A Federal magistrate in Manhattan signed a document this week that paused court proceedings regarding the "Hot Coffee” ‘sex-mod’ in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Publisher, Take-Two Interactive has agreed to go into settlement talks regarding class actions brought against it since 2005 for selling the game under the wrong content label (rating) in the United States.

Reuters quotes a a letter to the judge, dated February 16th, in which lawyers for Take Two state that the parties in the case had "agreed to engage in settlement discussions with the hope of amicably resolving this matter."

But Take-Two only has until March 12 before having to report back to the judge.

The "Hot Coffee” ‘sex-mod’ within Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which enabled players to engage in virtual sex acts, was originally unearthed back in 2005 and lead to Take-Two having to seek reclassification of the game.

At the time, we reported that to use the code, "...you need to take one of CJ's ladyfriends out on a date. Should the date prove successful, you'll be invited in for coffee. Instead of the usual censored external view of a house with some girlie moaning coming from it, you'll be treated to a fully interactive sex experience including the ability to assume three different positions of love".

Of the current state of play, Reuters reports that, “in July last year, Take-Two said the Federal Trade Commission had formally closed a probe related to undisclosed sexual content in the game.”

So, the current ‘amicable’ settlement discussions relate class actions such as the one lead by US attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, in 2006 that stated that the game “should have been marketed as an ‘Adults Only 18+’ title, as opposed to a mature rating”, because "Sexual acts are visually depicted and the player can direct the game's principal character in acts of oral copulation and intercourse.”

Delgadillo’s suit demanded that Take-Two and Rockstar Games stop marketing games to children, pay fines and return $US10 million in profits.

We wait for March 12th with deep, husky breaths in bated mode.