the scoop

the scoop

christian pyrofest coming to niles

Pyrofest, from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 20 at Pleasant Valley Churdh, 2055 Pleasant Valley Road, Niles, is all about teenagers in junior and senior high.

Here’s what Pyrofest has to offer, which includes a car smash, 35-foot bonfire, inflatables, and a concert by This Beautiful Republic, a Christian punk-emo band that released its second album, “Perceptions,” in August. Learn more at myspace.com/nextvalley and myspace.com/thisbeautifulrepublic. Pyrofest is free and open to the public. Call Pastor Doug Garasic at (330) 539-6582 for more information.

model behavior

Rob Thomas says he spends more time primping than his wife, model Marisol.

“She’s the most stylish, but I take longer to get ready,” the 36-year-old singer said Wednesday. “If I were more stylish, I would take less time. But I have no vision, so I have to try on everything at first to see if I want to wear it. She can tell right away what’s gonna work and what’s not gonna work. But I have to put on the pants, put on the shirt, put on the jacket, put on seventeen other jackets,” he explained.

Thomas, whose hits include “Push,” “3 A.M.” and “Smooth,” said he’s less vain than fearful that he’ll “look like an idiot.”

‘gta 4’ hits 10 million

How huge is “Grand Theft Auto IV”? Take-Two Interactive announced that it has sold 10 million copies of the game since its April 29 launch. To put that in perspective, 2007’s best-selling video game, “Halo 3,” sold just 4.8 million. And “GTA IV” still has the holiday season as well as a PC version to look forward to.

The game’s revenue of $600 million also puts it ahead of the year’s most popular movie, “The Dark Knight,” whose box office is at $512 million and rising.

During the same conference call in which he talked about “GTA IV” sales, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder also mentioned that “Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars” will be out in the first quarter of the company’s 2009 fiscal year, which puts it sometime before Jan. 31 of next year. The first Nintendo DS chapter of the “GTA” franchise is being developed by Rockstar Leeds, which handled the same duties on the PlayStation Portable games “Liberty City Stories” and “Vice City Stories.”

Meanwhile, hardcore “GTA IV” players who have shot every pigeon and performed every last stunt in Liberty City are eagerly awaiting the further adventures of antihero Niko Bellic. Rumors about the availability of fresh, downloadable missions were stoked last month when Microsoft issued a press release saying, “In autumn there will be news from Liberty City; the first episodes of ’GTA IV’ will be available for download exclusively on Xbox Live.” The respected Eurogamer Web site, citing “sources close to Rockstar North,” the developer of “GTA IV,” reported that the target is late November.

prices are falling

You can now buy an Xbox 360 for less than a Nintendo Wii (that is, if you can find the latter). Unfortunately, it’s the Xbox 360 Arcade — the one without a hard drive, which makes it nearly useless if you want to download games — that’s now on sale for $200, down from $280.

Still, Microsoft’s other models are cheaper too. The Xbox 360 Pro, with a 60-gigabyte hard drive, has had its price cut from $350 to $300.

The Xbox 360 Elite, with a 120GB hard drive, is now $400, down from $450.

new video games

In stores this week: Electronic Arts’ long-gestating “Spore” (right) finally comes to the PC and Mac, along with “Spore Creatures” for the DS. ...

Two hockey giants face off again with 2K Sports’ “NHL 2K9” (Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2) and EA Sports’ “NHL 09” (EAS, 360, PS3). ...

That other wrestling league finally gets its own game, Midway’s “TNA Impact!” (360, PS3, PS2).