Australia bans GTA: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is no longer available to buy or rent in Australia after the country's Office of Film and Literature Classification got wind of the increasingly notorious hidden sex-mini-game known as "Hot Coffee".

The game had previously been rated MA15+, which allowed retailers to sell it to people over that age, but Hot Coffee has apparently seen to that. The Aussie office has now revoked the certificate, effectively banning the game from sale, as the OFLC doesn't do a UK-style "18" rating.

"Businesses that sell or hire computer games should remove existing stocks of this game from their shelves immediately," said Des Clark, director of the OFLC. "Parents are strongly advised to exercise caution in allowing children continued access to the game, particularly if they might have access to the 'Hot Coffee' modification."

Clark went on to not bother advising parents that most children have seen graphic sex scenes on television by the age of 15 and probably know far more about human reproduction than anybody else on the planet at this point.

GTA has fallen foul of the OFLC before, of course (unsurprisingly). Grand Theft Auto III, which we thought was rather tame by comparison, was banned outright following its release, and Vice City had to be heavily edited before it was released in the territory. Reminds us of the days of green blood in the SNES version of Mortal Kombat.

In an effort to keep abreast of breaking news surrounding the Hot Coffee "scandal", we've resurrected an old email address to deal with content submissions. Anybody with a Hot Tip as to who or what's going on in the world of Hot Coffee should direct their information to recyclebin@eurogamer.net.