Xboxist writes:

"We can see this move potentially backfiring for the Redmond company, however. Like the days of Perestroika, once gamers get a taste of the good life, they might not be so eager to go back to the old gulag of paid online service. Hopefully this opens the door for future online demo offers to coincide with the release of new titles, leading to the eventual liberation of Xbox live for all. Microsoft, tear down that wall!"
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GI.biz: "The nominations for this year's BAFTA Videogames Awards have been released with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare topping the list.

The hugely popular shooter is up for seven separate awards, and is just eligible for nomination by being released after the last BAFTA event in late 2007."
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Gamasutra writes:

"Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet leads the nominees for the ninth annual Game Developers Choice Awards with seven nominations, organizers have revealed.

Number None's Braid follows closely with five nominations. Among the nominations for LittleBigPlanet is the coveted Game of the Year award.

Other nominees for that category include Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead, each of which received a total of four award nominations; Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto IV, which earned a total of three nominations, and Lionhead Studios' Fable 2. Winners will be honored at an awards show taking place during the 2009 Game Developers Conference."
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Gamerdeals.net writes:

"To kick off the anticipated release of the Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV expansion pack: "The Lost and Damned", Amazon began offering a free 3 Month Xbox LIVE subscription card ($19.99 value) to all pre-orders."
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GTAHQ.net Reports: "Last night as many of you may have heard, a new theory has come to surface about the possible character in DLC #2. On the mission "Museum Piece" you get a get a glimpse of Johnny, which many of you may not remember. During this mission you get the achievement "Impossible Trinity" we then meet the star of The Lost and Damned, which is DLC #1. Now the 3rd character is called Louis and he was the guy who came in and broke up the meeting, and they are saying the "trinity" are those three characters, that were all their at that moment in time. GameTrailers is calling this the "linchpin" or a pre-cursor to revealing all of the characters which were right under our nose! Check out the image below!"
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Danny Cowan from Gamasutra writes:

"Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide.

This week's charts, with data taken from February 5th, 2009, find Halo 3 and Call of Duty: World at War at the top of North America's Xbox 360 software sales charts, while Star Ocean: Second Evolution and Mario Kart DS drive sales on portables.

Data for "Saling The World" comes courtesy of the public sales information on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.co.jp, with sales split out for each platform and territory, and pre-orders disregarded. This results in a true sense of what games are selling worldwide on the real-time updated service, as follows..."
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This Friday's episode of GameTrailers TV promises us a look at two highly anticipated downloads for both Grand Theft Auto IV and Left 4 Dead, including exclusive footage of "what's next" for the latter.

We really hope that means that Valve will explain what that recently announced "Survival" gameplay mode is all about and clear up any possible confusion about the two additional versus campaigns coming to Left 4 Dead.

Friday's episode, airing at the wee hours of 1 AM on Spike TV, will also give us a better look at Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, which is just around the corner. Host Geoff Keighley promises new footage and new mission info, for anyone hungry for that kind of info, as well as "much more."
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Chris Plante of UGO's games blog provides this post detailing the in-game clues in GTA IV that shed light on what to expect in upcoming The Lost and Damned DLC.

I warn that this may be considered a spoiler by some.

"The clue can be found midway through the game, so, to catch you up, let me set the stage. Niko's cousin Roman has a gambler's itch. As his debts accumulate (he's not a particularly successful gambler), Roman struggles to stay out of trouble with other gangs. This whole mess peaks when the local Russian mob kidnaps him. "
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When "Grand Theft Auto IV" debuts another downloadable episode later this month, there'll be not only new story lines and characters, but also new music for the ride.
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Console Monster writes: "It's a short Xbox Live Marketplace update but still a rather interesting one as two new trailers for Grand Theft Auto: IV have been released ahead of the new content releasing next month. Here is the full Xbox Live Marketplace update for Saturday 31st January 2009:

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned - Billy Grey Video
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions except Asia
Size: 25 MB
Description: Billy Grey, President of The Lost Motorcycle Club. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is the new Grand Theft Auto IV episode and comes exclusively to Xbox Live on February 17, 2009.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned - Malc Video
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox Live Regions except Asia
Size: 26 MB
Description: Hang with Malc of the Uptown Riders. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is the new Grand Theft Auto IV episode and comes exclusively to Xbox Live on February 17, 2009..."
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The Video Game Watchdog Team have got their hands on The Guiness Gamers book of Records 2009.
They have made some exclusive page scans from the upcoming 2009 copy.

Click link for further pictures.

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The Popular Franchise Trumps All Other Entertainment Title Sales.

London, UK, 13th of May - The famed Grand Theft Auto series has made headlines yet again! As newly-released sales figures show, Grand Theft Auto IV has crushed the competition by selling 3.6 million units and earning $310 million in its first day of release, earning Guinness World Records for the Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours and the Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours. These records establish GTA IV as the most profitable entertainment release of all-time, far surpassing other video game, film and book releases. According to Guinness World Records, this is how the game stacks up against the competition:
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Console Monster writes: "Play.com has revealed a special Microsoft Points card worth 1600 Microsoft Points will be released next month. The Points card, printed with a Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost & Damned design will be a limited edition, released on Friday 13th February 2009.

The purpose of the Points card is to raise awareness of Grand Theft Auto IV's downloadable content released very soon after the Points card on the 17th, which ironically is also worth 1600 Microsoft Points. Whilst it may not seem to be a cheaper alternative to buying a 2100 Microsoft Points card, it's something to look out for...."
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PS3-Sense writes "Some people predicted it and it is now also in the news through the website Nieuwsblad.be, that the Belgian baby killer appears to be a gamer. According to a co-worker of the Game Mania Kim Gelder played the game GTA IV. The murderer also had his face painted while killing the two baby's and a older woman as the Joker from Batman."
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Spending a large portion on 2008 sitting in the gutter after its inital release, maybe Rockstar where right in saying they're confident GTA IV can reach 10 million units. Play.com is the Uks biggest online retailer for consumer electronics...
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Today Rockstar is happy to announce the winner of our Grand Theft Auto IV Custom Portrait Sweepstakes. Please join us in congratulating Louis Bojko of Devon, England, a rabid GTA fan randomly selected amongst the thousands of entrants who signed up for the Rockstar Games Social Club prior to the release of Grand Theft Auto IV last April.
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Last week MTV Multiplayer reported that it could not yet be determined whether "Wii Play" or "Grand Theft Auto IV" was the best-selling game of 2008 in the U.S. But today they finally got the definitive Top 5 2008 list - and it knocks "GTA" to third place.

Today, NPD provided MTV Multiplayer with the numbers they needed and they can now present the definitive list of top 2008 games.

Top-Selling Games In The U.S. For 2008
(All versions combined. Units in millions)

1. Wii Play 5.28
2. Madden NFL '09 5.25
3. Grand Theft Auto IV 5.22
4. Mario Kart w/ Wheel 5.00
5. Call of Duty: World at War 4.63
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IGN writes:

Gamers around the world have already rung in the New Year, but 2008 has some unfinished business left: the Overall Game of the Year Award. That's right -- IGN's much coveted honor will be awarded this Friday, so ready the message boards and put on the flame retardant suits. Before we get to the award itself, IGN will be unveiling each of the five nominees throughout the course of the week (alphabetically in case you were wondering).

Be sure to check tomorrow to see what IGN's Game of the Year is!
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According to the NPD annual software charts for 2008, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV 360 outsold GTA IV PS3 by nearly 2:1.
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Kotaku: "We've gotten more than one note that Grand Theft Auto IV bats are arriving as prizes for a contest no one was ever told they'd won.

At least, that's what we think this is. Maybe it's a message? Way back in the 1980s I saw this episode of Philip Marlowe: Private Eye on HBO and it said that the mob sent pencils to victims of the next planned hit, because it meant their name had been crossed off a list. Maybe sending a bat means Major Nelson drafted you in a Rotisserie league.

Actually, it's one of two thousand second-place prizes in a sweepstakes nearly 10 months old, and either the winners of the lesser prizes weren't told or the email announcing got spamfiltered. Either way, 10 months is way overdue, even for free stuff.

The prize bat looks a little different from the swag bat McWhertor got back in June, which looked pinkish/bluish and had a bloodspatter rendered on it. This sucker's shiny al-u-min-ium as the Brits say, and ready to knock a double in your next beer league game. I'm sure someone will stick theirs on eBay.

Reader Nick S. sent us that picture above, proclaiming it'll go on the wall right next to his lightsaber."
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MCV: Mario Kart Wii and FIFA 09 outsell all others in full year
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