Some time ago, a number of magazines reported that you'd be able to listen to music while you walk around the streets of Liberty City using GTA IV's cell phone. Unfortunately, EGM has now confirmed that this feature has been axed from the final version of the game.

The removal of promised features is not uncommon for GTA titles. Early in the San Andreas media blitz, an excited Dan Houser told the Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine "We’re having to go to dual layer DVD because we’ve already filled up a full DVD". Later that year, GTA San Andreas shipped on a single layer DVD for PS2. Other magazines, including Australia's official PS2 magazine and GamePro, reported that trams in San Fierro would be drivable, yet this feature was mysteriously missing from the final release.

With just eight days left on our countdown, could this be the beginning of a week which reveals some more features which didn't make the cut for the final version of GTA IV? Thanks to wesj for the scan!

Dan Houser is Creative Vice President at Rockstar Games, and he's given a rare, lengthy interview to Variety about all things GTA. In it, he provides his opinion that the original GTA team in Dundee, Scotland simply "fell apart" following arguments over whether the game could be made in 3D and he makes it clear that ultimately, the decision on where to set the next game lies firmly with the development team.

"New York came out as the obvious place because we’d never done it before. In the old games [Liberty City] was just vaguely East Coast-ish. It wasn’t New York and it wasn’t trying to be. And then we realized, why would anyone making a TV show in New York know it better than us now that we lived here 10 years?"

Click here to read the full interview

Continental Europe is the next stop on the Grand Theft Auto IV world tour, and we've got two new reviews from magazines based in France and Germany.

The French edition of PSM3 awards GTA IV 20/20, claiming that the game's only faults are its sometimes odd feeling character movements and "dumb" AI. While these are issues for the game, they aren't too significant, the magazine says.

German magazine Games Aktuell gave their thoughts based on previews they've received from Rockstar Games, but presented the article in a review format. They claim that the soundtrack is the best of any GTA title to date and the game looks and plays great. Their overall rating was "very good".

The latest flyer promoting the weekly offers and releases at Circuit City (a US retailer) has found its way to the internet and there are a couple of bargains that may be of interest to those looking to buy GTA IV next week.

Most significant is the free $10 gift card that will be given to buyers of GTA IV on either format. You don't have to do anything else, simply buy the game at its normal price of $59.99 for the standard edition or $89.99 for the special edition and you'll get the gift card included for free.

Their other offer will appeal to people who haven't yet bought a next generation console. If you purchase a new Xbox 360 console along with GTA IV between April 27th and May 3rd, you'll get an additional wireless conroller included for free. The motivation behind this one is a little odd, since it's previously been confirmed that GTA IV doesn't feature any split screen multiplayer, but a bonus is a bonus, right?!

Stacy O'CallhaghanGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas has been modified in virtually every way you could think possible, from a full blown multiplayer mode to a simple iPhone addition. Unfortunately, police in New Zealand are unhappy that a total conversion mod called Grand Theft Auto: New Zeland is using the police's imagery.

The 17-year-old creator, Stacy O'Callhaghan, from Karori, says that he started work to replace as much of the game as possible with New Zealand inspired equivalents "because I got sick of all this American rubbish". However, Jon Neilson who works at the national headquarters of police in the country, says that their legal team is currently investigating. Apparently, unauthorized use of a police uniform is a criminal offence.

You can watch a trailer of this supposedly criminal modification on YouTube.

GTA IV is a only a week away, but that shouldn't stop you from getting in some San Andreas modding time! Today I added six new San Andreas car mods (two BMW and four Mercedes-Benz mods):

BMW 760Li	BMW 850i	1989 Mercedes-Benz C126
1992 Mercedes-Benz C140	1987 Mercedes-Benz W126	Mercedes-Benz SLK 350

The BMW 850i was my favorite out of this bunch. Enjoy!

As art director at Rockstar North, Aaron Garbut makes a lot of decisions in his job, and he's been speaking about the development of GTA IV to Eurogamer, who have published the first of a multi-part interview today.

"We never reproduce real world locations. We take interesting or representative elements and create something new from them. It's about taking inspiration from real places and producing something that captures the essence of it. We're trying to take our impression of New York and keep it as that, an impression, not a laboured reproduction."

Also included are a few digital quality shots and piece of artwork which have appeared in magazines previously:



Click here to read the full interview with Aaron Garbut

Canadian retailer Future Shop is the latest store to announce a midnight launch event for Grand Theft Auto IV. The company says that it will open 107 stores for one hour, starting at 00:00 on April 29th. The company says that it is "really excited" about Grand Theft Auto IV and that it expects "thousands" of customers during the time.

To encourage people to go shopping at the late hour, the company will be offering a free Grand Theft Auto IV baseball cap to everyone who buys at the launch, while stocks last. The stores which won't be participating are in Quebec and Sudbury.

Rockstar Games is going all-out to promote Grand Theft Auto IV, which launches in just over one week. As part of the campaign, advertisements had been placed on the side of many buses in Chicago, much to the dismay of many people.

The main complaint came from the local Fox News Affiliate, which is a member of the same group of companies as publishes the popular IGN.com gaming website and GTA fansite PlanetGTA. Apparently, people are upset that the game is being advertised when it promotes the same kind of shootings which have been frequently taking the lives of Chicago residents.

The Chicago Transit Authority swiftly changed its mind about the ads, which will no longer be displayed on the bus network.

British movie magazine Empire is the latest publication to reveal their thoughts on GTA IV in a review. In the online piece, reviewer David McComb awards the game a perfect rating of five out of five stars, saying that the game is "damn near perfect".

"From the new GPS that uses coloured lines to guide you through the busy streets – allowing players to focus on the action with the GPS in their peripheral vision, rather than constantly taking your eye off the road to squint at the tiny map – to the stripped-down displays that remove clutter from the screen, GTA IV feels friendlier and more accomplished than its predecessors."

Read the full review here