Grand Theft Auto IV has entered the Guinness World Records as the biggest entertainment release of all time.

Rockstar Games' controversial shoot-em-up sold 3.6 million units in its first day of release to generate $310m in revenues.

These feats earned records for the Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours and the Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours.

GTA IV is now the most profitable entertainment release of all time, far surpassing other video game, film and book releases.

However, although the game racked up sales of over $500m in its first week, it has become a victim of its own success after hackers abused the brand to help spread viruses.

Security firm DriveSentry warned that cyber-criminals are tempting fans by offering 'free downloads' of bogus versions of the game for their PCs.

"People are exploiting the popularity of Grand Theft Auto IV in a way which could bring mayhem to the internet," said John Safa, chief technical officer at DriveSentry.

"The only thing that many gamers can think of at the moment is Grand Theft Auto IV and hackers are using that interest to generate chaos as quickly as they can."

Safa explained that a popular peer-to-peer site contained links to files claiming to offer the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV that actually contained malware named Trojan Downloader.Win32.VB.dck.

He even found links offering free downloads for the PC version of the game, despite the fact that it is not yet available on the PC.