A consumer has discovered pills, believed to be ecstasy tablets, inside the box of a pre-owned copy of Grand Theft Auto IV.

Richard Thornhill bought the title from a Gamestation store in Gloucestershire and found the pills inside the box - wrapped in cling film - which he delivered to a nearby police station.

He was offered an apology by the store, but expressed his fear over concerns that his 12 year-old son or 16 year-old daughter could have been harmed.

"When I opened the box up, the cling film wrap fell out. I could not believe it," he told the Telegraph. "I have two children and my son plays Xbox all the time. He could easily have opened the box and found them.

"I dread to think what the consequences would have been if he had. He is only 12. He could have died.

"It was a pre-used game, but that should not make a difference," he said. "My wife is beside herself over this because she keeps thinking about what could have happened and so do I."

Gamestation commented: "We have rigorous procedures for accepting pre-owned titles and checking them before they are put back on sale.

"We have launched an immediate investigation and we will work closely with police to find out what happened in this instance. It would be inappropriate to comment further until the police investigation is complete."

Gloucestershire police said: "We have collected the tablets and will be destroying them at a later date. It is likely that they are ecstasy pills.

"We are now conducting enquiries to see if it can be established who brought them into the store."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...wned-gtaiv-box ...

layStation Portable title Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable has held the top spot of the Japanese software sales chart, for the week ended April 5, according to Media Create.

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 for the DS climbed two places to come in second, while Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 debuted in third place with 27,000 units.

Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) secured a spot at number four, compared to last week's place at seven, and PlayStation 2 title Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 took number five.

Koei's Musou Orochi Z for the PlayStation 3 climbed two places to number six, Disgaea 2 for the PSP re-entered the top ten at seven, and DS title Super Robot Taisen K dropped to eighth.

Winning Post World debuted on the PS3 in ninth place with 13,000 units, and Wii Fit closed the chart at number ten.

Full Japanese software sales chat follows:

01. Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (PSP)
02. Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (DS)
03. Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 (DS)
04. Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (PSP)
05. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (PS2)
06. Musou Orochi Z (PS3)
07. Disgaea 2 (PSP)
08. Super Robot Taisen K (DS)
09. Winning Post World (PS3)
10. Wii Fit (Wii)

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...japanese-chart ...

Oh Apple, what are you up to? Just like we saw right around this time last year in preparation for Apple's new iPhone 3G and updated iPod touch, Apple is placing huge orders of NAND chips thereby threatening the supply in demand by other tier-one vendors. This time we've got DigiTimes confirming earlier reports that Apple is cornering the market on flash memory -- specifically, the Taiwanese rumor rag is reporting orders of "100 million 8Gb (8 gigabit, not gigabyte) NAND flash chips mostly with Samsung Electronics." That's twice the size of the order reported last year. The tiny memory chips are then recombined during manufacturing into the larger 16GB, 32GB, and so on capacities we expect to find in our handheld consumer electronics. Anyone still doubting new Apple handhelds in June?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/09/a/ ...

Oh Apple, what are you up to? Just like we saw right around this time last year in preparation for Apple's new iPhone 3G and updated iPod touch, Apple is placing huge orders of NAND chips thereby threatening the supply in demand by other tier-one vendors. This time we've got DigiTimes confirming earlier reports that Apple is cornering the market on flash memory -- specifically, the Taiwanese rumor rag is reporting orders of "100 million 8Gb (8 gigabit, not gigabyte) NAND flash chips mostly with Samsung Electronics." That's twice the size of the order reported last year. The tiny memory chips are then recombined during manufacturing into the larger 16GB, 32GB, and so on capacities we expect to find in our handheld consumer electronics. Anyone still doubting new Apple handhelds in June?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/09/a/ ...

Most of the time we see a Wii mote controlling something tangible, it's more for entertainment value like an airsoft gun or Rovio. The Casmobot lawnmower, developed by scientists from the University of Southern Denmark, is actually quite useful if you loathe outdoor chores. It can be steered into grass-cutting action via the tilt of the controller synced with Bluetooth. Alternatively, you can drive it for a lap around the border of the yard and then put it on autopilot to mow inside the designated zone. We wouldn't run in front of it while its in motion, though, it's probably not as forgiving of interruption as a roomba. Researcher Kjeld Jensen also suggested applying the same technology to your grandmother's wheelchair, but we really don't think she'd appreciate that. See it for yourself in the video after the break.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/09/c...-of-a-wiimote/ ...

"After doing some digging, we can confirm that the release this fall will be international . While we were not able to get a list of countries that the Zune will ship to, we can confirm that it will be shipping to: Australia, China, and Europe. A company representative told me that there will be far more countries that the Zune will be shipping to. Stay tuned for more, including specs and pictures (We've seen the internal video!). I'll leave our readers with this: It's slim and you won't need a D-Pad. Feel free to speculate."

We pretty much knew that new hardware was coming this year, but the interwebs are blowing up over a single tweet from Brian Seitz where he confirmed that there's new hardware in the pipeline. People seem pretty excited about a new Zune, so that's good to see. The above quote from this Neowin article has more specifics than I've seen elsewhere - though I disagree with the use of "confirm" when they can't quote their source. At any rate, if this news is accurate, I'd say it's very big news indeed. Not only does it seem to firm up the rumour about an iPod Touch-like Zune (slim and no D-Pad), but it seems the Zune is finally ready to bust out of the confines of North America. Take this all with a large grain of salt mind you, because none of this is confirmed, but I think it's worth getting excited about! I wish I could add my own speculation into the mix based on what I learned spending two days with the Zune team, but I can't...I do hope though to be among the first to be able to provide you all with accurate information when the time comes.

http://www.zunethoughts.com/news/sho...this-year.html ...

There's all sorts of rumors flying around about the Zune right now. Keep in mind that there is absolutely no official word about this. Cruleworld's Lifestream spotted this one and its definitely a big deal if its true. Without coming out and saying it directly, Volvoshine has indicated that we should expect to see Netflix come to the Zune.

This is something that I would really want to see happen so I will say I am very excited if this is true. I think video subscription is key for the Zune. With that said I'm not sure what this would actually mean. Netflix streaming via Zune software doesn't make that much sense. If I'm at my computer then I could just stream via Netflix anyway.

Now could this mean that the next iteration of Zune software will allow streaming of Netflix via a WiFi connection? That seems to at least make more sense as an option. The only other way to get video onto the Zune would be via downloading it and Netflix has no current service like that. That would be my preference since that would let me watch video when I don't have a net connection but the potential to have Netflix streamed to the Zune itself could be a killer feature.

I don't know what this means but I can't wait to find out!

http://www.zunethoughts.com/news/sho...your-zune.html ...

Online retailer Amazon now has its own Xbox Live store. The retailer recently entered the arena of used games, and already has a downloadable PC game store -- and will now add Microsoft Points, XBLA games, and other subscriptions to its offering.

The new Amazon Xbox Live Store is currently in beta, and becomes the only other outlet besides Xbox Live Marketplace itself through which consumers can buy games and points digitally.

Customers who make purchases via Amazon's store will receive a download code they can use on Xbox Live Marketplace. The store beta launches with about 100 titles available, including Braid and Castle Crashers.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...hp?story=23116 ...

The big Final Fantasy XIII demo is all set to hit Japan next week. But just ahead of that, Famitsu has come through with a huge update on the game via an interview with director Motomu Toriyama.

There's a whole lot of new information in the interview, but let's start off with some details on the demo. The demo is split into two parts. The first part puts you in control of Lightning, who's joined in battle by Sazh. In the second half, you take control of Snow, who's joined in battle by the Nora crew. Vanille appears in the second half as well.

As previously detailed, the demo encompasses the first hour of the game. A group of people are on a train on route to their expulsion from Cocoon after being accused of having taken influence from Pulse. Lightning arrives on the scene just as the group has started to revolt. Meanwhile, on a separate train, Snow and crew are among the to-be-purged and have started a revolt of their own.



Click here to watch FF XIII in motion.Here's some of what you won't experience in the demo. Although Lightning and Sazh start off together, you won't learn about their relationship until a reflection scene that takes place after the events of the demo. Also, while the demo lets you play from the perspective of just Lightning and Snow, the final version will also have sequences that take place from Vanille's perspective. As you advance with one character, the game will switch to another character and you'll experience what that character has been up to. Apparently, such scenes run in parallel with one-another like one of those "Meanwhile..." transitions in a movie.

Most of the demo takes place in an area of Cocoon called "Hanged Edge" (please note that our roman form for this name could be incorrect). This area is on the border of Cocoon and has taken the most influence from Pulse when compared to other areas of Cocoon. It's a dark area, but this is apparently not indicative of the full FF world, which Toriyama describes as being bright and like a futuristic city.

The end of the demo will feature a look at a new character who appears in prison clothing. Toriyama hinted that she's an important character, but did not get into specifics.

The magazine expressed surprise with some of Sazh's motions from the demo (yes, the Famitsu editors were able to sample the demo ahead of everyone else -- see below for what they thought). Apparently, Sazh reacts with surprise from the kickback of his weapons. It turns out that he's not particularly used to battle, and ends up making a lot of unnecessary movements on the battle field.

Sazh's Chocobo may end up appearing along side Sazh during battle. This is something that Toriyama has, in past interviews, suggested might happen, and here he said that the development team is actively looking into it. One problem, however, is that the Chocobo's fur uses a "rich" rendering technique, which makes putting it into the battle system difficult.

Lightning and Snow will take center stage in the demo.On the note of Chocobos, there will be standard Chocobos in the game as well, Toriyama confirmed. However, they won't be used as a means for transportation.

Moving on to the battle system in general, the interview cleared up a lot of the areas that have been a mystery until now. First up, Toriyama explained that the FFXIII battle system is based around the concept of fusing strategy and action -- that is to say, adding the flash and speed of action to command-based battles.

The demo will give only a sampling of the game's strategic component via the ability to stock up commands. Another area of the strategy, which won't appear in the demo, comes from your allies. During battle, you control just one character. Your allies are controlled by AI. However, they react to the moves your character makes. The strategy here comes from figuring out how to connect with your allies and better draw out their abilities. The demo will offer a basic glimpse at this, with allies going in for follow-up attacks when you send an enemy into the air. The final version will give you better control over such things. Specifically, it seems that you'll be able to switch off freely between the characters.

We'll see just about 30% of the final battle system in the demo, explained Toriyama. The game's "Evolved ATB" system (the name for this system is currently under consideration) will show itself in only its base form. There won't be summons in the demo, although they'll be in the final. Additionally, the demo will limit you to just three move stocks, while the final version of the game will have your possible move stock increase as your character develops. The final version will also have changes to the game's menus to make it easier to input commands once you have a lot of commands at your disposal.

Toriyama also revealed something particularly surprising about the battle system. At the end of each battle, your character's HP will be totally recovered! The game ...