Grand Theft Auto 4 has now shipped a gargantuan 22 million copies worldwide since its April 2008 release.

That doesn't mean they've all been sold, but it's an indication of its enormous success nonetheless.

Company chairman Strauss Zelnick revealed the figure during a talk at ThinkEquity's annual Growth conference, reported IndustryGamers.

Take-Two (owner of 2K and Rockstar) said the Grand Theft Auto series has now shipped a total of 114 million units to shops around the world.

In comparison, breakout console success Red Dead Redemption has shipped 12.5 million copies. That game became the first of Take-Two's fleet to demonstrate anything like the success of GTA.

The two BioShock games have combined to ship 9 million units. A third BioShock game, BioShock Infinite, is being made for a 2012 release.

The Wii Carnival Games series shipped 8 million units.

The entire Midnight Club series shipped 18.5 million units. The Civilization series shipped 11 million units.

The Max Payne series managed to ship 7.5 million, and will also welcome a third instalment in 2012.

The two Mafia games shipped 5 million copies.

Borderlands, alone, shipped 4.5 million. Borderlands 2 will be released sometime between April 2012 and March 2013.

Last but not least, The Darkness, which shipped 1 million. Whether weak or not, it too is due a sequel, and that's also coming in 2012.

Notably absent from the Take-Two list was L.A. Noire, which we know to have shipped 4 million units.

Rumour has it that Take-Two is close to announcing Grand Theft Auto 5. But will Take-Two wish to detract attention from its already packed 2012 slate?

Video: Max Payne 3 now has Rockstar's full attention.

The first book to explore the world of BioShock launches next Tuesday, 19th July.

BioShock: Rapture is by science fiction writer John Shirley, published by Titan Books and sold for £7.99.

It covers events from the creation of Rapture to a point before the first game.

Read a BioShock: Rapture excerpt on the official site.

Irrational Games boss Ken Levine hasn't given up on getting the stalled BioShock movie off the ground, but admits that getting it right presents a huge challenge.

Talk of putting Rapture on the big screen began back in 2008, with Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski nearly getting a project off the ground. However, it checked into development hell late last year due to budgetary concerns.

Speaking in an interview with IndustryGamers, Levine explained that he remained hopeful that the film will one day get made.

"I think we're in the space now of building properties that are appealing to people, and there's a version of BioShock that makes a great game and there's probably a version of BioShock that makes a great movie," he said.

"I think for us as a company, we don't have any need to get a movie made. We'd like to have a movie made, but it would have to be the right one, and we've had the opportunity to get it made and unless all the right pieces are in place – it's hard enough to get a movie made when all the right pieces are in place. If you don't start with the right pieces, you don't have a prayer.

"We've had a lot of great talks with great people about it. We got close to great people, but you always have to have all of those pieces in place and that's going to be very challenging.

"It's a moving puzzle, but I'm going to be continually talking to people about it," he added. "It's definitely something that's still in the conversation."

But what of the impending BioShock Infinite? Is there a chance that might leapfrog the original and make it to the big screen first?

"Right now, I think mostly about the game," he insisted. "And when it's done, and I have the story worked out completely - every single detail of it, I'll probably be more comfortable thinking about that. But right now I'm really just focused on BioShock Infinite as a game."

For more on how Levine's keenly anticipated new FPS is shaping up, cast an eye over Eurogamer's recent preview.

BioShock 2's Minerva's Den DLC expansion finally arrives on PC from 31st May.

The campaign add-on, which originally launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 back in August 2010, will be available via Games For Windows Live priced at 800 Microsoft Points.

Developer 2K Games decided to scrap plans to bring the expansion over to PC back in September, blaming "timing and technical issues". After taking a bit of a beating from disgruntled PC gamers on message boards it then backtracked and upped tools again.

Now, nine months after it arrived on consoles, you'll finally get to see what you've been missing out on.

The original console trailer below should offer a taste of what to expect.

Video:

The long-awaited Protector Trials DLC for BioShock 2 on PC has been yanked off the Games for Windows - Live Marketplace because "it's not ready yet".

That's what 2K community bod "2K Elizabeth" wrote on the game's forum after baffled buyers complained that their content - purchased for 400 Microsoft Points and not free as once promised - wouldn't work.

"Wait till my word before you go grab it - it's not ready yet," her post read.

"Mistakes happen - sometimes out of our control. I'm the head of community, so if you feel that you weren't treated well, I'm stepping up and letting you know that's my failing. But in this case, all I can do is apologise and let you know that I wasn't checking the Marketplace or the forums around 10pm last night and so this wasn't caught until my community manager checked the thread.

"Don't blame a 'suit' - in fact, I don't think I've ever seen a person wear a suit in this office and even if you were talking about our lawyer or our COO, I would vehemently say you have the wrong impression of them. They are real workers and if you met them, you'd appreciate them.

"Don't lump us in with all the other companies in the world," she wrote. "I'm not going to pretend that I couldn't have made this entire roll out smoother, but please don't damn us for this error which honestly could not have been predicted."

Owners of BioShock 2 on PS3 and Xbox 360 had both the Protector Trials and Minerva's Den DLC early last autumn. Originally, PC gamers weren't even to get the two add-ons, but community outcry forced a rethink by game-maker 2K.

Eurogamer awarded the Protector Trials 6/10.

Video: 15 minutes of Minerva's Den on PC.

Pre-production on the movie version of 2K's BioShock franchise has ground to a halt after no studio was found who was willing to invest in an R-rated version of the tale, the flick's producer has explained.

Pirates of the Caribbean shot-caller Gore Verbinksi told ComingSoon that he wasn't willing to sanitise his "really, really scary" vision for the film in order to make it a more commercial prospect.

"I couldn't really get past anybody that would spend the money that it would take to do it and keep an R rating," he explained.

"Alternately, I wasn't really interested in pursuing a PG-13 version. Because the R rating is inherent. Little Sisters and injections and the whole thing. I just wanted to really, really make it a movie where, four days later, you're still shivering and going, 'Jesus Christ!'

"It's a movie that has to be really, really scary, but you also have to create a whole underwater world, so the price tag is high. We just didn't have any takers on an R-rated movie with that price tag."

Verbinski went on to discuss how, in theory, the film would have been a perfect fit for 3D.

"[Bioshock] would be a great movie to do in 3D. I'd like to go into that world wearing a pair of glasses. I think in general, gaming is perfect for 3D. Anything where you're the protagonist. The kid in The Shining on the big wheel, going around corridors. That's what 3D is perfect for. To make people feel on-edge."

A film adaptation of the FPS classic was first announced back in 2008 before it took up residence in development hell.

In April 2009 Universal Studios demanded Verbinski trim down the project's swollen $160 million budget, and then everything went quiet.

Franchise creator Ken Levine insisted the project was still alive and kicking back in September last year, but it seems any chance of seeing Rapture on screen has now been well and truly sunk.

The next game in the series, BioShock Infinite, is due next year on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

BioShock 2 developer 2K Games has gone back on its decision not to release the Protector Trials and Minerva's Den DLC packs for PC, and is currently working to bring all content to the platform.

The studio explained the change of heart in a post on its forums. "When we announced that Protector Trials and Minerva's Den would not be coming out for the PC due to technical and timing issues, we received a lot of feedback (much of it understandably expressing disappointment and anger) about our decision."

"Over the past two weeks, we've decided to go back and finish the PC patch and Protector Trials. Currently, we are patching the final bugs in these two pieces of content and then will submit everything to certification.

"The cert process can take anywhere up to four weeks, but as we hit major milestones (passing cert or otherwise included) I'll tell you guys. We are projecting that the patch and the Protector Trials will be ready to cert in December and I'm happy to announce that they will be available free to the community.

"When we stopped development on Minerva's Den, it was not in a workable state and needed significantly more dev time to complete," the post continued.

"As of now, we are not certain how much longer it would take to complete the project to our standards, but we have reallocated resources to work on completing the project so PC gamers can have this experience in Rapture along with 360 and PS3 owners."

A victory for people power then. Hurrah!