The Australian ESRB counterpart announced today that officials effectively banned Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and ordered it removed from stores because it contains hidden sex scenes that can be viewed with a special Internet download. It is now illegal to buy, sell, or rent GTA: SA down under...

Take 2 and Rockstar are being sued in federal court in Manhattan over hidden sexual content in their "GTA: San Andreas" video game. The plaintiff, Florence Cohen, claims that she purchased the game for her teenage grandson in or about late 2004 when the game was rated "M" and was damaged when it came to light that sexually explicit scenes believed to be inaccessible by players were left in the game by developers.

Take-Two announced today that the Entertainment Software Rating Board has changed the rating of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on all platforms from "Mature 17+" (M) to "Adults Only 18+" (AO) because of the so-called "hot coffee mod," an unauthorized third party modification that alters the retail version of the game.

About a week ago we reported that Assembly Speaker Leland Yee blasted the ESRB for failing to appropriately rate GTA: SA. Since then the ESRB and its Australian counterpart have initiated investigations into the alleged graphic scenes featuring oral sex, nudity, and simulated intercourse. Today Rockstar finally reacted with a statement saying that "only by disassembling and then combining, recompiling and altering the game's source code have hackers been able to create the Hot Coffee mod. Without intentional and significant technical modifications and reverse engineering of the game's source code this explicit content is not available in the retail product." Read more for the full statement...

Assembly Speaker Leland Yee today blasted the ESRB for failing to appropriately rate Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Recently it was reported that GTA:SA includes hidden animations which allow players to watch graphic scenes featuring oral sex, nudity, and simulated intercourse, which Rockstar denies. Despite these graphic scenes, GTA:SA only received a "Mature" rating instead of the ESRB's most restrictive rating "Adults Only." Most retailers will not carry games with an AO rating.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

Rockstar Games is pleased to announce that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Xbox and for the PC is now available at retailers throughout North America. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Xbox and PC will be in stores in Europe on June 10th, 2005.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets. We had a chance for some hands-on time over at Rockstar, so read on for the juice ...

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

Due to a mishap in our calculations (always confusing when companies start their fiscal year in November) we falsely reported GTA: SA being delayed, it is still on track for its scheduled June-ish release date. Our apologies for the confusion. At the same token it was also revealed that Rockstar Leeds (May Payne for GBA) is working on a GTA title for the PSP, set in GTA III's Liberty City, which is planned for release in the Q3 2005. Out of a total of 140 upcoming titles, Rockstar has two all new, yet undisclosed, products in development for later this year.

Created by Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the top performing product in Take-Two's publishing business in the quarter. According to NPDFunworld, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the top selling PlayStation 2 title in the United States in each of the four months since its release. The Company's life to date sales of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas through the end of the first quarter have exceeded 12 million units.

The AP has a story about five middle-school boys in Greensburg, Pennsylvania who have been arrested, charged in a graffiti blitz they blame on a video game. The boys range in age from 12 to 14 and are charged with institutional vandalism, criminal conspiracy, criminal mischief and desecration of venerated objects. Police said the boys claim they were inspired by the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (thanks ve3d).

CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets. Rockstar sent us a bunch of cheat codes, people say cheaters never win, well, they can at least have fun!

Rockstar Games is pleased to announce that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is making its way to the Xbox. Developed by world-class designers Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Xbox and PC will be in stores in North America on June 7th, 2005 and in Europe on June 10th, 2005.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.

Rockstar Games and Interscope Records, a part of Universal Music Group, proudly announce the details of the 8-CD box set soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the latest installment in the best-selling Grand Theft Auto franchise. The box set is scheduled for release on December 7th, 2004 in North America and December 6th, 2004 throughout Europe.

Rockstar Games is proud to announce that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has shipped to retail stores in North America. Developed by Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is available exclusively for the PlayStation2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will be in stores in Europe on October 29th, 2004.

Talk about a plague. DOOM 3, Halo 2, and today, Rockstar is the latest victim, as 'GTA: San Andreas' has just been spotted floating around on the peer-to-peer networks and newsgroup sites. It should also be noted that the 'GTA: San Andreas' version is only playable on a modded PS2, which is only a small portion of the PS2s out there. Read more for Rockstar's official statement...

Rockstar Games and Interscope Records announced today the release of a soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the next installment in the best-selling Grand Theft Auto franchise. The double CD and 8 CD box set are scheduled for release on November 23rd in the US and November 22nd in Europe.

Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets.