GTA 4 Leak

Less than a week before Grand Theft Auto IV was due to hit store shelves, a warez group going by the name of iCON managed to successfully upload a pirated copy of the game onto various major torrent sites.

Kotaku reported the story after rumors of a suspicious 6.32 GB file began circulating on the web. Around the same time, many unofficial videos depicting in-game footage started appearring on YouTube and GameTrailers, although several were pulled shortly after. The game popped up on MyGamerCard profile listings as well.

Grand Theft Auto IV is the ninth title in the long-running Grand Theft Auto series. Set in a redesigned Liberty City, based on four of the boroughs of New York City and parts of New Jersey, the total area of the map is smaller than San Andreas. While smaller, the newly designed Liberty City is far more detailed and the largest individual city in the Grand Theft Auto series. The game tells the story of Niko Bellic, an Eastern European immigrant who immigrates to Liberty City to live "the American Dream" at the urging of his cousin Roman.

• Entertainment Products Games Video Games PS3 Games Xbox 360 Games Action Games Third-Person Shooters Grand Theft Auto IV

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• Team Xbox: GTA IV Pirated and Leaked Onto The Web (April 23, 2008)

• GamePolitics: GTA IV Leaked? (April 23, 2008)

• Kotaku: Microsoft Looking into Early GTA IV Players (April 24, 2008)

• PC World: If You Pirate Grand Theft Auto IV, God Kills a Kitten (April 24, 2008)

• 1up.com: Pirates Caught Playing Leaked GTA IV, Microsoft Investigating (April 25, 2008)