Shareholders go after Take-Two
p2p news / p2pnet: Take-Two Interactive, the maker of the Rockstar Grand Theft Auto video game series which takes players on brutal killing sprees, is being sued by shareholders.
In January, audit committee chairwoman Barbara Kaczynski walked out, accusing management of failing to keep the board informed on issues centering on the hidden Hot Coffee animated sex scenes in GTA San Andreas.
Now, "Law firms Milberg Weiss and Stull, Stull & Brody announced the suits seeking class-action status this week," says Reuters. "The actions come on the heels of similar suits filed in recent weeks.
"Each of the firms is looking for people who owned Take-Two shares between October 25, 2004, the launch of ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,’ and January 27, 2006, the day that Los Angeles’ city attorney sued Take-Two for selling pornographic video games to children."
The US game industry’s Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) reluctantly raised San Andreas from M for Mature (which had allowed people aged 17 to buy it) to AO for Adults Only (which resulted in Grand Sex Auto being taken off store shelves altogether).
New Zealand and Australia banned the GTA games completely, an 85-year-old US grandmother sued Rockstar Games and Take-Two, "on behalf of herself and all consumers nationwide," and Haitian civil rights workers sued Take-Two because, they said, GTA: Vice City instructed players to "kill the Haitians" and awarded points for each kill.
Lawyers partly blamed killings in a murder case on the hours the defendant had spent playing Grand Theft Auto video games. And nor was this the first time GTA had been mentioned in a ‘real’ murder case.
Grand Theft Auto III was said to have been behind two other murders in California where deputy district attorney Darryl Stallworth called fordeath penalties for reputed killers Leon Wiley and half-brothers Joe and Demarcus Ralls, "the most malevolent members" of a gang linked to about a half-dozen slayings, scores of robberies, and a set of shootings," said the Alameda Times-Star.
Players can also pick up prostitutes and SWOP-USA (Sex Workers Outreach Project USA) wants on all parents and all gamers to boycott Grand Theft Auto.
The SEC ( Securities and Exchange Commission) filed a fraudulent accounting practices claim against Take-Two Interactive Software, the company’s former chairman and ceo, Ryan Brant, its former executive vpt and coo Larry Muller, its former cfo, James David, Jr, and current vp of sales Robert Blau.
In this latest legal action, Milberg Weiss, "the most prominent class-action law firm in the United States, said in a press release on Monday that Take-Two engaged in fraudulent and illegal conduct during the class period so that insiders could sell more than 661,000 shares for proceeds of more than $18 million," says Reuters.
Also See:
Reuters – Lawyers target "Grand Theft Auto" maker, February 15, 2006
pornographic video games – LA sues GTA San Andreas co, January 27, 2006
New Zealand – Brutal and violent, December 12, 2003
Australia – Grand Sex Auto banned in Oz, July 29, 2005
awarded points – Take-Two’s ‘Kill Haitians’ game, January 27, 2004
partly blamed – GTA player guilty of murder, August 11, 2005
pick up prostitutes – Picking up prostitutes in GTA, December 17, 2004
boycott Grand Theft Auto – Sex workers call for GTA ban, February 16, 2006
fraudulent accounting – Rockstar sued by grandmother, July 28, 2005
Ryan Brant – Take down Take-Two, January 2, 2004
February 17th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Why are you always attacking GTA?
February 17th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
I don’t know why this continues to be an issue. In order to get to the “sex scene” you have to mod files for the game. That modification can only be done on the PC version, and by doing so, that means you know what you were going after when you modded it.
95% or more of all GTA owners (console and PC) would never have seen or heard about it if people weren’t out to get GTA in the first place.
February 17th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
… I believe all the GTA ‘games’ come from a _really_ sick crew who’ve become rich by cashing in on the worst aspects of human behaviour.
You think young kids don’t see this kind of trash and aren’t affected by it? And don’t give me the sham ‘parental responsibility’ argument.
Cheers!
February 17th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Since when is ‘parental responsibility’ a specious argument in terms of what types of items are permitted into the home?
February 17th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
Milberg Weiss is a law firm that specializes in shareholder class-action lawsuits. Unlike a product libability class-action, one need not have an actual plaintiff (actual person who was damaged by corporate shennanigans) in a securities related class-action in the US. They operate like opportunistic vultures who identify situations where there was a high probability of some kind of violation or non-disclosure, and there is still a significant amount of cash or value embodied in the target company (or individual corporate officers) from which to form a settlement pool from which huge legal fees can be drawn from, leaving the ‘victims’ with a few measley crumbs.
February 17th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Not all parents are created equally ideal.
Cheers!
February 17th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
Hahahaha. what a joke!! Do you reall think games, movies and the entertainment business are the root of such bad behaviors?
C’mon!! The ones that are drastically affected by games, and movies are the ones that would jump of the bridge if told to by their peers….. I think there are more to it than blaming video games…
February 17th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
“Do you reall think games, movies and the entertainment business are the root of such bad behaviors?”
Do YOU really think huge exposure to ultra violent games, movies, and entertainment has NOTHING to do with “such bad behaviors”?
Hahahaha. You are a fool.
February 18th, 2006 at 12:05 am
Look, you can make an agruement that everything has something to do with anything… I never said those things have no influence on a person. Please note that I said DRASTICALLY affect a person.
To the average person, playing violent games, watching violent movies, and/or listening to violent music will NOT DRASTICALLY influence an average person to the point where he/she will pull a gun to your face. If exposure to violent entertainment caused you to act violently, you’re not normal…. To put the major blame on entertainment is a major flaw in one’s thinking. Like I said before, there’s more to it than that…..
One would think, instead of blaming others for a person’s action, holding the person that commited the act accountable would make more sense…….
February 18th, 2006 at 1:47 am
The GTA series is amazing. I spent hours playing the original GTA game, running over pedestrians and shooting anyone in site. Somehow I’ve managed to not carry out these acts in the real world.
Sure GTA III has some adult oriented aspects to it but it’s not a game for the little kids. Why should politicians decide what games we are allowed to play?
The hot coffee animated sex scenes weren’t even pornographic since the characters kept their clothes on while “doing it”. I find all of the uproar amusing. I sometimes wonder if some of these politicians are angry because they can’t get any.
February 18th, 2006 at 1:47 am
Yes, for a fictional representation of what you explain, I recommend ‘The King of Torts’ by Grisham…it illustrates some of the unscrupulous behaviour by tort lawyers you refer to….
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The King of Torts, John Grisham takes on the tort lawyers, attorneys who file large class action suits that brings massive payouts from corporations. A few of those dollars make it into the plaintiff’s wallets, but huge amounts go to the lawyers who represent them. Clay Carter is a public defender close to burn out and disgruntled by his lack of a career. A mysterious man in black then comes to him with inside information on a drug that causes people to commit murder, and if Carter sets up his own law firm, he can win huge payouts with this information. This sets Carter on a furious path to wealth and the moniker “King of Torts” as the man in black continues to feed him inside information on different companies. In typical Grisham fashion, there in no gray area and there’s a clear delineation between good and evil, lots of thrills, and a predictable ending. The King of Torts has gathered mixed reviews, probably due to each reviewers preference, or lack thereof, for Grisham’s literary style.
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TT
February 20th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
“If exposure to violent entertainment caused you to act violently, you’re not normal….”
That statement is indefensible.
February 21st, 2006 at 7:39 pm
coming from Milberg== now thats an interestin choice+ isnt he the one who has been indicted!