PSU writes: Grand Theft Auto IV unsurprisingly sits at the top of the pile for worldwide sales in 2008, shifting a whopping 6.29 million copies since the beginning of the year.
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Ripten writes:

"At ComicCon '08 GameTrailers had the opportunity to catch up with the voice behind Niko Bellic, Michael Hollick. Geoff Keighly prefaced one of his questions by stating that Rockstar has been very tight-lipped about the upcoming DLC, adding that no one knows what to expect. Michael responded by saying 'neither do I' ...

The GTA IV DLC has been shrouded in ambiguity since its very announcement. It's been 4 months since the release of the game, and we haven't heard so much as a snippet of news regarding downloadable content. The trend continues, this time courtesy of Leipzig Games Convention where Microsoft said, 'In autumn there will be news from Liberty City,' followed by a mouthful of marketing mumbo jumbo."
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CVG writes: Hidden at the end of a press release for Microsoft's impressive holiday line-up is word that there'll be news on the GTA IV DLC this autumn. That's 'news' and not a release date.
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Electronic Arts always seem to get the sh!t@y end of the stick when being discussed in the gaming community. Not least because of their aggressive buyout of top developers such as Pandemic, Bullfrog and such like, but also the tendency for them to invest huge amounts of money in acquiring licenses only to produce a bunch of shovelware that sits atop the festive gaming charts year in year out.

As if that wasn't bad enough - EA are now beginning to attempt to 'strangle' the second hand games market.
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Gamedaily.biz writes: "The folks at Nielsen Games have released a new report on Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, which looks at reasons for purchase, platform preference and perhaps most interestingly the ability for minors to get their hands on the controversial title. In fact, Nielsen found that 17 percent of respondents in their survey who had purchased GTA IV were between the ages of seven and 16.

Elsewhere in the Nielsen report, the company found that Microsoft's exclusive episodic GTA content (coming this fall) did have some sway on consumers, with 25 percent of those who purchased the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV citing the extra content as a deciding factor. 64 percent said they simply prefer the Xbox 360 over the PS3."
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BioShock dev lead Ken Levine has spoken for the first time about his Take-Two compadres at Rockstar, saying the Sam Houser is the "most intense guy in the world" and that he shares the Houser's method of creating great games: "digging your f***ing teeth in."
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Bungie's Halo 3 took top Game of the Year honors during the G-Phoria awards last night, broadcast by game-oriented cable television network G4.

Xbox 360 was named the station's favorite system -- which falls in line with the award distribution. Of the show's 18 game awards, only four went to titles not available on Microsoft's system: Best Graphics and Best Voice Acting for Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Best Racing Game for Nintendo EAD's Mario Kart Wii, and, by default, Best Handheld Game for Ready at Dawn's God of War: Chains of Olympus.
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In an op-ed for the Star Online, Mohamed Idris, president of a Malaysian consumer rights organization has called for a ban on Grand Theft Auto and similarly violent video games.
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WSBTV writes: "Fulton County officials said they have arrested three teens and charged them with 57 felony counts in connection with a recent series of car bombings with Molotov cocktails in the city of Milton, north of Atlanta.

The felony charges include arson, criminal damage to property and possession of explosive devices in six vehicle fires between 11 p.m. July 24 and 3 a.m. July 25. Each teen is charged with 19 counts.

Officials said the teens -- ages 15 and 16 -- told authorities they learned "how to do it" from playing the video game 'Grand Theft Auto.'"
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...And in GTA IV, plants are one of the ONLY things you can't destroy...

'From killing sprees to the decay of society, Grand Theft Auto has been blamed for a lot of things. Add destroying plants. Swedish park supervisor Gert Axelsson is tired of the plants being destroyed in the park he oversees in Lulea, northern Sweden. "I am very much considering getting surveillance," says Axelsson. And what does he blame for the plant destruction and increased vandalism? GTA "where you wreak havoc in the city." He's totally right, you know. Because the potted plant mission is my favorite. Heck, I've been kicking over plants all week. Whenever I see a flower bed, I immediately think uproot uproot. Just like I was taught in GTA. We're surprised that people are just catching onto this now. People are so slow sometimes.'

So there you go. GTA kills plants.

Let's add it to the list...
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Maxconsole writes: "Rockstar games has updated the Official GTA IV website and it is now carrying a Games for Windows LIVE logo. This has sparked speculation that GTA may soon allow for cross platform play between PC and Xbox 360 and the PC may also be receiving the delayed 'exclusive' Xbox 360 GTA IV DLC..."
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GameTrailers TV and Spike TV have announced that they will be interviewing Michael Hollick, the voice of Niko Bellic, in an upcoming episode of GameTrailers TV. During this interview, they will be talking about the upcoming downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV.
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GamePolitics reports: "Absent speculation that Grand Theft Auto somehow played a role, the murder of a Bangkok cab driver by a 19-year-old-man in some ways appears similar to the typical murder of a cab driver in the United States.

In the U.S., cabbie killings appear to have very little to do with violent video games, given that they peaked in 1990-1993, when crude first-person shooters like Doom were the bloodiest games available and the first Grand Theft Auto was years away."
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Via GamePolitics: "Frustrated by sketchy and somewhat conflicting English language news accounts of Bangkok's GTA Cabbie murder, GP went looking for local Thai sources and found Asian Sweetheart. The site is mostly pictures of "gorgeous Thai ladies," but the cabbie murder apparently got the owner's attention away from posting glam shots."
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Via GamePolitics: "You knew it was only a matter of time.

In the wake of reports that a 19-year-old Thai man murdered a cab driver after playing Grand Theft Auto, embattled Miami attorney Jack Thompson has written a menacing e-mail to the top executives of Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the controversial series.

In the e-mail to T2 chairman Strauss Zelnick and CEO Ben Feder (and copied to dozens of other people, including GamePolitics), Thompson writes:

'I warned you both that copycat killings by teens would occur upon the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Now my prediction has come true...'"
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In addition to the previous reports of a GTA related murder in Thailand, it appears that the sales of the game will now be halted.

Ripten writes:

"Here we go again. An 18 year old in Thailand confessed to the robbery and murder of a 54 year old taxi cab driver, claiming he was trying to recreate a scene from the Grand Theft Auto video game.

Distributors of the game in Thailand are now being instructed to remove the game from their shelves indefinitely it would seem. Sales and Marketing Director for New Era Interactive Media, Sakchai Chotikachinda, was quoted saying..."
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A Thai videogame distributor has pulled copies of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto games from retailers in Thailand following reports of a GTA copycat crime that ended in the murder of a taxi driver over the weekend.
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Rockstar sent notices out sometime after midnight to players who achieved 100 percent completion in Grand Theft Auto IV during the game's "Key to the City" contest (now closed, so if you're at 98.3 percent, suck it up.) Reader Farnic sent us a screenshot of his (fullsize after the jump). The fine print: "If you do not respond within seven days, you will be made ineligible for the prize." Also, it could take up to 120 days to get your key, depending on how many they have to make.
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Check your inbox eager gamers, Rockstar has announced that potential winners of the GTA IV 100% Club Contest have been notified.

Have you won?
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The game, created by Edinburgh-based company Rockstar North, is the latest in the long-running franchise which sees gamers given the chance to run around lavishly-created virtual cities carrying out all manner of criminal activities.

This latest instalment has earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours. In its first day on release the game sold 3.6 million copies and earned more than £150 million.

At the Edinburgh awards, established to recognise innovation and design in video games, it will be up against the revolutionary Wii Fit, the incredibly popular Rock Band game and best-selling Halo 3.

The winner of the Edge Award will be announced on Monday, August 11.
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