A Thai youth confessed to robbing and murdering a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from Grand Theft Auto 4. It is said that he was curious about whether or not it was as easy to steal a taxi in real life as it is in the game. Well kid, it is. Was your curiosity worth the pending charge that could result in death by lethal injection?

In an effort to disparage future occurrences of impressionable kids gone mad, Sakchai Chotikachinda, sales and marketing director of New Era Interactive Media has urged distributors to pull the game from their shelves. This is the worst news we’ve heard since Rockstar Games declared a GTA for the DS. We all know no gamer is more impressionable than a Nintendo fan boy.

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XboxFamily was reportedly sent a set of dummy Grand Theft Auto IV cases from Rockstar. The photos above and below show the three different designs that were (rumored) to be sent, plus the announcement of  a fourth one still unrevealed.

Frankly, I hope these aren’t the real cases, they aren’t what I would expect from one of the most popular gamer series’ of all time. Though, we guess it’s what inside that matters. (more…)

An EA producer was heard commenting about Rockstar’s reaction of the Grand Theft Auto spoof in the upcoming Simpsons game. The producer says that Rockstar “spazzed out like little babies” after hearing of the spoof level in the Simpsons game called “Grand Theft Scratchy”.

Rockstar reportedly forced EA games to change the name of the level, which will now be called the “Mob Rules” stage. Simpsons executive producer Matt Selman explains where the controversy began: (more…)

Grand Theft Auto advertising has begun, and Rockstar sure isn’t kidding about this release. Plastered all over New York City, seemingly overnight, are these GTA IV teaser posters. Odds are that people didn’t even know what they were for and passed them off thinking it was some new trendy Broadway show. Or maybe a new medical sitcom titled, I.V.? Well a GTA Broadway show would be interesting now wouldn’t it? Get ready for some more car jacking and cap busting. “Coming Soon” — Andrew Dobrow

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Publishing company Take Two has confirmed in a financial results conference call that the eagerly awaited Grand Theft Auto IV will be released in October of this year. Following the record breaking sales of GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto IV will no doubt be just as big or bigger of a success then the previous two major releases in the series.

Take Two and Rockstar have also confirmed that in 2008, exclusive episodic content downloads for the new GTA will become available. In 2006, Microsoft announced a deal with Rockstar to have exclusive downloads for its Xbox 360. Grand Theft Auto IV is planned to ship for both Xbox 360 and PS3 simultaneously. — Andrew Dobrow

GTA IV: October Release Confirmed, Episodes coming in 2008 [Team Xbox]