So far, the top note on my Things I Didn't Expect To Hear This Morning List is the that Grand Theft Auto 3 is poised to hit a smattering of high-end tablets and handsets later this fall. No, really � I have a list and, yeah, Rockstar Games announced plans to port its once-technical marvel to touch devices at some point in 2011 in celebration of its 10th birthday.

We don't know anything about Grand Theft Auto 3 for mobile, including what it'll look like or what price it'll launch at. The blog post announcing this seemingly 'big deal' bit of news is strangely focusing more on a new and limited run of $150 12-inch Claude toys with "30 points of articulation" instead of the game. But, hey, pre-orders for the toy are open now!

I've got a fantastic and equally unfulfilling love and hate relationship with GTA3, just as I do with every other GTA title. I love the bluster, the scale, and a good deal of the content, but the controls and general technical wonkiness of Rockstar's open worlds drag everything down. It'll be interesting to see if this tenth anniversary edition on handhelds will debut with an improvement or two. I guess we'll see.

Oh! And here's the devices you'll have to have in order to play it:

Apple iOS Devices: iPad 2, iPhone 4S
Android Phones: Droid X2, HTC Evo 2, LG Optimus 2X, Motorola Atrix, Samsung Galaxy S2
Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

We're in the middle of a fluid and defining time in the games space as digital really takes hold, nontraditional payment models continue to prove viable, and expectations of how and where people play their games mutate. Things are changing, no doubt, and we've heard a fair share of doomsday scenarios for multiple platforms as a result. This one from Valve boss Gabe Newell is pretty juicy as far as these things go. Speaking at a tech panel the other day, Newell said that he suspects Apple might step into the living room and blow up that particularly isolated experience into a perspective-shifting one that'll spell the end of a 'separate' console platform.

For some context here, Newell believes there are four legitimate platforms at the moment: Internet, mobile, the computer, and the living room. Newell's also a noted not-fan of closed platforms, which was pretty apparent during the panel covered by The Seattle Times.

"I suspect Apple will launch a living room product that redefines people's expectations really strongly and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear," he said.

"I'm worried that the things that traditionally have been the source of a lot of innovation are going � there's going to be an attempt to close those off so somebody will say 'I'm tired of competing with Google, I'm tired of competing with Facebook, I'll apply a console model and exclude the competitors I don't like from my world.'"

I often wonder if Apple's hobby project, the Apple TV, is ever going to become this possible hardcore games device� Or at least a vital part of the puzzle along with iOS 5 AirPlay mirroring. I'm not sure if that'd be enough to realize what Newell is thinking here, but it's a good start.
[Via The Seattle Times]

Somehow, at some point, it became public yet-still-unofficial knowledge that Criterion Games' Burnout Crash was coming to the iPad. It's official now. In a new blog post, publisher EA has confirmed that the top-down racer is headed to our favorite tablet in 2011. It's also coming to the iPhone and iPod touch, too, during the same "holiday" release window. Neat!

We haven't seen this version in action yet, but the features EA is noting makes it appears as if it'll stick pretty close to its XBLA and PSN source material:

Use intuitive taps and swipes to steer vehicles, trigger explosions, and rack up ridiculous scores across three game modes, 18 traffic junctions, and six unique locations. In addition to a rocking 80s soundtrack featuring Vanilla Ice and Gloria Estefan, you can look forward to Autolog support to connect, compare, and compete with friends and rivals.

Basically, Crash is a critically middling top-down version of pre-Paradise�Burnout's uber-popular crash mode. Like vehicular pinball, you wreck your tiny car into traffic and hope to pull off various multipliers and chain effects with explosions. We think it'll actually be better on touch devices, but we'll have to wait to see.