Kotaku has posted a very detailed overview of EA's bid to takeover, and it has some information that I didn't even know about. The problem is that it shows EA in a nicer light then it seems, but maybe that's what's going on, Riccitiello wants to help Take-Two, and maybe Strauss is being hostel in all of this.

Personally, I think EA just wants to takeover the GTA franchise and all the profits from this, but it doesn't matter what I think, read about it here.

Kotaku AU recently tracked down this quote posted on an Australian telecommunications news site.

Okay guys, I have some news for you regarding what was edited from the AU release. I just gave Take2 a call (a friggin expensive 1902 number!) and this is exactly what I was told:

"Well in regards to what Rockstar have removed for the Australian release, as far as we're aware there was only one sexually violent cut-scene which Rockstar felt would cause the game to be Refused Classification. Unfortunately we're not able to go into specifics until after the game has been released but I can tell you that the scene involves a weapon being inserted into an enemies private area during a mission where Niko is taking revenge after one of his close friends was forced into sexual intercourse during his stay in prison."

Seriously I thought he was joking ....I was like LOL you're joking right? He says "No. This is what Rockstar felt needed to be removed from the game for it's Australian release. We were recently given permission to release this information because as we understand, Rockstar originally made a press release stating that the game would be released uncut world wide. We felt it would be misleading not to release the information".

Interesting, reminds me of the 'manipulation of testicals using a weapon' scene that got Manhunt 2 in a lot of trouble originally. Please note that until Rockstar or Take-Two confirms something officially, this is still just a rumor.

Source: Kotaku AU

Media Morgue is saying that Rockstar and Take-Two are predicting to make $400 million in the opening week of Grand Theft Auto IV. They base this on what retail stores have ordered, and if it does reach $400 million it will be the largest revenue for any entertainment product (thats movie, game or otherwise) ever before. Which is in one word, "spectacular".

Microsoft's Halo 3 is the current record holder at $300 million in revenue in the first week from over 5 million sales of the game. However it's important to note that Halo 3 was on available on Xbox 360, where as Grand Theft Auto IV is available on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 giving it a larger audience.

We should have some sales stats at the end of the first week to see how it went.

Interesting article we found after reading about Kotaku's swag score was about the giant foam "Shocker" being a United States Patent violation. Confused? Well the story goes that the blog writer, Ricky Van Veen, invented the giant foam shocker hand in 2004 and got a legitimate US Patent for it. Which in itself is quiet surprising, anyway this basically means that in creating a foam hand of their own for the swag Kotaku and many webmasters received they are in violation of the United States Patent #D495749S.

However Ricky is one of the high-ranking staff members of CollegeHumor.com, and Rockstar just happen to be one of their largest advertising clients. So he's not that worried really, he doesn't plan on taking it to court or anything like that. However his final sentence in his blog entry sums it up really:

Though I must admit a high drama court case over “the shocker” would be a funny thing to see.

Source; Ricky!

The new Hip-Hop song, I'm So Fly by DJ Green Latern (who has a confirmed radio station in GTAIV), Ft  Fabolous, Akon, and Fat Joe has been confirmed to be in GTAIV's soundtrack.

You can listen to the song here by clicking the play button below.

Source: Def Sounds

Rockstar Games have updated there Social Club page with a notice saying 'Pre-Registration Begins 4.17.08'. SC was originally going to be open to the public today but instead the flash front page came up with that.

If you don't know what Rockstar Games Social Club is, here are a few snippets of what going to be in-store for us.

• The LCPD Police Blotter will feature a map of Liberty City that tracks the criminal activity of the many players connected to the internet. It will feature information such as the more dangerous areas of town and which weapons are more common the others.

• The Story Gang will be a leaderboard that will not only show who completed the main story arc of the game first, but also how long it took. People who become a member of this club will receive special online widgets and merit badges.

• The 100% Club will be extremely popular as it will show who out of the millions of players will reach 100% completion first. The first 10 people to do so will be sent an ultra-rare commemorative 'key to the city' to mark their accomplishment! Later on it will rank members based on who will be able to get to 100% in the shortest amount of time.

• The Hall of Fame will recognize those elite players who have reached the top of various different statistical leaderboards, and will also contain a personal awards display of awards earned in Social Club competitions and via reaching various in-game achievements.

• The Liberty City Marathon will be a ranking of special physical milestones achieved in the game, from the number of miles walked, driven, or swam to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped. Other events will be added as time goes on.

But that's not all that will be added, in the future there will be more added by Rockstar to cover other games respectively. Our guess is Midnight Club: LA will be the next to use the site along with some features coving it.

 Source: Social Club

The Official Xbox Magazine is the first to review Grand Theft Auto IV, the mag will be released on to shelves on 18th April 2008 although subscribers are beginning to get there copies today.

“It says something that even at the end of a three-day session, with every island and a substantial chunk of the sidequests unlocked, I was still ploughing on because I wanted to see how the story ended. And I was still finding new stuff: the way a police klaxon goes strangled and gargley if you dent the light bar, the pedestrian who had the original GTA theme as their phone ringtone, the way that headshot drivers can fall on the horn and accelerator so you’re run over by a dead man…This sets the standard for what you should expect from a truly next-gen game. You owe it to yourself to play it.”

The magazine has also revealed the HUD, you'll remember we saw it in the Zoo Magazine a few weeks ago, this time we can see it more clearly.

The rest of the pages which include new screen shots. but you will have to buy a copy to look of course or look at the link below.

OXM's Verdict:

• Amazing Realistic World
• Stunning Set Pieces
• Genuinely Engrossing Storyline
• Hugely Entertaining Multiplayer
• Vast In Every Respect.

Official Xbox Magazine gave the game a rating of 10/10. So be sure to buy a copy.

Scans (9 total/high-quality):

Plus Two More Digital Screen shots

Source: OXM and GTAGaming (thanks to RAWRferal of GTAGaming for the scans).

Take-Two has announced that their next Stockholders Meeting will be available as a live webcast. It will only be an audio version, not video of the meeting and will not count as attendance (for those who are stockholders, legally you must be present for it to count). The meeting will be being held at the W Hotel Union Square in New York City.

Due to limitations on space, only stockholders who have proof of ownership will be allowed into the meeting. So remember your records!

Obviously the main point of the meeting will be the Electronics Arts bid and ongoing happenings between both Take-Two and EA. Two of the strongest stockholders, Oppenheimer Funds and FMR LLC both cut their holding in the company dramatically in late March showing disagreement with Take-Two's decision of not accepting EA's bid. Another topic may be Grand Theft Auto IV and it's release at the end of this month.

The Annual Stockholder Meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. EST on April 17th, the webcast will be accessible via ir.take2games.com.

Thanks Escapist Magazine.

An Illustrations company by the name of KUNOICHI is looking for some new talent at an upcoming comics convention in New York. NYCC, which stands for New York Comic Con, is a large comics convention behind held very soon. KUNOICHI does comics illustration, concept design, and packaging design for many well-known companies. Rockstar Games being one of them, pamphlet that was released is viewable to the right:

Leading developer of intellectual property, creative and interactive services announces talent search at New York Comic Con

Kunoichi, Inc., a leading provider of full intellectual property services proudly announces its 2008 Artdrop New York Comic Con Talent Search. Kunoichi, who has provided comics illustration, concept design, and packaging design for companies including Hasbro, Cartoon Network, Rockstar Games, Tenacious Games, Upper Deck, Hot Topic, and Wizards of the Coast, will be reviewing artwork samples at Booth #1551 during New York Comic Con April 18-20.

Art samples submitted can include comics pages, or character designs. Kunoichi is seeking talented artists in all styles, beyond comic books and into other entertainment mediums. All materials submitted should be labeled with your contact information.

To find out more about Kunoichi, please visit www.kunoichi.com.

We don't know much about KUNOICHI, not even what exactly they illustrate or have illustrated for Rockstar. As far as we know, the artwork and packaging on Rockstar games is created by Rockstar's in-house team. However, if you are talented with illustration, we erge you to put yourself forward and see how you go. Best of luck!

Source: ComicVine