The 18-year-old was left with a broken jaw after his copy was snatched as he walked home in Leyland, Lancashire.

He was pounced on after leaving the town's Blockbuster video store, which stayed open late to meet the huge demand.

The fastest-selling console game went on sale amid much publicity just after midnight on April 29.

Charged

Oliver Aindow, 18, of Kingswood Road, Leyland, and Marc Hughes, 21, of Herbert Street, Leyland, will appear before Chorley Magistrates today.

The hugely successful Grand Theft Auto series has been heavily criticised for its depiction of casual violence, drug dealing and prostitution.

In the game, players win points for stealing cars, doing drug deals and shooting police officers.

It was reported that 3.6 million copies of Grand Theft Auto IV were sold on its release date.

It may not be a surprise, but the statistics are still staggering, as Grand Theft Auto IV shattered all first-day game sales records on its April 29 release date, shifting a staggering 609,000 units on Xbox 360 and PS3.

The total beat the previous GTA game's first-day sales by over 100,000, as San Andreas managed to sell 501,000 units back in 2004.

Even Halo 3, the top-selling title on Xbox 360, eclipsed by GTA IV, with 335,000 units sold exclusively on Microsoft's next-gen console - 69,000 more than Halo 3 sold on its first day of release in September last year.