Grand Theft Auto Sex Scenes Fail to Excite

Chinatown Wars is getting good reviews from early users

(NEWSER) - Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has been released for the iPhone, for those who want to indulge in a little Liberty City mayhem in between emails. The game is a direct port of the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP versions and costs $9.99, a little pricey for an iPhone game but much cheaper than the game console versions. More»

Boston police talk boy into shutting off PlayStation

(NEWSER) - A Boston teen's excessive video game playing caused his mom to call 911 this weekend. Angela Mejia awoke at 2:30am to find her son still playing Grand Theft Auto IV, so she unplugged his PlayStation. "I want to help my son, but I can’t find a way," lamented the stressed-out mom. The video-addled 14-year-old argued, so she called the cops, who managed to persuade the son to hit pause on his life of virtual crime. More»

Take-Two settles suit over x-rated 'Hot Coffee' uproar

(NEWSER) - The makers of Grand Theft Auto are shelling out $20 million to settle a lawsuit over hidden sex scenes in a version of the popular video game, reports Gawker. The suit by investors claims Take-Two Interactive Software officials knew about the x-rated "Hot Coffee" minigame inserted by programmers before shipping out the San Andreas version of the game in 2004. Take-Two has just released the trailer for The Ballad of Gay Tony, its latest Grand Theft game. More»

Many games have been met with outrage

(NEWSER) - A storm of bad publicity about Rendition: Guantanamo—a video game about falsely-accused Gitmo detainees trying to escape—forced the game makers to can it this week. It's far from the only game to test the boundaries, ABC reports:

• Atomic Games dumped development of Six Days in Fallujah amid protests from vets and others; it would have portrayed the real 2004 battle for the city.
• Faith Fighter had leaders of the world religion's duking it out until it was deemed too incendiary.

Download-only add-on episode revs new life into franchise's fourth outing

(NEWSER) - Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and the Damned brings gamers back to a Liberty City as gritty and darkly funny as ever, Seth Schiesel writes in the New York Times. The add-on episode, only available as a download through the Xbox Live service, swiftly ditches GTA IV's protagonist to let players take the role of a would-be biker gang leader. More»