kill them and GTA has never put that thought into my head but they do hmmm go figure!

Well, that could happen, i mean citizens might do stuff like this like the GTA. but anyways, i liked the gamem it is good but no one should play it under the age of 17 i think!!

this is what our generation wants nowadays . im below 18 and i still play GTA . its done no harm to me . only makes me want to kill some cops and bang some hoes . no big deal in that . its just some people that get obsessed with this shit and think they can become the player in the game . GTA has corruption but still the majority of the people that own it are teenagers .

If somebody goes out and kills somebody re-enacting a game or character from game or movie then that says more about the actual persons state of mind than the games content in my eyes.

This is really sad that lawyers go after video game makers like this just because they include violence. They don't go after movies or TV shows because they are not "interactive" enough to make you want to go out and commit crimes. If a kid is dumb enough to want to go kill someone after playing a video game, then all of the blame should fall on the kid's parents. If you did such a crappy job of raising your child that they couldn't distinguish video games from real-life situations, then you deserve to spend some quality time in a jail cell.