Compensation offered for Hot Coffee

By Ellie Gibson Published 29 January, 2008

Cash available for US GTA fans.

Remember Hot Coffee, the filthy naked mini-game found hidden in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas? In November, you may recall, Take-Two reached a settlement in the matter. The publisher promised to spend at least USD 1 million on compensating those who were "offended and upset" by the whole thing.

Now's your chance to claim some cash, if you're American. And willing to swear you were offended and upset. All the details of how to apply for compensation can be found over on GTAsettlement.com.

If you can provide your original game disc you'll get a Hot Coffee-free copy in exchange. Show a receipt too and you'll get up to USD 35, or USD 17.50 for a credit card statement. Those who have a disc and purchase details will get USD 10, or without a disc it's USD 5. There's a deadline of 16th May to apply.

So are there any plans to offer similar compensation to traumatised European victims of the appalling Hot Coffee tragedy? No word as yet.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • asphaltcowboy #1 4 years ago

    lol?

  • Emortal #2 4 years ago

    This is just so incredibly silly...

    More hot coffee please!

  • Lexx87 #3 4 years ago

    I assume Ellie is being facetious about this or EG is going down the Daily Mail route.

    Also this is stupid.
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/08 @ 09:33

  • Cloudane #4 4 years ago

    I was so upset by this.

    Can I have the $1 million dollars now please, to make me happy all over again?

  • JonFE #5 4 years ago

    In there any compensation offered for those offended by this compensation offer?

  • Altrezia #6 4 years ago

    what. the. feck.

  • Lexx87 #7 4 years ago

    The Amercans that frequent this place must realise the stupidity of this whole thing.

  • BiscuitBase #8 4 years ago

    classactionlol

  • JonFE #9 4 years ago

    So, in other words, GTA gamers, mostly males in their late teens, are willing to testify under oath that they were truly offended and upset by some silly sex mini-games and people will believe them? Please don't insult my intelligence...

  • L42yB #10 4 years ago

    "I assume Ellie is being facetious..."

    LOL!

    Personally, I was *sooo* offended by this whole hot coffee thing that I think I will need the entire million just to appease me. Come on R* ;) What's another million, eh?

  • Lexx87 #11 4 years ago

    JonFE...it IS America

  • DSKUK #12 4 years ago

    I love the way it implies only Americans are ever insulted by this by "if you're American". Just because europe has a lot of nudist beaches doesn't mean we don't get offended either.

    I'm just saying this cause they money would come in handy :)

  • Lexx87 #13 4 years ago

    Why do we need $35? That's fuck all for us

  • BBIAJ #14 4 years ago

    Offended by content most of them probably never even had access to in the first place, and those that did, must have known what they were doing and letting themselves in for?

    Yeah, okay...

  • NewYork #15 4 years ago

    Oh, from the first few lines I assumed that they'd turned it into a competition of who can sound the most offended :)

  • DonnieDarko333 #16 4 years ago

    How stupid, why are Europe left out in this? I want some damn money!

    Like anyone was offended by the Hot Coffee thing, it looked a complete joke to me and American's aren't 'serious', are they?
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/08 @ 10:14

  • L42yB #17 4 years ago

    @DSKUK - It's all about the rating. San Andreas had an 18 rating over here in Europe already, so it was rated appropriately. In the USA the game was rated "Mature" (16+) because violence is absolutely fine in America. However when they found out that you could hack the content to allow access to nudity and explicit content they were all offended for some reason!

    USA - The land where it is OK for a 16 year old to watch a clothed female breast being chopped to bits by a sadistic axe murderer(provided it is clothed) but may not see that same breast uncovered and fondled by a loving partner...

    No wonder everyone over there is so screwed up o_O

    FIXED :)
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/08 @ 10:35

  • jonsaan #18 4 years ago

    I'm offended that I never got to see it frankly. Will I get some money?

  • Saladin #19 4 years ago

    The other night, I switched on my TV and saw a mild, 1980s action-movie sex scene. I was shocked, dismayed, upset and offended.

    I demand financial renumeration. Clearly.

  • nailerr #20 4 years ago

    Rockstar need to spit on every replacement copy. These people are pathetic.

  • sickpuppysoftware #21 4 years ago

    The contents of America offend me. Can I have some cash please?

  • crozon #22 4 years ago

    so you download a mod to access this and then cry about...............WHAT THE FUCK............This is why americans have such a bad reputation with the rest of the world..............FUCKING IDIOTS..............Sorry

  • jlaakso #23 4 years ago

    This is just stupid on so many levels. Oh well, at least some teenages can get the money for another preowned game. And it's not like Rockstar couldn't afford it.

  • tobsen #24 4 years ago

    The US is so stupid that someday it will accidentially step over the edge of the Earth and disappear forever.

    Hopefully.

  • Freek #25 4 years ago

    What the f#$@ck?? You had to install the mod yourself!

  • L42yB #26 4 years ago

    @Freek - Yup.

    Altho, I do think that some parents will feel justified in their claim i.e. They bought the game for their child because they thought it was full of fluffy unicorns and stuff, then were highly annoyed to find out that their child could actually have sex in the game!! Of course, the fact that their child was running around killing cops and stealing cars was absolutely fine... BUT HOW DARE THEY HAVE SEX!!!

    /end rant

  • ProtoformX #27 4 years ago

    Justicelol

    Seriously though, the fact that you had to download the mod yourself means you will have made a conscious choice to view the Hot Coffee content. So to make that choice and then say you're offended by it is just plain stupid. Also, the fact that this whole thing is about sex, the one thing in the game that's actually legal, is just laughable.

  • LOLLERS #28 4 years ago

    BUT HOW DARE THEY HAVE SEX!!!

    I dunno, it seems like the right track to me, guns and violence can only reduce the number of Americans whereas sex could dangerously increase the number of Americans.

    lol I made a funny racist joke.

  • hiddenranbir #29 4 years ago

    I'd rather sell the hot coffee version which is worth a lot lot more.

  • L42yB #30 4 years ago

    @LOLLERS:

    LOL! :)

  • ShiroBen #31 4 years ago

    I ... but ... this ... corwhumph!

  • Machetazo #32 4 years ago

    xD Hilariously ridiculous, no less!

  • Feanor #33 4 years ago

    "What the f#$@ck?? You had to install the mod yourself!"

    No you didn't, and it wasn't a mod. The content was on the disc, which is why it was able to be unlocked (not modded) on the console versions.

    Rockstar have no one to blame but themselves for the laughable way this has finished up.
    Edited by 1 at 29/01/08 @ 18:14

  • trooper6 #34 4 years ago

    I am American. And I am gravely offended by the whole Hot Topic affair. Specifically, that as a Mac user who owns an unmodded Xbox I had no way to unlock this Hot Coffee.

    From the stories I saw on the news, Hot Coffee was being served up to everyone who just looked at the game...why didn't I get any hot coffee? I didn't even get any lukewarm coffee.

    I want money in return for my missing out on coffee. Can I get double money because I wasn't able to access the coffee in order to be extra offended? Can I still get money considering that I, like most gamers, am older 21 and therefore would have been able to watch the content anyway? Wait...can I get money for being offended by my government? Oh...they are already trying that with the stimulus package (read: bribe). Hm...can I get money for being offended that the station that plays Eastenders here in Los Angeles is something like 4 years behind Britain? I mean, Zoe hasn't even left the square yet...I know she does eventually because here she is on the Bionic Woman. Phil just found out Louise is his daughter...that's how far behind I am. I'm offended! Give me thirty bucks!

    I'm also offended that I had a hard time understanding really think Liverpudlian accents while I was visiting there. I was at a pub and didn't realize the woman behind the bar was asking me if I wanted ice in my Coke...and that caused me emotional suffering. Can I get 30 Euros for that from Liverpool?

    What about the fact that it has been raining recently here in Los Angeles. There was this song that said it never rains in southern california, and I moved here with that understanding...and now it's raining...that is some sort of breach of contract...I want $30 for that too.

  • trooper6 #35 4 years ago

    @Feanor

    Check out the wiki page: [link url=http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Coffee_mod
    ]http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Coffee_...[/link]

    While the hot coffee content was on the game originally, it had been disabled and the only way to access that content was through a mod that allowed you to hack the code of the game (which is violating EULA). You couldn't access hot coffee without breaking your EULA, if you had the PC version downloading a mod with allowed you to hack the code to access the disabled hot coffee, or if you had a console version, have a mod/hardware combo (which isn't available for Macs) which would then allow you to perform the hack.

    Hot Coffee was not an Easter Egg you could unlock with a few button presses. It was completely disabled content that one could only access by using a mod to illegally modify the source code. I don't think Rockstar's the bad guy on this one.