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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Ok, so I know that December 1 was yesterday, but I am off on Mondays therefore we will just pretend it never happened and list the games that came out yesterday anyway, ok?. There are loads of games being released this week (schedule subject to change) which is all leading up to the grand finale of the holiday shopping extravaganza.

Most games are hitting today, especially the more hyped ones like Prince of Persia, Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi, Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC, and SingStar ABBA (god no!). Tomorrow, those who have not gotten Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts yet, can play  the original via the Xbox Live Marketplace until Santa puts it in their stocking.

Without further ado, here is the list:

Nintendo DS

Animal Boxing – December 2
Burger Island -December 2
Cate West: The Vanishing Files – December 2
Dreamer: Puppy Trainer – December 2
Emma at the Farm – December 1
Happy Cooking – December 2
Heavy Armor Brigade – December 2
Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi – December 2
My Fun Facts Coach – December 2
Prince of Persia: The Fallen King – December 2
Slingo Quest – December 2
The Tale of Despereaux – December 2
Winter Sports 2: The Next Challenge – December 2

Nintendo Wii

Bigfoot (Racing) – December 3
Family Party: 30 Great Games – December 2
King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga – December 2
Metal Slug 2 – December 1
Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars – December 2
My Fitness Coach – December 2
Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek – December 2
Pit Crew Panic (WiiWare) – December 1
Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure – December 2
Ski and Shoot – December 2
Space Invaders Get Even (WiiWare) – December 1
Summer Sports 2: Island Sports Party – December 2
The Tale of Despereaux – December 2
Wordfish – December 2

PC, PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360 are listed after the jump.
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Rockstar has released this video for two reason: 1) to demonstrate the new video editing tool in the PC version of GTA IV and 2) to show the hazards of littering. The video shows Niko walking up to a soda machine, drinking a can of “Sprunk,” and then tossing the can aside (cause nothing say “badass” like a blatant disregard for the cleanliness of your city). And then he gets blown up for it in what can only be described as “karma finally just loses it.” But the point of the whole thing is that it was made using only the video editing tools that will be included in the PC version of GTA IV. In other words, expect to see a whole lot of videos of Niko doing the “Soulja Boy” in the near future.

Gamers who preorder Grand Theft Auto IV through Steam for $49.99 will get a very nice present in the form of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for free.

If you order between now and the December 2 release, once you hit the submit button you automatically get Vice City and can play it while you wait for the PC version of GTA IV.

System requirements are:

Microsoft has given Fallout 3 the honor of being the first title to offer DLC on Games for Windows LIVE Marketplace. In case you missed the initial announcement, Games for Windows LIVE Marketplace is exactly what it sounds like… an Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the PC. It will even allow you to use your 360 controller hooked up to your gaming rig.

According to Videogamer.com, Bethesda Softworks’ Pete Hines, vice president of public relations and marketing, had this to say about Games for Windows:

“Games for Windows LIVE helps us expand the Fallout 3 universe and bring the full experience directly to gamers. Through the Marketplace we now have a no-nonsense way to deliver updates and great downloadable content. It’s really a complete package, and a great fit for Fallout 3.”

Other Games for Windows friendly titles are Battlestations: Pacific, Grand Theft Auto IV, Quantum of Solace, Red Faction: Guerrilla and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II.

It seems like we’ve officially hit the holiday video game surge, and Microsoft isn’t taking that lightly. As if next week weren’t going to burn our wallets enough with games like Fable 2 and Far Cry 2, Xbox Live will be getting one old and one semi-old favorite added to the list of games. The most interesting of these is probably Portal: Still Alive, which is essentially a standalone version of the hit title bundled in Valve’s Orange Box, but with some added bonuses. The XBLA version will include the original game, plus 14 extra challenge maps and six advanced maps for your extended enjoyment. The game will become available for download on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

Before that though, Xbox Live subscribers will be treated to an old favorite that once turned the term “hot coffee” into a dirty sexual innuendo. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will join the Xbox Originals to remind you what GTA was like before impressive physics and online multiplayer were introduced. It was a simpler time, when a man could get his character eat enough fast food to turn into a waddling mass of gangsta flesh; a time that Niko Bellic wouldn’t be able to replicate. Also, bicycles! GTA:SA will be hitting Xbox Live on Oct. 20.

Oh come on, video game companies! I’m still in the middle of Dead Space and Saints Row 2! At this rate, I’ll be stuck in front of my TV until next year just to play all the games getting released this month. Or I’ll probably just keep playing TF2 as usual…

After failing to come to an agreement with Electronic Arts, and deciding to look for other partnerships instead, Take-Two has instead decided to remain independent after all. This is a very anti-climatic end to the back and forth that gamers have been following closely since EA made their initial tender offer back in February.

However, according to recent comments made this morning by Take-Two’s Chairman of the Board, Strauss Zelnick, the company has decided that it would be better for stockholders if the company continued to do business as usual.

Zelnick feels that the company has great creative forces working for it, is financially stable, and still a big enough competitor to brush off any offers that should come their way:

“Our management and outstanding and talented employees have maintained an unwavering focus on our products and our business through this lengthy strategic review process and we are confident in our prospects. We remain focused on maximizing value for stockholders and are executing on our business strategies in a determined manner.”

Ben Feder, Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two added his two-cents regarding the decision to remain independent with the same amount of confidence the company has maintained over the past few months, by reminding the world of their recent financial cash cow, GTA IV:

“We have delivered solid financial results and expanded our portfolio of leading titles, which includes the powerful Grand Theft Auto franchise, as well as 15 other wholly owned brands with sales of more than one million units each..with no debt and an undrawn $140 million credit facility [this gives] us the financial flexibility to continue to do what we do best: innovate and create the great games that our customers have come to expect.”

Yes, it is easy to be confident when you have big name games in your portfolio coming to consoles like BioShock PS3, Duke Nukem Forever, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, GTA: Chinatown Wars and GTA IV coming to the PC in November. The biggest and most interesting thing I find though is that Feder states that they have no debt. How many companies can say that?

Take-Two sort of dodged the bullet on the EA take-over though, and while most companies would have been content to sell out to the first monopolistic giant to make an offer, they didn’t. While they did this in the best interest of their company, it is the gamers who are the big winners in the end.