GameRush Entertainment: Feeds

Men beat, sodomize teens over stolen PlayStation

Sat, 10 May 2008 03:22:22 -0500

In Baltimore, Maryland, police have arrested one person and are looking for three others suspected of kidnapping two teens, holding them captive for three hours, and assaulting them in an attempt to extract information about a stolen PlayStation. Christopher Johnson, 21, is being held without bail and faces 31 charges, including multiple counts of first-degree assault, kidnapping, sodomy, false imprisonment, and using a dangerous weapon. Detectives believe the 16-year-olds were abducted at around 1:00pm last Friday from a bus stop. Four men, with their faces covered and at least two with handguns, reportedly forced the teens into a black four-door car. They were then driven around for a while and then taken to a house. "They were beaten, cut and burned, and the suspects kept asking about a PlayStation game, which the victims said they knew nothing about," police spokesman Troy Harris told The Baltimore Sun. The men later released the victims on a street, where they gave them clothes and cab money. A bystander got them to a hospital and notified police. Read the full article

Fake anti-GTA IV story going around

Sun, 04 May 2008 03:13:15 -0500

Crime-related incidents have plagued Grand Theft Auto IV ever since it launched at midnight last week, with BBC News reporting a mugging and stabbing, which GamesRadar disputes. Now, a new story circulating the Internet claims that a 10-year-old boy in Tallahassee, Florida, committed a slew of crimes "just minutes" after playing GTA IV. We can confirm that the entire story, which was cited as coming out of The Associated Press, is bogus. No word yet on where the article, written below, was originally published, but just watch out for this one roaming around the Web. "A local ten year old boy by the name of Elijah Carden was arrested yesterday after he committed several crimes over a four hour period. According to police reports, the child left his house around 10:30 a.m. and proceeded to break the window of a neighbors car. After a failed attempt at "hot wiring" the vehicle, the boy went back into his house and retrieved his fathers .22 cal automatic pistol. The child walked to the Albertsons at the corner of Monroe St. and Ocala Rd. and shot at two local TPD officers. Neither of the officers were injured. Reportedly, Elijah ran off in the mist of the confusion. At 12:47 p.m., TPD officers were dispatched to a neighborhood on Call St. with reports of an armed robbery. When police met with the victim, (who has asked to keep their identity confidential) they described their attacker as a small Caucasian male child/midget who approached them with a handgun and demanded that they turn over their wallet. Based off the victims description, a city-wide search began for said attacker. At 2:15 p.m., TPD responded to a call of a robbery in progress at the Jimmy Johns on Monroe St. Upon arriving at the scene officers witnessed a small child waving around a pistol inside the restaurant. The officers communicated with the child and convinced him to surrender without incident. Elijah was promptly arrested and taken to the local holding station. After interviewing the child, police learned that the young boy had been playing a new video game called Grand Theft Auto Four, just minutes before starting his crime spree. The young boy reportedly stated that he thought it was OK to do these things since he could do it in the game. The child was released to his parents early this morning and is expected to receive counseling on the incident. Political controversy has risen in response to this incident. Outspoken video game protester Jack Thompson, has already made plans to meet with Governor Charlie Crist on the issue of video game violence and crime. More news will be released on this as it develops." Read the full article

Conan O'Brien reveals 'toned down' GTA IV

Fri, 02 May 2008 03:22:52 -0500

Grand Theft Auto IV made an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien Thursday, revealing a more friendly side of the game. "In the past, Grand Theft Auto's been severely criticized for being too violent," O'Brien said during the monologue. "The new version, it's been toned down a lot, I think in reaction to the criticism." "I'm not sure it's better. Take a look." Read the full article

UPS employees fired for stealing copies of GTA IV

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:48:25 -0500

Now just hours away from the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, news comes today that at least three UPS employees were fired after getting caught stealing the game from shipment boxes. "We have security in place at the facilities, and we make sure they understand to keep an eye out for things to exit the building," a UPS worker told Ars Technica. "We had tips from people inside, and some of them were discovered at intermediate hubs... it's easy to spot: flaps torn, some boxes are re-taped." With more interviews scheduled for today that will likely end in termination, all of the thefts seemed to be only for personal use and committed just days before the game officially goes on sale. "As long as the people loading the packages are doing their jobs, it's easy to track down," the source warned. Another UPS employee even openly admitted on the Xbox.com forums that after seeing hundreds of GTA IV boxes, he felt "tempted to open one box, take a copy, and put $65 inside the box." Read the full article

GTA IV for PC coming November 30?

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:12:27 -0500

With the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV upon us, many Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners are more than ready to get started on the title, but will PC gamers have something to look forward to this November? According to German video games retailer citydisc.ch, a PC version of GTA IV will be released on November 30 of this year. Back in January, the same rumor began circulating that Rockstar would release a PC version, but in October. That rumor cited retail plans. Previous titles of the Grand Theft Auto series have taken between six to eight months to arrive on the PC after debuting on console, which makes a November release plausible. Grand Theft Auto IV heads onto both the Xbox 360 and PS3 Tuesday. Rockstar Games has yet to confirm if the game will ever see the light of day on PC. Read the full article

Analyst: GTA IV 'is going to be the game of the year'

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 02:42:07 -0500

As gamers around the world gear up for the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, which hits store shelves Tuesday, the highly anticipated title is not only expected to race into record books as the fastest-selling video game ever, but be awarded distinctions along the way. "This is going to be the game of the year," said Edward Woo, video game industry analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. According to Woo, GTA IV's appeal is fueled by its captivating storyline and open-world format. "Instead of just watching a movie and being fed the story you can go another way and the movie goes in that direction," Woo told AFP. "That is what people want; more interactive entertainment rather than watching a TV show." While controversy surrounds the title, as critics remain concerned that games like GTA IV breed criminals, U.S. statistics show that violent crimes by children have been on the decline for years. "If there is this big causal trend you would expect to see a large leap in violent crime among kids, but there is not," said Mia Consalvo, an assistant professor specializing in video game research at Ohio University. Grand Theft Auto IV's blend of controversy, innovative play, compelling story, and its momentum from previous games of the series has created a "perfect storm" around the franchise, Consalvo said. Read the full article

GameStop: Arrive 6 hours before GTA IV comes out

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:35:01 -0500

GameStop called gamers who pre-ordered Grand Theft Auto IV Saturday to tell them to arrive at their local store 6 hours before the game actually comes out, inviting them to "participate in the fun." "Hi, this is Ashley from GameStop, calling to let you know that Grand Theft Auto IV will be available for sale this Monday night at midnight," the automated message said. "And we invite you join us early at 6:00pm to participate in the fun and payoff your reservation. During this time, we'll process your transaction so that you can get out of the store shortly after midnight. If you have any games to trade in towards the purchase price, be sure to bring them. And don't forget, you can get 20 percent extra on your trade-ins when you apply them to GTA IV." To listen to the message, call 1-888-283-2757. Read the full article

Take-Two shutting down leaked GTA IV videos

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:37:41 -0500

Rockstar's parent company is going after leaked gameplay videos of Grand Theft Auto IV. Hosting service FileFront.com has already begun closing the accounts of users who upload their own GTA IV footage. "Take-Two has set forth rules for how their content may be displayed and distributed; as copyright holders they have a legal right to do this," Charlie Barr of Hosted Content Management at FileFront explained to one user. "Feel free to take this up with them, but as it says on our upload page we remove any content that is uploaded without creator permission. Until you demonstrate that you have written permission to upload this content your account will remain closed." When the user contested that he was a video games retailer and simply showing gameplay footage of his own, Barr responded. "Take-Two Interactive contacted us directly and notified us that any person with a legitimate copy of GTA IV must also agree not to display any content from the game before it is released commercially. As such, you were in violation with the agreement made with them and the agreement you made with us -- namely that you would not upload others' content without permission. This is why your account was closed." This comes after live streaming video of gamers playing pirated versions of Grand Theft Auto IV appeared on Justin.tv. "We have ID'd your ISP and we are prepared to take legal action to obtain your true identity in order to file a lawsuit for copyright infringement. If we are forced to start down this path, there will be no hope of settling this amicably," Take-Two reportedly told user "swiftor" of Justin.tv. Read the full article

Microsoft: No Xbox 360 price cut with GTA IV

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:47:45 -0500

Despite Microsoft reporting last week that the Xbox 360's European sales more than doubled after its price cut last month, the software giant maintained that U.S. gamers should not expect a similar move anytime soon. With highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV hitting store shelves next week, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Wednesday that there are no plans to alter Xbox prices in the U.S. "We're pretty comfortable right now with Xbox pricing," Ballmer said at a news conference. Last week, Microsoft reported that the Xbox 360 was the number one next-gen console in EMEA, owning 42 percent of the market in terms of life- to-date revenue. It also reported that the 360 had the highest software attach rate of any game console in Europe, with more than 7 games sold per console after 27 months on the market. According to European console sales monitor Chart Track, the PlayStation 3 has still largely kept ahead of the Xbox 360, with the Nintendo Wii reportedly ahead of both consoles' U.K. sales combined. Read the full article

Jack Thompson sends letter to Take-Two chairman's mom

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:38:15 -0500

Jack Thompson is at it again. Just days before the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, the attorney sent the following letter to the mother of Take- Two executive chairman Strauss Zelnick. Dear Mrs. Zelnick: Your son, as you may know (or maybe you don't know), is Chairman of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., whose most popular video games are the Grand Theft Auto murder simulator games banned in some countries but sold to children here. Your son last week was reported to have said the following about Grand Theft Auto IV, due to be released Tuesday, April 29: "We've already received numerous [GTA IV] reviews, and to a one, they are perfect scores. My mom couldn't write better reviews..." Taking your son's thought, I would encourage you either to play this game or have an adroit video gamer play it for you. Some of the latter gamers are on death row, so try to find one out in the civilian population who hasn't killed someone yet. What you will see in your son's game, if this iteration of GTA is anything like its predecessors, is incredible interactive violence aimed at police officers (whom you can shoot in the head and see the blood spray), innocent bystanders (whom you can run over with your car just for the heck of it), and of course the plentiful female prostitutes you can have sex with and then filet with a knife or stomp with your feet in order to get your money back. Experts note that the recent plethora of cop killings is caused in part by your darling son's entrepreneurial energy. There are three policemen dead in Alabama because of Grand Theft Auto. I was on 60 Minutes about it. I hope Strauss has provided you with a flat screen tv to see the grief of the bereaved families that fills the screen. The pornography and violence that your son trafficks in is the kind of stuff that most mothers would be ashamed to see their son putting into the hands of other mothers' children, but, hey, your son Strauss has recently assured the world that he is "a Boy Scout, everybody knows that." I'd love to see the merit badges that Scout Troop handed out. Is there a Ted Bundy merit badge? If so, your loving son deserves one now. It should be red and green, for obvious reasons. With Passover having just come and gone, it is appropriate to note the following from the Old Testament, Proverbs 22:6: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Mrs. Zelnick, did you train up your son, Strauss, to make millions of dollars by pushing Mature- rated video games to children? Any kid can go right to little Strauss' corporate web site and buy GTA IV with no age verification. Strauss is even marketing the new Grand Theft Auto IV on World Wrestling Entertainment tv shows seen by millions of kids. If you trained up Strauss to do this, then shame on you. But maybe the explanation for your son's corporate sociopathy is to be found in Old Testament Proverb 29:15: "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." Maybe you, Mrs. Zelnick, were so taken by your handsome son that you spared the rod and spoiled the child. That would explain why he has brought you, by the way he presently acts, "to shame." There's another mother you would do well to talk to. Mrs. Crump in Alabama had a son who was a police officer. He's now dead because a teenaged boy unwittingly trained himself to kill him on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. She has a grief she carries every day that only a mother can know.There are other such mothers in the heartland of America whose inhabitants your son simply sees as commercial targets. Your son, this very moment, is doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be "a Boy Scout." More like the Hitler Youth, I would say. Happy Mother's day, Mrs. Zelnick, which this year is May 11, two weeks after your son unleashes porn and violence upon other mothers' boys. I'm sure you're very proud. Sincerely, Jack Thompson Read the full article