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The companies are being sued by the department on the grounds that they failed to tell the video games regulators of a 'pornographic' mini game in the adventure in which the characters could be made to 'engage in explicit sexual acts'. The game was therefore given an 'M' rating rather than the more restrictive (AO) Adults Only rating. After an investigation, the

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game was re-classified to the AO rating in 2005 but only after it had made enormous sales.

San Andreas, which was launched in 2004, quickly became notorious for its plot involving murder, burglary, drug dealing and prostitution with US politicians such as Hilary Clinton lining up to condemn the content.

All of which of course contributed to the game becoming a top-selling smash. In drawing the LA City Attorney's ire, it probably has not helped Take Two and Rockstar's case that the city of San Andreas in the title is a thinly veiled version of Los Angeles. According to Delgadillo, some 200,000 copies have been sold in California, generating sales revenues of around $10 million.

The prosecution is being made due to alleged violations of the Californian Business and Professions code which bans making untrue of misleading statements about a product. The maximum penalty on each count is a fine of $2,500.