"He said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game”

August was another month of Grand Theft Controversy, as Rockstar's open-world classic was blamed for more horrific real-world events. First came the news that an 18 year-old Thai student had confessed to robbing and killing a taxi driver, apparently drawing inspiration from Grand Theft Auto IV. “He wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game,” police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak told Reuters.

As if this wasn't enough to get Jack Thompson's moral sphincter twitching, just three days later reports emerged of three teens from Atlanta, Georgia who claimed that Grand Theft Auto IV taught them how to fire-bomb six cars. The more cynical among us might view that as an opportunistic defence strategy, given that the game does not exactly feature a step-by-step tutorial on bomb-making.

The moral frenzy surrounding GTA IV would just not die, however, as a report by Nielsen Games found that 17% of US GTA IV owners were underage. Parents and the ratings system were found to be severely lacking as 39% of minors had the game bought for them by a relative, and 61% bought it themselves. Many parents, however, take the gaming threat seriously, none more so than those who took part in a survey which found GTA IV to be worse than beer and porn. Looks like the Christians were right to warn us about digital terrorists infiltrating the bedrooms of our children. Or maybe it's just an absurd over-reaction to modern technology. Who knows, we're not here to judge.

One thing's for sure - the publicity, no matter how bad, is not harming Rockstar's revenues as GTA IV was revealed to be the world's biggest selling game with over six million sales.

"And where ... is the Batman?"

While one open-world game rides high at the top of the world game sales chart, another languishes in development hell. Following the phenomenal success of the Dark Knight film, Batman fans were left wondering at what bat-time, or on what bat-channel, they could expect to see the game. Commissioner Gordon himself, Gary Oldman, spilled the beans on a Dark Knight game back in July, but August proved to be a dark time for the caped crusader. First came reports that the delay between releasing the film and the game had cost Warner Bros. and EA approximately $100 million in sales.

Now, we all know that no-one likes to lose $100 million so there must be a pretty significant reason behind the delay. And we found out a few days later as rumours about the current state of the game hit the web. Developer Pandemic, if the rumours are to be believed, is having a little trouble with the Dark Knight. The open-world setting does not seem to be the problem, so much as a camera system that isn't playing ball and close combat that is, by all accounts, about as enjoyable as the last Batman game. Or the one before it. Or the one before it. You get the picture.

EA's Dark Knightmare was only made worse as Rocksteady and Eidos announced they were making their own Batman game, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

“What we're also seeing is for the people who don't like it, generally just don't get it. And it's because we've created something so innovative and different.”

Speaking of development hell, nearly ten years since it was announced, August saw the release of Dennis Dyack's Too Human. Originally planned as a four disc Playstation game back in 1999, Too Human had more development time than most and we got to find out if it had paid off. The short answer: no. The long answer: no, it's terrible.

From a game in development for ten years, to a game that is twenty years old, Bionic Commando made a triumphant return in August. Capcom showed us just how a remix should be done as Bionic Commando: Rearmed was released on PSN and Xbox Live to high acclaim. We loved the retro feel combined with modern tweaks and consider it to be among the best Xbox Live and PSN have to offer. It looks like the retro games market is picking up and the news that Duke Nukem 3D is coming to Xbox Live Arcade made us want to kick ass and chew gum. Sadly, we were all out of ass.