In an effort to promote more heinous killing sprees*, Rockstar is hosting a Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox Live weekend September 26-28. Instead of going the Call of Duty 4 route and offering extra experience points, the developer is running a Play & Win contest for various GTA IV gear.

There are 24 prizes each day for those who sign on and play multiplayer, and each of those winners will be entered into a drawing for the grand prize that includes the Xbox 360 Elite, a 12-month XBL Gold card and 4,000. To be eligible, register your gamertag either online or by downloading the GTA IV Live Weekend gamer pictures.

* Note: Not really

At last, confirmation that doesn't come from a nebulous internet entity or a gravelly voiced figure in a trench coat. Not that we have anything against those two fine and often charismatic sources of information, but we're just a teensy bit more confident in Microsoft's confirmation (and corroboration) to us that "exclusive episodes for 'Grand Theft Auto IV' will be available on Xbox 360 starting fall 2008." That's quite a bit better than the rumored January, we think.

Details regarding the crime caper's new episodes are still officially non-existent, but nebulous internet entities and gravelly voiced figures in trench coats all agree: it'll likely involve car theft and other illegal shenanigans.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter sees another challenge for Take-Two Interactive, suggesting that the company could lose the talent behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise. In Pachter's latest analyst note, he details the possible loss of Sam and Dan Houser of Rockstar when their contract expires this upcoming February.

Pachter expects that when their contracts expire this February, Sam and Dan Houser of Rockstar could either depart Take-Two -- robbing the company of the driving force force behind its best-selling series -- or stay on at considerable expense. The analyst explains that a Houser departure would be analogous to EA's Medal of Honor team departing to produce Activision's Call of Duty franchise -- GTA would still live on, but it probably wouldn't be the same sales powerhouse sans the Houser brothers.

As part of its recent quarterly earnings announcement, Take-Two announced that Grand Theft Auto IV has sold ten million copies through Aug. 16. These sales helped lead the company to a staggering $433.8 million in revenue in the third quarter, over twice as much as the same quarter last fiscal year.

For comparison, the PS2 version of GTA: San Andreas sold 12 million copies worldwide. During a conference call, the company said it would continue to promote GTA IV through the holiday season, and that it expected lifetime sales for the game to "track well ahead of any previous GTA title."

Take-Two Interactive's third-quarter fiscal results have proven that crime really does pay, with law-breaking blockbuster Grand Theft Auto IV leading sales, alongside Top Spin 3 and Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution. The three-month financial period, ended July 31, 2008, saw the publisher rake in net revenues of $433.8 million, nearly double the $206.4 million it earned during the same, GTA-less quarter of 2007.

If you're reading this paragraph, we can only assume that you're keen on seeing even more numbers. Like $51.8 million, Take-Two's net income for the quarter and a considerable improvement on last year's net loss of $58.5 million. In terms of notable expenses, Take-Two burned through $12.6 million in "stock-based compensation," $1.8 million for "business reorganization" and $5.4 million for "professional fees and legal expenses," primarily aimed at warding off the advances of EA. Finally, net revenues for Take-Two's first three quarters in total were just over $1.2 billion, versus $689.2 million for the same period a year ago.

In summary: Grand Theft Auto IV = money.

When our parents split up, both of them tried to convince us that the other would just be "devastated" if they didn't get to have custody of us. (Puzzlingly, each insisted that the other had just bought a pony and ice cream farm, which doesn't even make sense.) Why are we choosing this Thursday morning to flashback to that awkward moment? Once again, we don't know who to believe.

Last month, VG247 had a super secret Rockstar source telling them that the Grand Theft Auto IV DLC wouldn't be available until January. Now, Eurogamer has a different super secret source saying that things are still on track for a November release. We don't know which one is telling the truth, and we don't care ... we just want one of them to love us.

Although Microsoft has hinted at an autumn arrival for the 360's long-awaited, exclusive GTA IV downloadable content, a "source close to Rockstar" has told VG247 "nuh-uh." The quote the site actually got was, "It'll be in January or February."

For those keeping record, the GTA DLC was originally supposed to hit in Q4 2008 (so, before this November), but was delayed due to some corporate numbers mumbo jumbo that we couldn't care less about ... except that it resulted in having to wait longer for more frolicking fun in Liberty City.

In the midst of the Leipzig Games Convention, Microsoft has issued a statement (via IGN) about the much-ballyhooed and long-delayed Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content. Said Microsoft, "In autumn there will be news from Liberty City; the first episodes of GTA IV will be available for download exclusively on Xbox LIVE, underlining Xbox 360's leadership role in the field of digital entertainment."

While we're fairly certain "news from Liberty City" is indicative of an Autumn launch, the "news" could just be a more confirmed release date for later this year. Take-Two previously noted that the DLC is expected in Fiscal Q109 (between November 1, 2008, and January 31, 2009). We've put in a call to Microsoft for clarification, who may or may not be too busy booking tickets to San Andreas. Update: Heard from Microsoft who confirm that the exclusive DLC itself is coming this Fall.

Each week Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq, a column on legal issues as they relate to video games:

We've be hearing a lot about the Thai cabbie killing lately and how it was (or wasn't) caused by Grand Theft Auto. In the wake of that tragic murder, there have been two major groups of outcries. The first has been the call to regulate games; one we have heard all too often. The other has been a call to revise criminal penalties; one which is not only new, but speaks to the core theory behind criminal law: the theory of punishment. Criminal law theory is something that is universal in all of our criminal codes, but isn't often discussed. It's this "theoretical" approach that we'll look at today. You may agree or disagree with my particular thoughts on the theory of criminal law, but it's more important for everyone to understand a theoretical approach to criminal law so that we can come to our own conclusions about true "justice."

The concept of criminal law starts with some basic political philosophy. In order to have a society, there has to be a set of rules by which that society operates. Whether you want to view this as the social contract in a Locke/Hobbes/Rousseau manner or through some other philosophical lens, the basic need for rules and order in a society is more or less the same. This need for rules gives rise to the concept of the law, and one of those concepts is the boundaries of behavior that stray into what we, as a society, feel need to be punished. This is the basis for all criminal law, be it a crime against a person or a crime against property.

A recent study conducted by Nielsen Games has uncovered an unsavory and alarming new link in the video game industry's ever-tightening chain around our nation's youth. It was found that 17% of respondents in the survey who had purchased a copy of the popular role-model pummeling game, "Grand Theft Auto IV," were between the ages of seven and sixteen. The crime glorification simulation, which imparts "gamer points" for beating innocent police officers to death with decapitated prostitute bodies, was rated "M" for "Mature."

The most distressing news lies not in the fact that 61% of impressionable youths had been tricked into purchasing the games themselves by slick marketing and peer pressure, but the shocking revelation that 39% had been aided by someone else -- in 80% of these cases, parents themselves had thrust their child's ripe brain beneath the industry's oppressive mallet.

Speaking exclusively to Joystiq, renowned child psychologist Dr. Alphred Larmist described this turn of events as "the ultimate betrayal." According to him, parents could be the most dangerous conduit of pixelated poison. "Parents getting involved is the last thing we need," Larmist said. "If they take an active role in what entertainment their children partake in, this is the sort of disaster that could happen. Next thing you know, they're determining what's appropriate for the kids and going out and buying Grand Theft Auto. They're supposed to be on our side."

Dr. Larmist vowed he would take up the campaign to keep parents and their influence away from children. "If nothing is done, these video gamers will reduce our society to naught but chainsaws having bloody sex with each other."

The Grand Theft Auto blame-express keeps rolling on as three Georgia teens say they learned to make Molotov cocktails from the game. We must have skipped that level, is it the one with the points for the rape? WSBTV reports that the 15 and 16-year-old youths have been charged with 57 felony counts for a series of "car bombings" by Molotov cocktails.

The real kicker here is that police figured out who the arsonists were by going to the local Wal-Mart and sifting through receipts. One had on it the purchase of "Sprite bottles, red rags and lighter fluid," then the cops pulled the tape for the time of the purchase to identify the suspects. Poor guys, the game allegedly taught them how to make their tools of destruction, but not how to get away with the crime. Pro Tip: Hop in a car and drive until out of the police's radius.

[Via GamePolitics]

So, who's very excited (or surprised) by confirmation that Rockstar's go-anywhere, shoot-anyone crime caper is coming to the PC? Well, the folks at Rockstar, obviously. "We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV," said Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser. "The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can't wait for people to play it."

People can expect to start playing Grand Theft Auto IV, along with its "newly expanded multiplayer" modes, on November 18th if they live in North America, and November 21st if they live in Europe.

Grand Theft Auto IV's Thailand distributor, New Era Interactive Media, is asking retailers to pull the title after an 18-year-old said he was inspired by the game to rob and murder a 54-year-old cab driver. According to police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak (via Reuters), the young man wanted to find out if it was as easy to rob a taxi in real life as it was in the game. After the cab driver fought back, the young man stabbed him to death.

Thailand's Culture Ministry plans to use the incident as an opportunity to try and regulate violent video games. As for the 18-year-old, if found guilty, he faces the possibility of lethal injection as punishment for the murder.

[Via GI.biz]

As if those billions upon billions of sold copies weren't reward enough, Rockstar has now had its efforts in Grand Theft Auto IV recognized by the Develop Industry Excellence Awards, the UK's annual ceremony which doles out awards for ... excellence. In the industry.

Rockstar's excellence was acknowledged with four awards -- Rockstar North received gongs for "Visual Arts," "Audio Accomplishment" and "Best In-House Developer", while Rockstar Games walked away with the special Grand Prix prize, "not only the commercial and creative powerhouse Grand Theft Auto IV, but also Rockstar's much-envied studio network which regularly pushes the creative boundaries of gaming."

Award recipients which didn't bully said boundaries include Lost Winds for "Best Sedative New IP," LEGO Indiana Jones for "Best Use of a License" (to make money!) and Nintendo for "Publishing Hero." Check out the complete list of winners after the break, and the complete list of whiners in the comments.