In the mean streets of New York, Hot Coffee still brews...

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Though it has been almost a year since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas developer Rockstar and publisher Take-Two Interactive went under fire and scrutiny for the game's hidden Hot Coffee content, the repurcussions are still rippling back to the companies. Just last week, the District Attorney of the County of New York has issued grand jury subpoenas to Take-Two and Rockstar, launching an investigation over the hidden sex scene fiasco. Both companies will be required to produce documentation dating back all the way to October 1st 2001 concerning its presense in the original M-rated game.

Wedbush Morgan stock analyst Michael Pachter predicts in a report that the jury investigation could last several months and while it is difficult at this point to determine just what the grand jury hopes to find, it is possible a few Take-Two employees will face potential criminal indictment and conviction over their involvement with Hot Coffee. Take-Two employees and directors both current and former will likely be asked to testify in court in the future.

"The subpoenas leave us baffled," continues [Pachter's report], "and raise the specter of quite serious consequences. The potential outcomes range from indictments and convictions of key employees to no indictments issued at all. Should one or more key strategic, operating or creative employee be charged with criminal activity, we believe that at a minimum, the employee charged would be distracted from performing his or her duties for the company, and at a maximum, the employee charged would be convicted and would likely leave the company."

The Hot Coffee content has since been removed after its discovery and the subsequent uproar over gaming it caused, but only after the game was pulled from distribution for all gaming platforms to be re-branded with a new "Adults Only" ESRB rating.

Take-Two and Rockstar's legal woes don't end there, unfortunately. Actor Roger Hill has sued the companies over use of his likeness in the recent video game adaptation of the 1979 motion picture, The Warriors. Hill explains he had previously declined to work with the companies during development of the game, but Take-Two maintains it had secured "valid third-party license for the rights to use Roger Hill's likeness and the character of Cyrus in The Warriors video game and related marketing materials."