Earlier this year, Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst issued estimates for Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, pegging 2008 sales for the title at 13 million copies. Not a bad take. Analyst analyzers populating the post's comments called that figure into question, with insight ranging from "Durrrr" and "dude is captain obvious" to "unbelievable" and "unrealistic."

Today, Ernst upped his estimate to 15 million on word from Take-Two that the publisher had already sold through 8.5 million copies of GTA IV, with 11 million shipped to retailers. Ernst noted that "We expect GTA IV sales to re-accelerate in the latter part of year in conjunction with the seasonal holiday period."
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VG247: Just had this from Michael Pachter: "Notwithstanding the strong sell-in of GTA, we do not expect the game to sell more than 12 million units this fiscal year. We believe that Take-Two remains a takeover story rather than a fundamental one."
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Joystiq writes: In the same conference call that gave us this head scratcher, Take-Two reps tap danced over a number of other issues, including their official reason for delaying GTA IV's hotly anticipated DLC, as well as any potential partnerships that may be lurking on the horizon.
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Take-Two boss Bed Feder just confirmed that the GTA IV DLC team is the same that created the original game.
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"Grand Theft Auto IV has sold 8.5 million units to date, with 11 million shipped to retail as of May 31, the company's second quarter financial results revealed today.

In its first week, GTA IV sold 6 million units, to the tune of $500 million in net sales.

As for BioShock, Take-Two said it had shipped over 2.2 million units since its late August debut, though GTA IV sales were the primary driver to $98.2 million in profits on the quarter for the publisher."
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Joystiq writes: "Those waiting for more Grand Theft Auto IV content will have to wait a little bit longer. According to Take Two's Fiscal Q3 2008 report, GTAIV downloadable content will be coming first quarter fiscal 2009 instead of the originally-planned Q4 2008. In real calendar terms, that means the DLC, which is rumored include whole new cities, is due between November 1, 2008, and January 30, 2009".
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The Florida Bar has called for infamous anti-games lawyer Jack Thompson to be disbarred and prohibited from applying to practice law for the next 10 years.Judge Dava Tunis noted that the recommendations will be included in the official report to the Florida Supreme Court, due by September 2.Thompson walked out of the courtroom after hearing the news, but not before filing a 4,500-word formal objection. Phoenix Wright, he ... » Read More

VGB writes: Here's the Top 10 10 million selling games. Since the year 2000, there have been few games that sold over 10 million.
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Haze and GTA IV battled it out last week for domination of the PS3 chart, but which game reigns supreme this week?
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Following on the heels of their Gran Turismo 5: Prologue bundle, Sony India is packaging everyone's favorite murder-simulator with everyone's favorite Blu-Ray player into one nice little expensive Christmas gift. Retail pricing goes for approximately Rs. 26,990 (USD 636.86).
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If there's any game likely to remove GTA IV from the top of the German charts, it's a PC game, and Age of Conan has gone and done it.Funcom's Hyborian Adventures went and nabbed the number one chart slot from Rockstar in both Germany and Sweden, sending GTA IV to number two in the territories.In the UK, GTA IV still reigns supreme, with Conan sitting in the number two slot.In Spain though, both Conan and GTA failed to ... » Read More

Wednesday's edition of BBC's Newsnight featured two boys saying that they know people who have "changed" after playing too much Grand Theft Auto.
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What do booty calls in GTA and blowing up jeeps full of drug dealers in the middle of Africa have in common?
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PC-only title knocks Rockstar epic off its perch in Germany and Sweden
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People of Stockton, California! Do not play Grand Theft Auto IV! Do not!! It's turning local residents batty. According to the Stockton Record
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Sales of Xbox 360 consoles are 18 per cent ahead of the PlayStation 3 in the UK since the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, Chart-Track told Eurogamer today.

In even better news for Microsoft, official GTA IV sales figures for the first four weeks also reveal that the Xbox 360 is the format of choice for UK gamers, with 57 per cent of the total sales of the game on 360, compared to 43 per cent on PS3.

Current Chart-Track panel sales figures place sales of the game in the UK at over 1.3 million, meaning around 750,000 copies have shifted on Xbox 360, and around 570,000 on PS3. To put that into context, in under four weeks Rockstar's opus has shifted almost as many copies as last year's best-seller, FIFA 08 - a game which launched on every format under the sun.

Looking at the year to date, the picture looks much rosier for Sony. Taking all 21 weeks of 2008 into account, sales of PlayStation 3 in the UK are 10 per cent ahead of Xbox 360. Prior to the launch of GTA IV, the PS3 boasted a 20 per cent lead on 360, so the gap is narrowing.
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Did Take Two intentionally foster inaccurate reviews for GTA IV to boost its Metacritic average on opening day?
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The Rockstar Games Social Club was updated earlier today to reveal the GTA IV multiplayer leaderboards:
All the online multiplayer statistics found in the game Stats screen are now accessible via the Social Club. You will also be able to see how your multiplayer cred measures up against everyone else by bringing up side-by-side comparisons.

To view the standings, click the GTA IV in your profile box and then select the multiplayer badge. A table of users will appear with ranks and other information. The data has plenty of filtering and sorting options to keep you busy for a while
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VG247: A good effort there from Funcom's MMO, but nothing's going to shake GTA IV at the top of the UK all formats for a while yet. Data's for the week ending May 24.

1. GTA IV
2. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
3. Haze
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
5. Rock Band
6. Mario Kart Wii
7. FIFA 08
8. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
9. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
10. Iron Man: The Official Game
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Next-Gen.Biz reports that the PlayStation 3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV took the top spot in the latest German and Swedish software charts, while Wii Fit overhauled the Rockstar title in Spain.

GTA IV for PS3 maintained its lead in the German chart and jumped above the Xbox 360 version in Sweden during the week ended May 18, but fell to second place behind Wii Fit in Spain.

Nintendo's Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii again made top five appearances across all three charts.

In total nine game for Wii charted across the three top tens, as did six titles for PC, five for DS, three for PS3 and 360 (all GTA IV), three for PS2 and one for PSP.
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