"Decaf" GTA: San Andreas Available Oct 18

Take-Two Interactive has announced it will resume sales of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PlayStation 2 on October 18 - and it'll be rated "M," not "adults only."

Take Two Interactive’s Rockstar Games publishing arm has announced it will resume sales of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PlayStation 2 gaming console on October 18, 2005. The new "special" edition of the game will include a DVD with game backstory and a documentary film entitled Sunday Driver.

The new edition of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will not include the now-infamous hidden "Hot Coffee" segment in which a player’s character could simulate sex with a female game character. Take-Two was forced to pull the game from retail distribution in mid-2005 when tinkerers found and exposed the segment, causing the Entertainment Software Ratings Board to revoke the game’s "mature" classification and re-rate it AO or "adults only." Most retailers will not stock AO games.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the best-selling video game of 2004; its predecessors were the best-selling games of 2001 and 2002. Despite these successes, Take-Two Interactive posted a $30 million loss for its fiscal quarter ending in July 2005 due to costs associated with withdrawing and reworking the San Andreas game.

Take-Two’s Rockstar Game’s also announced it will release a Grand Theft Auto trilogy pack for Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console, including Grand Theft Auto 3,Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.