Sad news today for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City fans and rap fans. DJ Mr. Magic (John Rivas) passed away today from a heart attack. Magic was most known for influencing rap stars such as Notorious B.I.G., Tupac and many more with his radio show back in the 80's. GTA fans know him as the DJ on Wildstyle in Vice City. DJ Premier eulogized him in a personal letter released today.

I want to send out the utmost respect and condolences to the memory of John Rivas---- aka Mr. Magic.

He passed away this morning of a heart attack.....

True hip hop heads know that his history is so long due to him being the first rap mixshow to ever be on commercial radio on New York's WBLS --(107.5) with Marley Marl and Fly Ty in 1982-1984.......then went on to WHBI in October of 1984 and then back to WBLS in 1985 and WDAS in Philly simultaneously.

He paved the way for all radio stations that ever did mixshows and also sparked the career of Boogie Down Productions due to the diss he showed when they came to shop their demo to him and was turned away which then sparked "South Bronx" and "The Bridge Is Over".......

He was known for his direct and sarcastic attitude on the air and every artist wanted his approval when it came to breaking new records........ he even had songs dedicated to him by the legendary Whodini -- ("Mr. Magic's Wand") which was surprisingly produced by one of my favorite artists Thomas Dolby.......

Shouts out to Marley Marl and Fly Ty for the correct information on this......

Rest in peace Mr. Magic............. DJ Premier

RIP Mr. Magic.

As I was looking around on GameStop's website today, I came across two Grand Theft Auto bundle packs that have yet to be announced by Rockstar. One pack for the PC is exactly like the trilogy packs released for the PS2 and Xbox consoles. It includes GTAIII, Vice City and San Andreas. We're not sure at the moment if the games have been patched to correctly work on newer OSes. (Personally, I don't have a problem with the games on Vista but some have reported various problems) The other pack for the PlayStation 2 includes both Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. Both bundles will retail for $30. The PC pack releases on 30th of this month and the Stories pack releases on the 23rd.

GameStop: GTA PC, Stories PS2

A Nintendo news website hosted by WordPress today posted an interesting article on the Top Selling Games of All Time. Although a little bias as 17 of the games were made by Nintendo it does list a few that were not, nothing to surprising in the list, however it does beg the question, can upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV smash the record? GTA Vice City sold the most, beating GTA III by 2 million sales and GTA San Andreas by 1 million sales. Seems there are a lot of 80's fans out there, but can the new re-engineered Grand Theft Auto compete? We'll have to wait and see.

See the full list here.

Awards, awards, awards... It seems like Rockstar can never have enough of them. Their ground-breaking games and digital entertainment are always nominated for awards and honours, usually many at once. Nothing different here either, the 25th Annual Golden Joystic Awards are not so long away and votes are open to the public. Rockstar are currently in these categories;

Handheld Game of The Year
- GTA: Vice City Stories
- The Warriors
The Nuts All Nighter Award
- GTA: Vice City Stories
The One to Watch
- GTA IV
- Midnight Club Los Angeles
Online Game of The Year
- GTA: Vice City Stories
PlayStation Game of The Year
- Canis Canem Edit/ Bully
- GTA: The Trilogy
- GTA: Vice City Stories
- The Warriors
Publisher of The Year
- Rockstar Games
- Take Two Interactive/ 2k Games
BBC 1Xtra & Rampage Soundtrack Award
- Canis Canem Edit/ Bully
- GTA: Vice City Stories
UK Developer of The Year
- Rockstar London
- Rockstar North
Ultimate Game of The Year
- Canis Canem Edit/ Bully
- GTA: The Trilogy
- GTA: Vice City Stories
- The Warriors

Send in your votes for and support for Rockstar now at the GoldenJoystick website. We wish Rockstar all the best of luck, as if they will need it.

Thanks to our partner RockstarUncut for the heads up.

Well it's that time of the year again; time to see the upcoming gaming art from the big names in the industry. We at RockstarWatch have been struck with E3 fever with the endless possibilities. Rockstar Games are yet to announce what they will be show casing on the day, and as we all know Rockstar like their secrets, nothing better than a surprise, and surprises is one of Rockstar many fortes. We can expect the possibility of a Grand Theft Auto IV demo similar to that of the presses preview, maybe even some Beaterator, L.A. Noire and/or Midnight Club: Los Angeles game play.

Rumoured is the announcement of Red Dead Revolver 2 which has been in the works for some time, and according to Take-Two's financial year results is not on track for a release any time before the end of 2008. A hint at a release of a next Max Payne could also be a possibility. Wouldn't hold your breath for a Manhunt 2 preview or demo however, with the recent banning I can't see it being a put on show. I would keep an ear out for any possible announcement of the plans for Manhunt 2; it's been several weeks now since the game was banned, Rockstar as we know have been working hard researching their options.
The following plan outlines all the conferences over the three days, Take-Two will be hosted on Thursday between 8:00 and 9:00 AM:

Tuesday, July 10th
- 8:30 - 9:30 PM - Microsoft Corporation
Wednesday, July 11th
- 9:00 - 10:00 AM - Nintendo
- 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM - Sony
- 2:00 - 3:00 PM - EA
- 3:15 - 4:15 PM - Activision
- 4:30 - 5:30 PM - Midway
- 5:45 - 4:45 PM - Konami
Thursday July 12th
- 8:00 - 9:00 AM - Take-Two Interactive
- 9:15 - 10:15 AM - THQ
- 10:30 - 11:30 AM - Ubisoft
- 1:00 - 2:00 PM - Namco Bandai
- 3:30 - 4:30 PM - Disney Interactive