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Mom calls 911 over son's gaming habit

Look, we totally get it. Video games are evil -- they're turning your kid into some kind of arsonist or blood-obsessed psycho killer or -- in the case of one Boston area mom -- a rebellious little rabble-rouser. A frustrated mother called police about her son's overzealous gaming this past weekend, complaining the kid wouldn't shut off his console and go to bed.

The call came in on 2:30 a.m. Saturday, when the mother complained her son was walking about the house, turning on all of the lights and failing to comply with her wishes. Two officers responded to the call and were able to diffuse the situation.

The Boston Herald -- the outlet which broke the news -- said the kid was apparently playing "Grand Theft Auto."

Nintendo: GTA Chinatown Wars sales 'frustrating'

Nintendo's focus on "evergreen" titles has been a staple of the publisher for years now, with marketing support lasting longer than ever with this generation's major releases. So it surprised us last April when the company said it hoped "word of mouth" would help push GTA: Chinatown Wars' lackluster initial sales higher as the months progressed. However, when executive vice president Cammie Dunaway recently spoke with MTV Multiplayer, Nintendo's traditional message quickly returned. "Part of what's needed is you have to continue to put marketing support behind these titles."

She also called sales "frustrating, quite frankly," but declined to comment on Rockstar's marketing surrounding the release of the game. Dunaway remained diplomatic through the conversation though, only offering, "The old dynamic of 'throw it on television for a few weeks and then move on and forget it' just doesn't work," giving us little more than a taste of her real feelings behind the release's marketing push. Check out the whole clip after the break.

Continued →

Grand Theft Auto franchise may have 'peaked,' according to analyst

While Take-Two has a number of solid properties, such as BioShock and Borderlands, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto is unquestionably its largest and most important franchise. However, sluggish sales of recent GTA efforts, from the handheld Chinatown Wars to the 360-exclusive DLC Episodes from Liberty City, have Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter worried about the future of Take-Two's flagship brand.

"Has the Grand Theft Auto franchise peaked? Given the strength of GTA IV in 2008, the question may seem misplaced, but our concern is that the very highly rated new GTA content for Xbox as well as PSP and DS did not perform up to expectations in 2009," Scahchter notes, while addressing potential criticisms to his claim. "Now, we very clearly understand that these do not represent 'true' new GTA titles. However, the fact is that these were compelling titles, attractively priced, and reasonably well-promoted, yet they fell relatively flat."

Considering well over ten million people purchased GTA IV, the lackluster sales for these spin-off efforts is even more evident. Does the GTA name no longer carry the weight it once did? Or, are gamers simply waiting for a game that doesn't take place in Liberty City?

Take-Two's Zelnick doesn't believe in annualized GTA

If we took away one important lesson from Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick yesterday, during the company's investor call, it's this: it takes a lot of time to make "triple-A" games. That's why Zelnick isn't interested in annualizing the Grand Theft Auto franchise. "We don't feel that GTA oughta be an annualized franchise," he said, adding that he was "pleased" the series has been "testing new formats and new platforms" this year with two DLC expansions on Xbox Live and GTA: Chinatown Wars for DS and PSP.

Instead of pushing out a new GTA game every year, Zelnick explained that Take-Two is focused on the "balance between how long it takes to develop such an incredible title that meets consumer expectations and how long you need to make sure than an appetite has been both satisfied and whetted [for the next game]." He padded his point with phrases like "high profitability" and "resiliency of the franchise," though when taken to task over how the publisher expects to make money in a "non-GTA release year" -- and in light of projected, continued losses from its baseball franchise -- he responded, "We remain committed to that goal [of profitability] ... naturally, we are disappointed that we're not projecting to achieve that goal in 2010." Meanwhile, somewhere in California, Bobby Kotick laughed maniacally.

Play The Ballad of Gay Tony with Rockstar tonight


Before you put on some sweats, make a little popcorn and sit down for your sitcoms tonight, you may want to gear up for some The Ballad of Gay Tony multiplayer. Rockstar Games has announced it'll be holding a multiplayer session tonight from 5pm - 8pm ET, allowing prospective Liberty City hoodlums to hang out with some developers in the expansion's new multiplayer modes for a bit of two-on-two action.

If you want to get involved, pack a parachute and send a request to these Gamertags:
  • GwRockstar3
  • GwRockstar4
  • GwRockstar5
  • GwRockstar6
And if you fancy yourself a bit of a voyeur or can't get to your Xbox, you can still watch the action from the perspective of one of Rockstar's employees at the Social Club event page here.

Go clubbing with new GTAIV Gay Tony tees

Rockstar has unleashed some brand new Grand Theft Auto IV T-shirts, giving fans of The Ballad of Gay Tony a reason to hit the floor show off their best moves. Available for $20 each, the shirts depict the logos of two of the DLC's nightclubs, Hercules and Bahama Mamas. If you've been looking to make a super hip fashion statement ... well, you probably shouldn't be buying video game T-shirts. If, however, you're looking for some inoffensive gaming apparel -- which can be hard to find -- go ahead and take a look.

Video: 15 days in GTA IV's Liberty City


Time lapse videos were all the rage back in -- actually, we don't think they were ever rage caliber stuff, but in the case of this GTA IV video that shows 15 days go by Liberty City, it's at least reached "oh, that's neat!" territory. The video comes courtesy of DigitalFoundry (you can watch it over at Eurogamer) and reminds us just how much life there is in the virtual sand box, as cars drive along to their respective destinations, pedestrians shuffle about doing their own thing and, in the case of that one lady around the 32-second mark, loaf around the riverside all day and night. We just hope she's not doing what we think she's doing. It'd be such an unbecoming thing of the purest city in all of gaming, amirite?

Rockstar revamps Social Club's online leaderboards and stat tracking for Gay Tony


With the release of this week's second Grand Theft Auto IV expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony, the game's developer has decided to update the online multiplayer statistics tracking in order to reflect the new multiplayer game types. The addition of "BASE Jump" to the mulitplayer as well as "new, tighter Deathmatch arenas" helped spur the leaderboard overhaul, according to the developer blog. The various new additions being made due to the DLC will even get their own section on the Rockstar Social Club, presumably for the four of you tracking your new GTAIV DLC stats after Modern Warfare 2 releases in a couple weeks.

GTA's 'Next Stop' teased in Liberty City Episodes manual

We'd thought the Grand Theft Auto franchise had taken us to lovingly rendered simulacra of every metropolitan city-type known to man, but apparently, we thought wrong. In the back of the GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City manual, a fake advertisement points to the series' "Next Stop" (seen above). Of course, the destination being teased is quite obviously the lovely town of Clip Artington, Minnesota. Surely you've heard of Clip Artington! It's renowned for its apple butter festivals.

On the off chance the teaser is pointing to a different city, we've ... we've really got no idea. Looks like a desert, though, right? And a mountain? And some conical, obsidian monoliths? What? Trees? Oh, yeah, that makes a lot more sense. We'd love to hear your speculation in a well-written, thought-provoking comment! There's a place for those right after the jump, you know.

[Image credit: VGChartz]

Latest Ballad of Gay Tony trailer showcases Luis Lopez's many exploits

Rather than offer interesting social commentary or moody atmospheric tone, the just-released Ballad of Gay Tony teaser instead teaches us that Luis Lopez is not a joking around kinda guy. He takes shots, tosses dudes off buildings – he even goes to the driving range!

In case it weren't already glaringly obvious to you, the second Grand Theft Auto IV expansion will be taking itself quite a bit less seriously than the first digital release. Thankfully, the wait is nearly over and we can find out for ourselves tomorrow just how much Rockstar Games has twisted its latest opus.

New Gay Tony in-game anime is all too familiar

Grand Theft Auto has always been heavy on satire, making exaggerated observations about the world for the sake of a few cheap yuks. It's readily apparent on the in-game radio programs, which poke fun at both extremes of political talk radio. The in-game TV programming does much the same (if you haven't, we suggest you make time to watch "Republican Space Rangers"). It looks like The Ballad of Gay Tony will continue the tradition with "Princess Robot Bubblegum," an anime parody to be featured on the in-game CNT channel. The show will serve as part of the new TV lineup in the upcoming expansion.

In Rockstar's own words, "Princess Robot Bubblegum" features the hallmarks of more than a few animes: "Incomprehensible narrative, wretched dialogue and creepy, misogynistic sexuality." See it all in the trailer above.

Peter Molyneux picks his 5 favorite innovators


After discussing his vision for Fable's future, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux recently reiterated his mantra of inclusive gaming innovation to attendees of BAFTA's Annual Video Games Lecture. Citing their ability to challenge "the foundation stones of conventional wisdom," he revealed five titles (documented by That VideoGame Blog) that he considers to be among the most revolutionary within the last two decades.

Molyneux praised Tomb Raider for subverting gaming's tough-guy protagonist and named Mario 64 as the genuine precursor to 3D titles like Grand Theft Auto 3. Dune 2 got a nod for its encouragement of more thoughtful tactics, while Bungie's first Halo earned mention for halfway introducing the now-ubiquitous regenerative health system and curtailed weapon swapping.

And the fifth title? World of Warcraft, which managed to lure Molyneux to level 40 with promise of a steed. You see? He's human, just like the rest of us.

Dancing, drinking and drugs: The nightclubs of GTA Gay Tony revealed

The Ballad of Gay Tony's Luis Lopez seems to have a pretty easy life. The main playable character of the Xbox-only GTA IV episode must simply deal with Liberty City's wealthiest clientele, ensuring their experience at Tony Prince's two nightclubs goes without a hitch. According to Rockstar PR, jobs will involve kicking out drug dealers, dealing with the paparazzi, and getting the appropriate pick-me-ups for the stars.

Maisonette 9 and Hercules are two new locations added to the Gay Tony episode. In addition to work, you'll be able to partake in a variety of sidequests and minigames: a "familiar-feeling dance minigame," and a new game that takes place in the club bathroom with a girl. We're not entirely sure what that will entail ... but thinking about the franchise's legacy, we think you can figure it out.

Rockstar drops details of new multiplayer in GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony


Click for grander images
You know that iconic moment in the Ballad of Gay Tony trailer when Luis jumps out of some kind of aerial vehicle? Did you ever wonder what it would look like if, instead of one guy parachuting down into Liberty City, it was eight people? Probably not. Anyway, here's a screenshot of that from Rockstar's latest release, detailing The Ballad of Gay Tony's multiplayer modes.

Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch will see lots of new weapons, of course, but also new Kill Streaks and Assisted Kills, which provide cash bonuses. Free Mode gets a little freer with the addition of Buzzard helicopters, APCs, and, of course, parachutes. We can't wait to see what kind of ridiculous emergent competition comes from parachute-based combat.

Check our gallery for more new multiplayer screens!

PSA: GTA IV is now available on demand, $30 in US


Crime epic Grand Theft Auto IV has arrived (as promised) on the Xbox Marketplace's Games on Demand lineup. The grand theft mega-hit costs $30 to download, which is the same price as a fresh new retail version -- a tiny bit more in some cases. We should probably note that a used copy from GameStop is about $25. By all means, if you have no way of getting to a retailer please feel free to buy the game online.

Oh, wait, that was a missed opportunity for a "steal a car" joke, wasn't it?

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