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The casino and video gaming industries are definitely heating-up. In fact, the next couple of months are going to see some of the most impressive game releases in years.   Meanwhile, one all-time classic is proving age is no barrier to sustained gaming popularity. Check it out….

Grand Theft Auto IV ready to smash records?

It’s got to be one of the most eagerly awaited video game releases seen in the last decade – and as Take-Two’s GTAIV gets ready to launch, the industry is talking of a $400M success in just one week.

So – will the latest instalment in the PS3 and Xbox 360’s finest gangland video gaming compilation make the most dramatic debut ever seen?  

Well, according to industry insiders,  the Rockstar labelled game is probably going to be the most popular console launch of all-time – when it finally launches worldwide on April 29.

During the telling ‘pre-sale’ period, retailers have shelled-out for a staggering 6,000,000 video game units.

If the projected figures are correct, GTAIV could realistically blow the top off Halo III, which sold 5 million copies within 7 days. Even more impressive – the game could conceivably smash the $404,000,000 figure grossed by the hot movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

The existing record gross for any Grand Theft release is held by GT Auto: San Andreas, standing at 22 million video game sales over all console and PC genres, but the new edition will smash that figure in weeks.

Ironically, with Electronic Arts’ recent takeover attempt – GTAIV needs record breaking success to save Take-two.

Video gamers ready to strike gold in 2008

It’s that time again – another Olympic Games and a new generation of video games ready to celebrate the big occasion.

Sega’s Beijing 2008 has the benefit of hitting our screens powered by the best gaming hardware that’s ever existed. For lucky video gamers, that translates into a game that promises to deliver 35 different events and photo-realistic Olympic venues including the Beijing National Stadium and the National Aquatics Centre. However, perhaps the most exciting aspect of the gaming package will be the fact that for the first time, the official Olympic game will include online multi-player contests! Expect to see an interesting range of ‘spin offs’ with Olympic themes in a variety of online destinations, such as Video Slots and free-play websites.

The Sims Hits 1 million

Some video games are just classics – and Electronic Arts’ The Sims is a perfect example. Such is the longevivity of the Sims’ concept, that it has now sold over 1 million copies since 2000.  This staggering statistic makes it the number one PC franchise ever. Of course, The Sims has had several expansion packs and re-vamps, but the essence of the game is what has made it such a popular video game. The latest Sims craze is fans posting their own Sims videos on YouTube, while over 10% of European households are estimated to own a copy of the Sims.

Tomb Raider and Hitman make their mark in Online Casinos

The legendary video games, Tomb Raider and Hitman have made their way into the worlds online casinos. Based on the action packed console driven games, these new casino games offer a similar thrill and are sure to go down as two of the most popular games available at online casinos.

The creators of the Xbox Live Arcade games Outpost Kaloki X and Cloning Clyde are working on a new XBLA game, announcing today that they’re hard at work on a city-building game called A Kingdom for Keflings.
NinjaBee, the developer, shared the first few details with us about their next Xbox 360 title. In A Kingdom for Keflings, players will assume the role of a giant who has the ability to design and construct an intricate city for the local Keflings. Each giant starts out with a literal handful of Keflings who follow the giant’s every command. These Keflings can be trained to become lumberjacks, miners, transporters, sheep shearers, scholars and various other professions as they help build the kingdom from the ground up.

Players will build through all four seasons, with a musical score that changes based on the city’s progress. In addition to determining which buildings go where, players can also customize their kingdom by painting buildings and walls, planting trees and topiaries and constructing statues and other works of art.

The online multiplayer option — remember, it’s an Xbox Live Arcade game — allow up to four giants to build a kingdom cooperatively over Xbox Live.

A Kingdom for Keflings will be released later this fall.

VideoGamesBlogger - Bit by Bit, Only the Best Game News wrote an interesting post today on
Here’s a quick excerpt

According to some a price point of $199 is the magic number for a game console to hit before people on the fence about about buying one will hop off and snatch it up. So far no current generation console is (or below) that point but it looks like Microsoft may be the first there.

I’m not sure which retailer’s inventory system this picture is from, but it shows that the Xbox 360 Arcade (the model without a hard drive) will be hitting $199.99 on September 7th.

Other price reductions that could happen around that same time would be the Pro with a 60GB hard drive dropping to $299 and the Elite with a 120GB hard drive dropping to $399.

If you don’t have an Xbox 360 yet but are thinking about it you might want to wait a few weeks and see if all these price drops come true. You might want to also think about getting one with a hard drive. If you don’t get a hard drive right away I can’t imagine you’ll be able to go long without adding one because of how limited your experience will likely be (games will take longer because they won’t be able to store videos on the hard drive, no place to store game demo downloads, no place to store downloaded TV shows and movies, etc.), so I’d recommend getting the Pro or Elite