Stock market jitters surrounding resurfaced yesterday, amid speculation that more Hot Coffee-flavoured trouble was on the way for the controversial publisher. Take-Two and subsidiary must have thought that the furore surrounding the third-party mod, which enabled a pornographic mini-game in San Andreas, had finally subsided. Nevertheless, they were yesterday hit by subpoenas from a New York grand jury, demanding the company produce documents related to the mod and the secret mini-game.

A statement released by the publisher announced the re-emergence of this thorny issue, revealing that the court are after documents from as early as 2001, including those pertaining to "the knowledge of the company's officers and directors regarding the creation, inclusion and programming of hidden scenes (commonly referred to as 'Hot Coffee')."

That's not all, however, as Take-Two have also been ordered to supply documents regarding the activities of various senior employees, not to mention dealings with various accounting firms, and acquisitions. The publisher were quick to point out that they have not been informed that they are specifically under-investigation.

The 'Hot Coffee' scandal saw GTA San Andreas re-rated as an 'Adults Only' title in North America, after it was discovered that the mini-game was a part of all versions of the game, simply 'enabled' by the third-party mod. Vocal defenders of the games have long claimed that changes to games made through third-party modifications is tantamount to blaming an artist when a vandal scrawls fake breasts in biro on their portrait. We'll keep you posted on Take-Two's ceaseless troubles...

By Luke Guttridge