New York (NY) - Rockstar's latest entry in the Grand Theft Auto series does not come out until next week, but some gamers are getting their GTA IV fill now because of a pirated version that was posted online.

The European PAL version of the Xbox 360 game has reportedly been ripped and posted to an online torrent site, which could then be burned to a disc and played on the Microsoft console.

Gaming site Kotaku reports that at around 7:50 AM EDT yesterday, the file made its way around multiple torrent websites.  At 6.32 GB it appears to be the entire game.


This Youtube video was pulled less than an hour after it was posted.

The NTSC version of the game, which is the format used in North America, is expected to be ripped within the next day or so.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Playstation 2 was also leaked a week early.  The violent franchise is console gaming gold, and as such it has a very loyal fan base.

Electonic Arts tried to acquire Rockstar's parent company Take-Two ahead of the GTA IV launch, but Take-Two vehemently refused to accept the offer.  EA's proposition remains on the table, though.

Grand Theft Auto IV will be released on April 29 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.  Many stores including Gamestop and Best Buy will be holding special midnight openings for the anticipated title.

Finally

Apr 24, 2008 12:06     

Now I have a reason to by a 360!!
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@ WMCGRITT

Apr 24, 2008 14:00     

Finally? Dude are you kidding? The 360's may have their faults (RRoD), but the library has been amazing. The best I have seen for a consoles first two years in a long time. There have been more games then I have time to play or money to afford. With games like (all rated very high and sold very well): Halo 3 (xclusive) COD 4 Mass Effect (xclusive) Orange Box BioShock (xclusive) TC R6 Vegas 2 Assasin Creed Virtua F 5 Devil May Cry 4 Madden 08 Forza MS (xclusive) Burnout Gears (xclusive) Oblivion

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09 f9

Apr 24, 2008 16:38     

over half of our 'exculsives' aren't exclusives mass effect coming to pc bioshock is pc gears is pc pretty much all those games you mentioned are for pc as well and chances are halo 3 is going pc..(but i dont know) just thought id be an ass :P
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hope

Apr 24, 2008 21:05     

I hope I can have this game on an iPhone! ;)
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re: finally

Apr 25, 2008 01:30     

Not to start a fanboy argument, but I don't know why you would want to buy an XBox360 when you can get a much better machine for less. Xbox360 HDMI 20GB($349) Wifi adapter ($90-100) 12 months ($35-50) online play = ~$500 Playstation 3 40GB (Wifi built-in) free online play = $399 So for $100 less, you get a much more powerful machine with better 1080P graphics, plus a built-in profile 2.0 Blu-ray player!

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I don't have 360 ether

Apr 25, 2008 02:46     

I still have last gen games I haven't played yet. haven't had the time. I'm still a single player gamer...so being late to the party I get games for less an they are still good. HALO2 was like the only game I got day one. An it didn't delivey the Hype... I should have bought Ninja Gaiden instead
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Only buying this game if...

Apr 28, 2008 19:45     

It's as violent as GTA3 ( the most gruesmome of the series ) And perhaps the funnest to play. the glitches in GTA3 made it sweeeet to play. The cops were sooo stupid, they'de shoot other people and themselves. Also the violence unlock code rocked. I loved it when I lowered gravity, and a cop car flew right in front of me, ultimately chopping another officers torso in half. The under torso remained, blood spewing from the veins, trying to return to his pig heart that had been severed. This was on the Ps2 version, not the pcs. I can only hope that rockstar put in a few modds for us fans.

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