By now, most gamers have let the “Hot Coffee” scandal slip from their memory. You may remember that some gamers discovered a sexual mini-game in the code for Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. While the code was not intended to be playable as part of the released retail game, it could be unlocked and viewed, causing an uproar in the press.

As often happens in such cases, lawyers sprang into action, working with upset members of the community to file class-action lawsuits. Just in case you aren’t familiar with class-action lawsuits, the idea is that a single lead plaintiff represents a large group of wronged individuals so that the issue can be decided for the entire class of people rather than forcing every case to be tried individually.

Yesterday, Take-Two offered to settle the Hot Coffee class-action filed in relation to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from its Rockstar Games label. The settlement offer has yet to be approved by the court, but if approved it would end the class-action without Take-Two admitting liability or wrongdoing.

The settlement would have Take-Two pay at least $1.025 on settlement benefits to consumers and pay the defendants’ expenses up to $2.75 million (in addition to the cost of notifying class members of the settlement and a fee to plaintiff’s counsel). As is sometimes the case with class action lawsuits, this settlement appears to be much more to the benefit of the people serving the case rather than the consumers themselves.

Individuals will be able to claim as much as $35 if they meet the following conditions: They must prove that they purchased a copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas prior to July 20, 2005. They must also swear that they were offended by the ability to view the Hot Coffee content, would not have purchased the game if they had known about the Hot Coffee content, and would have returned the game if they had thought that possible. Not all consumers will get cash – some may simply be able to exchange their game disk for an edited copy of the game without the unlockable content.

Ben Feder, the Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two Interactive, went on the record saying, “If the case had continued, we believe the court would have agreed that Take-Two was not liable for consumers acting independently to modify their games with third-party hardware and software to access normally inaccessible content. Nonetheless, we believe it is in the best interest of the Company to avoid protracted and costly litigation to prove our case and to finally put this matter behind us.”