The answer could come this weekend when video game enthusiasts find out whether "Grand Theft Auto IV," expected to set sales records in the gaming world this week, will steal glory and revenue from a different entertainment empire: the movies.

As the hype for "GTA IV" continues to grow and reviews scream perfection, some speculate that the game will put a dent in Marvel Studios' opening weekend box office for "Iron Man."

"GTA IV" is the ninth incarnation of a video game in which the user acts as a criminal roaming a city. The series has faced criticism for being too violent, because users are allowed to beat, stab, shoot and kill citizens and police officers. "Iron Man" is a movie based on the Marvel comic book superhero who creates an impressive suit of armor to save his life and help save the world.

"GTA IV" was released Tuesday at midnight and is expected to gross about $400 million in the first week.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is the latest group to join the fray, criticizing a sequence in the game that allows players to drive drunk. The group has asked the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), which sets the ratings for video games, to change the rating from M for "Mature" to AO for "Adults Only." An AO rating is generally considered a kiss of death for games, as major electronics retailers refuse to carry AO-rated games.

"Drunk driving is not a game and it is not a joke," MADD said in a statement this week. "Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable."

Three Auckland teenagers were killed when the vehicle they were in crashed off the Northwestern Motorway in Auckland during a high-speed police pursuit on Christmas Eve.

National's transport spokesman Maurice Williamson says today's young people think they are bullet-proof. He blames Playstations and X-boxes for making teens think they can drive stupidly and just push the reset button if anything goes wrong.

Mr Williamson believes 15 is far too young to be behind the wheel of a car.

Hi. I'm Ricky Bobby. And if there's one thing I know it's how to win.

Winning is good. Winning is everything.

Now you can feel the awesome power of what's its like to win in my very own video game, Fast Track.

"If people call me video game boy, I'm fine with that because it's gotten me to where I am right now in my career. Video games are definitely an essential to success in racing, I think," Coleman said.

Games offered the only exposure Coleman had to racing growing up in Houston. His father owned a marketing company, and his grandfather, Don, was a Hall of Fame high school basketball coach.

Sure, he impressed babysitters as a toddler racing a battery-powered car at the mall, and his parents thought he might be a racer when he fell asleep at the age of 4 in his battery-powered Jeep with his foot pressed on the accelerator - and kept turning circles in the driveway.

But talented enough to go from his first go-kart race to his Busch debut in the span of five years? Yes, and part of the credit goes to Coleman's natural ability honed by years of pretending to be doing his homework when he actually was racing cars on his Sega Genesis, then PlayStation, his computer and then Xbox.

"It all started out on the NASCAR video games," Coleman said. "When I was a little kid, I knew all the NASCAR tracks like the back of my hand. That helps me now."

How did you develop your skills?

"I played with Hot Wheels on the floor when I was a baby and advanced to racing video games. My coaches tell me the video games were a huge part of my development. I still train every day on a full scale simulator."

Do you have a girlfriend?

"No. My focus on my racing career is more important to me and I just don't have time for girls right now. "

Initially, people claimed it was just a photograph! I think people have pretty much come to the correct conclusion now though - this is what people can genuinely expect from the next generation of video games. Bizarre Creations are proud to be one of the developers leading the charge toward High Definition, and we're very pleased with the results so far.

As a small gift to all of you who still refuse to believe that last week's image was a real screenshot, here we have the wire-frame version of the same scene, captured from the same dev kit that the original screenshot was taken. After reading the comments from all over the web (ranging from "That's awesome" to "That's a fake!"), we felt we had to release something which proved we're not messing with you.

Join Crazy Frog and a brand new bunch of his friends (and enemies!) in his very first videogame -- Crazy Frog Racer! Race kart style around twelve of the most amazingly crazy tracks using some of the most crazzzzy power ups known to frog!

He makes crazy noises, he goes crazily fast, and he wants you to have some crazy fun! As well as the Annoying Thing, meet Ellie the Fairy, Ninja Gorilla, Mad French Chef, Geerty the Cow, the Gangsta kids, and many many more!