Take-Two Interactive decided to take to court Chicago’s Transit Authority after its posters for the new Grand Theft Auto IV game were taken down without any clear explanation.

The lawsuit will take place in Manhattan’s Federal Court and will decide whether the contractual rights and free speech rights were violated.

Take-Two accuses the CTA and its sales agent, Titan Outdoor LLC of violating an expensive and carefully planned advertising agreement and demands retributions of $300,000 and also that its original ads be posted back for the six week period.

The decision to remove the posters came after a local Fox television station aired a report about a disturbing new wave of crimes in Chicago and questioned the decision to allow a campaign for a rather violent game in such troublesome moments.

The Grand Theft Auto games have had their share of bad publicity over the years and have been blamed on numerous occasions on a series of violent crimes such as beatings, car jacks, drive-bys, car thefts, prostitution and DUIs all over the United States.  

The series began in 1997 and because of its massive success it currently counts eight stand-alone games and two more expansion packs for the original. According to its producers, by March, 2008 the game was sold in more than 70 million copies worldwide.

The controversy with the GTA games is mainly related to the game’s focus on the illegal activities that might, in time, stimulate gamers to actually feel the need to experience the things done on their computers.