Pirates hack GTA IV!

Thursday 24th April 2008 - 17:00

Biggest game of the year already being played by pirates, new Harry Potter title announced and Ninja Gaiden 2 Xbox 360 screens

It's enough to make you want to go on a car-jacking rampage. News reaches us that a cracked copy of the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV has already been made available online!

The most hotly anticipated game to ever grace a next-gen console (and we're including Halo 3 here) isn't due out until Tuesday, but that hasn't stopped enterprising pirates from playing it early.

How they received a copy is currently unknown but games pirating group iCON has distributed a fully cracked version of GTA IV on various Internet torrent sites and newsgroups. Only fellow pirates with chipped Xbox 360s and the knowledge how to download and burn a games CD will benefit from this totally illegal rip-off. Plus, any gamers silly enough to download and attempt play the game online will inevitably have the game logged in their play history - meaning Microsoft can quite justifiably enforce a life-time ban from Xbox Live.

Rockstar, the development studio behind the title have yet to offer an official comment but we wouldn't be surprised if they're looking to go after the source from whence it came with all guns blazing. The rest of us law abiding citizens will have to wait patiently until Tuesday.

On the subject of games releases, EA has rather predictably announced the forthcoming Harry Potter game - Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince. Players will return to Hogwarts to help Harry survive a fraught sixth year. They will also have a chance to engage in wizard duels, mix and brew magical ingredients in Potions class and take to the air to lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team to victory. Players may even get sidetracked by Ron's romantic entanglements as they journey towards unveiling the identity of the Half-Blood Prince. Expect a release on just above every format imaginable in the autumn.

Finally, we have the latest selection of Ninja Gaiden 2 screens. We've been tracking the progress of the first 360 outing for the Ninja games and can reveal that this weapon-heavy combat title is scheduled for a June 6 release.

To view more images, click here