Ever since Grand Theft Auto:
San Andreas got slapped with an AO (Adults Only) rating
from the ESRB, and subsequently pulled from all major retail chains in America (and
another country... or
not), you knew it was only a matter of time before
Rockstar cleaned up its act, relatively speaking, and released an M-rated version without the hidden Hot Coffee
mini-game that got it in such hot water in the first place. After all,
Rockstar's losing tens of millions of dollars
because of this scandal. The least they can do is try to make some of that back.
According to GameStop's web site, the freshly sanitized version of San Andreas will arrive in about a week, around August 22nd or so. Pre-orders are being taken now both online and in stores, so Xbox owners who have yet to partake in the latest GTA madness can now pay full price for a new retail copy once more; used copies of the new version will presumably be found in the system soon after that. (Used copies on eBay might be found either cheaper than retail due to great supply, or more costly due to a collector's dash for sealed copies of the old version.) No word yet on a coffee-free PS2 re-release (the PC version was patched), but considering all the money to be made with "special edition" updates (or to be made up because of recalled inventory and lost sales), you can probably count on a PS2 "Pre-Release" date being announced sometime in the near future.
[UPDATE: Pre-Release ETA pushed back to 9/26/05 as of 8/29/05.]
[via GameSpot]
