264w ago - Senator Barack Obama at his campaign in Indianapolis earlier spoke about GTA IV.

During a campaign stop in Indianapolis, Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama referenced the new 'Grand Theft Auto' video game as an example of media entertainment's growing influence on American children.

Video is courtesy of GameTrailers and available below:

264w ago - Firstly, this is not for the 60GB PlayStation 3's, some of which freeze up at the beginning of the game. This is for those with a 40GB console whose game often freeze up, particularly during missions.

Yesterday I connected my PlayStation Network ID to the Rockstar Social Club, ever since then my console often started with a temporary 2 - 3 second freeze when I load up my game, then luckily the game continues. But when I started with missions today my console constantly froze up at certain points, specifically at the start or end of missions.

I reset my console multiple times, yet the problem still continued. I read that others were having a similar problem, so I knew I wasn't alone. Then I thought about signing out the PlayStation Network, and for hours of playing after that the game has not frozen up once!

I then scouted the message boards and found that this particular solution completely works for other people as well. So if you're experiencing the same problem, try this as well... it definitely is a better solution than the one Take-Two offers - deleting your save game!

Apparently it has to do with the game having trouble sending your statistics to the social club server. Hopefully Rockstar Games and Sony will find a solution...

264w ago - Since it's launch in 1998, Miyamoto's masterpiece "The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time" has filled the number one spot of many "Best Game Ever" lists. But is it about to give up it's crown?

Currently ranked at number one on popular video game ratings system GameRankings.com, Ocarina Of Time has a rating average of 97.68%. The rating, which is calculated as an average from a collection of popular website sources, has had Link's classic quest sit atop of the charts for the past 10 years, but, with the spectacle of Rockstar's new Grand Theft Auto game, it might finally be time for Nintendo's (in my opinion) best game ever to step to the side.

With a rating calculated from 12 reviews (OOT has 32) the XBOX 360 version of GTA4 is currently sitting with an average score of 99.25%. Given the sheer hype of the game as the reviews fall in we can't see the game dropping by too much either (although GameSpot.com don't like reviewing games higher than 9.6).

Many reviews already consider GTA4 to be the best game of this decade if not the best game ever.

Either way - it's a feat that has to be acknowledged. Few games have come close to Ocarina Of Time in the past 10 years - with only The Orange Box and Super Mario Galaxy posing a threat.

It's a testament to both how good Miyamoto's...

264w ago - Those clever hackers have done it again! Hacker group VladsBoys' analysis of the pirated copy of GTA IV for the 360 (leaked days before retail release) has reeled in a big one. The cyber-sleuths knew they were on the trail of something big and yes, you guessed it, they found another never-intended-for-retail-consumption chunk of code in a GTA game.

What the hackers found seems to be an abandoned mission that Rockstar at some point intended on including in the game. We have no idea how far into the process this mission got before it was pulled, but we're pretty sure they knew what they were doing by the mission name... that name was Hot Coughing.

Hacker R*Fan4Lyfe noted in a forum post that while the audio files for the mission were not included in the disc image (and presumably are not on the retail disc either,) the subtitles for the mission dialogue were still present. The mission involves Niko going to the hospital after pulling a groin muscle in one of the game's side missions; a mission that is actually present in the retail game.

While in the hospital, Niko is hounded by an ambulance chasing attorney humorously named Jerk Thompson. The attorney pesters Niko about his accident, trying to convince him that violent cartoons such as Tom & Jerry or Looney Tunes were to blame....

264w ago - Grand Theft Auto IV has been out for a whopping four days and we here at The Exploding Barrel are already officially addicted to Niko and Liberty City. Borrowing a page from the redneck comedian Jeff Foxworthy, we've compiled a list of 30 ways to tell if you are addicted to GTA IV.

Ready? "You might be a GTA IV addict if..."

- You adopted an awkward Eastern European accent because it makes you feel like a badass.

- You've pretended to carjack your own car that was sitting in your driveway.

- You made your girlfriend stand on the corner just so you could drive up and honk your horn.

- You drive around town aimlessly with nothing but the GTA IV soundtrack blaring from
your car.

- You blow through every single red light you encounter, but still take it easy around the fuzz.

- You've taken a sudden interest in local Russian vaudeville shows.

- You spend more time planning Niko's outfits than your own.

- You've seriously contemplated getting a tattoo of Niko on your forearm.

- You've started to wear gold jewelry and keep the first three buttons of your shirt open.

- You refuse to watch any television other than the in-game TV at your safehouse.

- You run when...