Holy Sh*t: GTA IV Sells Nearly 20 Million Since 2008

It’s been quite a few years since the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. In that time it’s caused a little controversy,sucked 700 hours out of my life, and above all else — sold like crazy! While some games strive to sell one million copies, Grand Theft Auto IV has far exceeded that in the 3 years now it’s been out.

Since it’s release in 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV has sold a close to 20 million copies. The series as a whole has sold 100 million copies, but it’s crazy to think that 20% of those sales were from a single game. Albeit, the game is a lot of fun and has staying power. Also, GTA is a widly popular series among gamers. Let’s face it, who doesn’t want their own crime, murder, car theft simulator? Am I right?

Well done Grand Theft Auto IV, well done. I know I sure as hell loved the game.

[Industry Gamers via Dtoid]

It Begins Tomorrow! PAX East 2011!

We’re here in Boston and we’re all set for PAX East 2011! It should be quite a fun time and we look forward to bringing you as much coverage of the event as we possibly can. We’ve got some great appointments lined up and hope to get some interviews with the developers as well. We’ll also get to meet Chuck Bittner after all this time of supporting him. Look for an interview with Chuck as well!

We’ve added a banner to the top of the page that will bring you to all of the PAX East 2011 coverage. You’ll be able to check out everything we post from the event. We wish you could all be here with us, but sadly that is not the case. Look for a live broadcast sometime over the next few days as well! We’re going to broadcast and talk with all of you about all the stuff we see!

If you’re going to be here at the show, let us know! We’re still trying to figure out something in-terms of a meet-up. We’ll post details on the forums sometime within the next 24 hours, so keep your eyes peeled!

Gears of War may disappear Forever | Gears of War 3 is the last hope

In a recent interview with Epic's Design Director, Cliff Bleszinski, it appears that this may be the last chance for the Gears of War franchise to survive. If the multiplayer in Gears of War 3 fails as it did with Gears of War 2 then the franchise may end with GOW3.

Click here to read the related article,
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/115/1154447p1.html

PS3 Consoles to be Destroyed by LG | Has LG gone too far?

In the Patent case of LG versus Sony, it appears that LG may be requesting that several thousands Playstation 3 consoles that were shipped to Holland be destroyed. Perhaps LG has crossed the line of professionalism and entered the realm of unnecessary maliciousness.

Click here to read the related article,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/09/sony-ps3-lg-blu-ray-dispute

PSN DOWN TODAY, COMING BACK WITH CLOUD SUPPORT

Sony’s issuing warnings that the PlayStation Network will go down for about 11 hours today for maintenance, starting at 8AM Pacific / 11AM Eastern (which has already occurred at the time of this writing). The silver lining is that this maintenance will add cloud storage to the service for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Sony is offering 150 megabytes of remote storage for all Plus subscribers, meaning you choice few can upload your save files to the internet and access them from other PlayStation 3s. Sony notes that “most” save games support this, and going forward, all future games will. This is especially handy if you, say, happen to be a journalist who has to transfer saves back and forth from the office to the home.

Because there’s so many people out there that have to do that.

Perhaps the coolest feature is that future games may have the option to save directly to the cloud, meaning the save will never be on your local hard drive, and will always be available. Well, provided the PlayStation Network isn’t down, but that never hap… pens…

Of course, the new functionality will come in an evening-destroying PlayStation update, so don’t plan on uploading saves right from the get go.

[via IGN, Joystiq]

THE NEXT-GENERATION-GENERATION COMETH

Job postings on Microsoft’s Linkedin profile seem to indicate preparation for the NextBox, or Xbox 720, or whatever they end up calling it. By the way, what should they call the thing?

Among others, the postings call for a performance hardware architect and a graphics hardware architect. Because these postings seem to indicate any new hardware development is in its early stages, if this is indication of the next-next-generation of consoles, we likely won’t here about it until E3 2012 at the earliest.

[via Gamasutra]

Online Storage for Game Saves Coming to PlayStation Plus

Hey everyone – We’ve got an exciting new feature coming exclusively to PlayStation Plussubscribers. Included in the system software update (v3.60) coming tomorrow to PS3, PlayStation Network’s new online storage for game saves feature gives PlayStation Plus subscribers the capability to back up game save data to the cloud. Online storage for game saves is a great way for PlayStation Plus subscribers to ensure that their data files are secure and also for users who wish to access their files from other PS3 systems.

The new online storage feature allows gamers to store up to 150MB of game save data and a maximum of 1000 data files per PSN account. Users also have the ability to back-up “copy-prohibited save data,” and all previously saved data may be restored once per 24 hour period. When the new feature launches, most PS3 titles will be compatible with online storage for game saves, and moving forward, all new titles will have the capability to offer the storage option.

As I mentioned before, online storage for game saves functionality is included automatically forPlayStation Plus subscribers with system software update (v3.60), which will be available on March 10, 2011, and users can access their stored data on the XMB at any time. Additionally, users who save their files to the cloud can access their data on any PS3, using their PSN sign-in ID.

PlayStation Plus subscribers should turn on the auto-download feature to ensure that the update will begin downloading as soon as it’s available, so you can start backing up your game saves right away. If you aren’t already a PlayStation Plus subscriber, be sure to check out our bi-weekly posthighlighting the free games, discounts and exciting exclusives we offer, in addition to the upcoming online storage for game saves feature.

Other minor features will also be added via system software update (v3.60). For more information please visit http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/ once the update is live.