Take Two has finally laid the Grand Theft Auto ‘Hot Coffee’ scandal to rest. Oh, and it’s just cost them $20 million to do so.

Those of you with elephantine memories or dirty minds may recall that ‘Hot Coffee’ was the name given to a hidden section of gameplay in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on PS2, during which the game’s chief protagonist gets, er, jiggy with a young lady-friend. Heck knows what such a segment was doing in the game in the first place, but Take Two’s efforts to lock it beyond reach were soon undone by the work of determined hackers. And the rest is history.

Or it would be, were it not for the class action undertaken by Take Two investors once the offence was discovered, and the $20 million Take Two and their insurers have just forked out to dismiss the case once and for all – $15.2 million will be covered by the latter, with TT taking up the slack.

Doubtless $20 million is small potatoes when compared to the untold $Squillions Take Two has milked from the GTA franchise over the years. All the same it must smart, and the pain will be double keenly-felt at the moment since it follows Take Two’s announcement of a $55.5 million net loss for the third quarter of 09. In a word, ooyah!

What’s worse, Take Two bigwigs apparently knew all about Hot Coffee prior to San Andreas’ release, but were either too skint, too lazy or too flipping stupid to remove it. We’re sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere...