Grand Theft Auto IV's First Victim: the XBL Arcade. Yeah; a whole lot of fanboys are ready with their pitchforks and torches as they rampage Techtite.com for mentioning a (gasp!) downside to Grand Theft Auto IV. Yet while many GTA fanboys were busy playing the latest installment of the game, there's no doubt the launch of this game led to a lot of bad "aftershock," so to speak, in the gaming world. For one thing Xbox Live didn't even bother to update their XBLA arcade this week, apparently assuming (insert classic Benny Hill "assume" joke here) that "everyone" was too busy playing GTA IV to want new XBox Live Arcade games, or the like. If you love GTA, that's really spiffy of you, though I love Arcade games too, and this week I had no new ones to enjoy, so...thanks for that, GTA (sarcasm). Hey; don't shoot the messenger. This is just the end-of-the-week news byte in regards to many similar threads all over the 'net, including an article by Shacknews that lamented quite bluntly, " No XBLA Title This Week Due to That One Game."

GTA IV Leads To Stabbing...Before Its Release?!? So imagine someone simply walking next to a line in front of a London game store, consisting of people who had yet to play Grand Theft Auto IV, only to be stabbed by some total imbecile who, again: had yet to even play the game. That's what happened in front of the Gamestation store in Croydon, when a 23 year old was simply strolling past said pre-order line for the game, only to be stabbed, allegedly, by some hooded hoodlum waiting in line for the game. Think of the connotations of this story for a second, as reported by the BBC. Does GTA IV lead to violence? Well, aesthetically, yes, because it was a line for purchase of the game...only problem is, the stabber had yet to play the game at all. The moral of the story is perhaps the simple truth: games don't kill people. Idiots who kill people play games about people who kill people. If they had no such games, they'd probably just play Kirby's Avalanche and...still kill people.

Spyro Will Return, With Some Help. Spyro the dragon will return to gaming via Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon for the PS3, DS, Wii, and 360 systems. Adding to the fun this time around are a slew of interesting choices for the voice talent in the game, including Wayne Brady, Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman, Christina Ricci, Blair Underwood, and Elijah Wood. Also new to the game, compared to other sequels in the game series; Spyro will be able to fly at any time (which makes total sense, though wasn't available in a Spyro game so far; interpret that as you will). Also offered for the first time this game is the option to play any level as either Spyro or his friend Cinder.

Prince of Persia...4? 6? I've Lost Track. I liked Prince of Persia back in the 2D days of gaming, and I really loved Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. So allow me to brighten the week of anyone who agrees when I say that a new Prince of Persia game is in the works, and is slated for release just in time for the holiday shopping season. Best news of all: the game is being made by Ubisoft Montreal, the same guys who made Assassin's Creed. The official statement goes like: "Prince of Persia is opening a new chapter in the Prince of Persia universe, featuring a new breed of gameplay. The game is poised to rejuvenate the action-adventure genre in addition to introducing a brand-new illustrative art style. Ubisoft will also release a Prince of Persia game specifically designed for the Nintendo DS(TM) system, featuring an entirely new storyline and new characters. More details to be unveiled in the future."

Grand Theft Game. The odd thing about Grand Theft Auto, given the mood and theme of the game, is how few people try to do the obvious and steal the game. Not that I'm condoning such behavior; I'm just saying. You would think that the sort of world the game promotes would incite a fan of the series to just walk into the store, club the manager, and take the game. Okay; not really. Only one or two people are actually that foolish...like this guy in San Diego, whose failed attempt at "Grand Theft Gaming" was caught via a San Diego news channel and uploaded to YouTube for all the world to enjoy. What makes this story even sillier is how, unlike what many moms might presume, the would be Game Thief is not a kid. He was a 27 year old mature adult (so to speak) who felt the need to steal the game for some reason.

PSN Thursday: Echochrome. Unlike the 360, The PSN store was updated as always on Thursday this week (yesterday). The biggest offering was Echochrome: an intriguing albeit black and white puzzle game where the object is to move an optical illusion sort of puzzle board so that a character can move from point A to point B. Rotating a break in the path behind a pillar, for example, allows the character to walk across the now "completed" path. It's like one big optical illusion, and based on the free demo, it looks like a lot of fun. There is also an unsubstantiated rumor that a Haze demo might come out next week, though we'll see.

Final News Byte This Week: The 15,000 Dollar NES Game. What would you spend for a classic NES game? Well, if you own a Nintendo Wii, the answer is usually five bucks; the equivalent price of "500 points" needed to download a standard NES title from the Wii's online Virtual Store. In the case of James Baker, however, the eBay bid would be for 15 grand. The reason: the auction was for a gold colored cartridge made especially for the 1990 Nintendo World Championships. The cartridge was one of only 26 in existence, which I suppose is worth the high bid, to some people. Said Baker in an article by Kotaku: "I've avoided collecting carts for a while — I always looked at them as a slippery slope, since there are just so many collectible carts out there to get. When I started, I concentrated on systems — I'm up to 130 now."

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