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Rolling around jacking up innocents and tossing Molotov cocktails is pretty enthralling on your vanilla 46-inch HDTV, but can you even imagine the rush of swiping a hot dog, burning out in someone else’s whip and then snagging a new pair of kicks on this? Researchers (and gamers, obviously) down at UC San Diego have re-engineered their middleware to enable such masterpieces as this to be played on the big monolithic HIPerSpace screen, and needless to say, we can’t imagine much real work getting done with this new functionality coming to light. Head on down to the gallery to see what you’re missing — science, research and 4.0 GPAs are such beautiful things.

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New Zealand’s Office of Film and Literature had to reiterate this week that store clerks can’t sell Grand Theft Auto IV to parents purchasing it for their children. The New Zealand Herald reports the office had to repeat itself after receiving calls from clerks who didn’t know what to do when a parent “demanded” to buy GTA IV with their 14-year-old in tow.

GTA IV is rated R18 by the New Zealand government and it’s illegal to make it available to anyone under that age. In New Zealand, even if it’s their own kid, the adult could be jailed for 90 days or pay $10,000 fine; however, the law has never been enforced.

[Via GamePolitics]

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Someone’s knocking on Nintendo’s door, and he just drove through seven red lights in a hijacked car with a shotgun in tow to get there. Forbes has published a piece on how Grand Theft Auto IV’s success threatens the Nintendo Wii since the console, you know, doesn’t have the game. In fact, that’s all the article seems to be saying: the Wii is doing great, but because it doesn’t have GTA IV, that money-printing success might be at a halt.

While that’s how the article is framed, the direction seems to split off from there, with the author talking about GTA IV’s success juxtaposed with complaints about the Wii’s hardware, online and abundance of shovelware — he even bring up Chris Heck’s duct tape rant. Said the article, “The problem is, it could get tougher and tougher to go the other way. It’s hard to imagine how the sprawling world of Grand Theft Auto IV–which already taxes the multicore processors powering the XBox and Playstation–could be recreated on the Wii.”

We’re not saying Nintendo doesn’t have problems with shovelware or appealing to the more hardcore gamer crowd, but we also think the way the article presents its case makes the GTA IV issue feel a little taped on. If the UK Wii Fit launch is any indication, Nintendo’s money train is still right on track.

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Talk of Grand Theft Auto IV possibly hurting Iron Man’s opening was clearly wrong. According to Variety, the movie made $104.2 million during its opening weekend, proving Paramount’s Rob Moore right when he said that young males can carve out two hours to see Iron Man.

Variety did explore GTA IV’s impact on the home video market recently, which showed no major releases targeted at the young male demo for the week. Probably the best comparison would be to see how the Iron Man video game did in sales when NPD comes out next month, and we know we’re going out on a limb on this one, but we’re pretty sure GTA IV won that battle.

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Between the comprehensive in-game map, the GPS-imbued minimap, and the TomTom-esque functionality of certain vehicles, we’ve yet to misplace ourselves within Liberty City’s digital boroughs. Still, if you find yourself lost whilst playing Grand Theft Auto IV, we guess this Liberty City map application (mapplication?) using the Google Maps interface would come in handy.

A number of user contributions have already been made to the map, showing the location of hidden items, easter eggs, pigeon locations, stunt jumps, and yes, even hookers, whom we assume were fitted with GPS locaters by trained prostitute handlers before being released back into the wild. It makes for a useful cartographical companion for those with a laptop near their console of choice — if you don’t mind ruining the fun of exploring the nooks and crannies of Rockstar’s intricately crafted metropolis for yourself, that is.

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Update: Yikes! Video’s been yanked. (Additional gameplay footage still standing … for now. Nope, it’s now gone too!)

Maybe proof is all you want. Or maybe it’s a dirty, tainted fix you’re after. Whatever the case, Grand Theft Auto IV is real — like, “really, really real” — and now in the hands of a few (probably not yours). If you prefer to take your first impression from the outside looking in, press ‘Play’ now.

Skip past the break for some additional gameplay footage.

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Gasp! Pirated Grand Theft Auto IV game data has begun popping up on BitTorrent sites today. One alleged rip (6.32 GB) was compiled by a group known as “iCON” and apparently stripped from a PAL-region, Xbox 360 disc. A description of the file warns that the data is not region free and teases, “sorry bushlovers!” (Hey, that’s “Mr. President George Dubya Bush lovers” to you, ya stinkin’ pi-rats!).

An additional warning recommends would-be players stay off of Xbox Live lest “dirty little spies” catch them and ban their accounts. Ironically, at the end of the file description, the thievery and paranoia gives way to a glowing endorsement: “and guys, seriously, go and buy this one! R* deserves it…” How’s that for a back-of-the-box quote!

[Note: We’ve chosen not to link to any torrent sites hosting the GTA IV tracker — just take our word for it whydontya!]

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Just in case a cameo on some Swedish e-tailer’s site wasn’t enough proof for you, Sony has confirmed that all of our hopes and dreams are coming true… in Europe. Yep, the blokes and dames across the pond will be able to snag a special edition PlayStation 3 bundle with Grand Theft Auto IV (and a SIXAXIS wireless controller) bundled in for €439 ($696). Beyond that (and the way cool box), everything else looks to be the standard fare — pick one up if you wish on April 29th.

Via Joystiq]

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Using Chicago’s street violence as a springboard, the city’s FOX affiliate aired a piece about Grand Theft Auto IV ads on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). Thanks to the report, all the GTA IV advertising will now be removed.

As GamePolitics points out, the ads do not depict any scenes of violence and it’s currently unknown what the CTA’s policy is on advertising R-rated movies; the CTA also stopped an ad campaign back in 2004 for GTA: San Andreas. Boston, Denver and Portland, Oregon, have had similar issues with GTA ads on its public transportation system. Ironically, the FOX affiliate promotes alcohol on its website (picture after the break). Wonder how many people died of alcohol related incidents in Chicago this weekend?

[Via GamePolitics]

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