The latest NPD numbers are out now, and it’s official: the industry is taking a major hit compared to last year. Total sales in May were $863 million, down 23% from last May. The 2009 year-to-date totals are down 7% from a year ago.

According to The Wall Street Journal, total videogame spending dropped below $1 billion for the first time since August 2007. The most significant drops were in console sales, with the sales leading Nintendo Wii dropping 55%.

But it’s not all bad news. Since the sales figures for this month largely met the expectations of industry analysts, there is speculation that the recent contraction in the industry should end by August. Also driving these predictions is the fact that there are a number of high-profile games coming to retail release dates, starting with the Sims 3 this month. We can still look forward to games like Batman: Arkham Asylum, Left 4 Dead 2, Dragon Age, and Brutal Legend to drive sales up later this year.

In all honesty, no one should be surprised by these numbers. After all, last May saw the release of one of the most highly anticipated titles of the year, Grand Theft Auto 4. That title alone drove more sales than the top two sellers for this May combined. Nevermind that had it hit its intended release date, it would have already been on store shelves for months at that time. 2008 was a phenomenal year for videogame sales, but in today’s economy, every industry is taking hits. Videogames may recover faster, because they allow consumers to stay home, and are one of the more cost efficient methods of personal entertainment.

I don’t think it’s time to panic yet, but if there isn’t a turnaround by August, then you may have to worry a little bit.

Rockstar has revealed Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City. The game features episode two, The Ballad of Gay Tony, which is based on Liberty City’s glamorous and dangerous nightclub scene. Episode one, The Lost and Damned, is also packed in for a dose of biker gang action.

Episodes from Liberty City is a standalone exclusively for the Xbox 360. If you haven’t pick up GTA IV yet, $39.99 for the game and two episodes is a good deal. If you’ve got the game and already downloaded The Lost and the Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony will be up on Xbox Live for $19.99 or 1600 MS points this fall. More details on The Ballad of Gay Tony from the press release follow the break.

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Just a minute, I’ve got to adjust my soapbox before I talk about comparing playing violent videogames with accepting torture.

As the battle over torture rages through the media, Huffington Post columnist Kari Henley has taken the opportunity to  blame the acceptance of torture by some US citizens on violent videogames and other media. She insinuates that you can’t have both videogames and morals in her post “America Doesn’t Torture… We just play Grand Theft Auto “.

“I believe if we are going to truly come to terms with abiding by moral codes against extreme acts of violence, we first have to start in our own living rooms to explore the increased levels of violence we witness on a daily basis that serves as news or entertainment. We say we “don’t f**#$ torture,” yet Grand Theft Auto is our favorite video game.”

After raging on about the depravity of popular adult television series and movies, Henley once again lashes out at mature rated videogames labeling them trainers designed to turn children into killers.

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Starting May 1st, Rockstar Games Social Club will be hosting GTA: Chinatown Wars week, and giving owners of the DS title a chance to grab a rare vehicle for in-game use. Obviously, this will only be available for a limited time, with the offer expiring at 11:59 PM May 7th.

What is this new vehicle, you may ask. Well, it’s the coveted ‘Bulletproof Hellenbach.’ Chinatown Wars has been all the rage for DS owners this year, and with the addition of a bulletproof vehicle, I feel certain that the pedestrian populations of those virtual streets are in dire peril.

Rockstar also rolled out a new lineup of downloadable papercraft models exclusively for Social Club members to print and assemble, and they’ve enhanced the popular ‘Rampage Tracker.’ I expect that if this type of promotion pans out, we’ll see a lot more online tie-ins for games, both handheld and console.

So, what do you need to do to grab your very own near-invincible set of wheels? All the detailed instructions can be found after the break.

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Game stop is offering cold hard Liberty City cash to gamers pre-ordering Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. All takers will get $10,000 in-game Liberty City cash as well as access to the entire arsenal from the start of the game.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be hitting shelves March 17th but pre-orders have already begun. The Chinatown Wars upgrade is a GameStop exclusive offer.

Nintendo has announced its early 2009 game line up which kicks off with Pokémon Platinum. the popular DS title will hit shelves March 22, 2009.

Other familiar games among the over 100 planned releases are New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis and New Play Control! Pikmin are coming out for the Wii with edutainment title Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Personal Trainer: Math and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars headed for the Nintendo DS.

More games from the Q1 2009 Nintendo line up follow the break.
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Rockstar has released three new screens for the upcoming downloadable content The Lost and the Damned for Grand Theft Auto 4. In case you have been living under a rock or have just not been paying much attention, the DLC is set in Liberty City and features a new main character, Johnny Klebitz. While the plot intersects with the storyline of the game, new missions that offer a new way to explore the city along with new multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles. They have even added addition music to the soundtrack to help freshen things up a bit.

The Lost and the Damned is expected to be released on February 17, 2009. Check back with us as more information is expected to be released between now and then.

When you think of piracy lately, Spore comes to mind more so than anything else, and according to a post over on Actiontrip– Electronic Arts and Will Wright’s huge hit Spore is the biggest pirated game of 2008. I wonder if it has anything to do with the hoopla caused by the DRM restrictions EA imposed upon the title?

Whatever gamers reasoning for pirating these titles is, they are all listed in the order of most to least with the release date of the game next to the title. While looking this over, some of you may recall all of the money that Ubisoft claims they lost when Assassin’s Creed for the PC was pirated. The main reason that Assassin’s Creed was so highly pirated according to a lawsuit brought against OEM by Ubisoft, was because an employee took home a copy of Assassin’s Creed and uploaded it onto the internet six weeks before the game shipped in April 2008. Ubisoft claims that this led to over 700,000 pirated downloads of the title. Well, now that number is up to 1,070,000. Wow, just wow.

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Electronic Arts is being targeted by another class-action law suit over the DRM included with Spore, SecuROM. This time, California resident Alex McQuown is hoping to use Spore to take down SecuROM once and for all.

The grievances listed in Alex McQuown’s class-action suit against EA are much the same as the other suits with three big differences. His lawyers at Finkelstein Thompson claim that SecuROM damages computers costing consumer time and money to repair the havoc caused by its installation. The suit also asserts that EA has needlessly caused its customers grief. The figures prove that piracy of games that carry SecuROM has risen dramatically. The biggest difference in McQuown’s suit is that he invites every U.S. citizen that has purchased an EA product with SecuROM to join the class.
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After releasing the strange, but amusing “Get Sprunk” video, Rockstar has now released a couple more videos that show off the capabilities of the upcoming video editor in GTA IV for the PC. The one above is titled “Exploder,” and is basically a fake trailer for one crazy action movie. There’s also a second video after the break called “The Amazing Conrad” that’s just kind of strange. From the looks of things though, that video editor is certainly going to allow people to create a wide range of videos. Unfortunately, knowing the internet, I’m sure you’ll have to wade through a lot of hastily thrown together Linkin Park music videos before you can find anything actually worth watching.

Second video after the break.

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