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Rockstar supporting PSP digital distribution, announces PSN storefront
Rockstar is throwing some support behind PSP's digital distribution initiative and has added several titles in with today's PSN update, with more soon to follow. The initial offering included Manhunt 2 ($29.99), Midnight Club L.A. Remix ($19.99) and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition ($19.99). 1UP reports that soon the entire Grand Theft Auto PSP line-up (including Chinatown Wars at launch) will make its way to the PSN, along with The Warriors and Beaterator. The publisher also plans to launch a Rockstar storefront on October 22, just to show it's as serious about supporting PSP digital distribution as a guy sticking a gun in your face and stealing your car.
Ousted Take-Two CEO Eibeler joins SouthPeak board
Tuesday 4 August 170-something lbs. of face-palming rage.Food consumed today:A lot of really audible snacks and stuff that makes me sound bone-crunchy and vicious, like a Central Park West poodle.Just past midnight. New York: my penthouse. Do people never learn? Found out today that SouthPeak Interactive has hired Paul Eibeler to be on its board of directors. This is the same guy I had ousted from Take-Two back in '07 -- not to mention, Diary, I'm still bitter about that golden parachute we gave him.What really wrinkles my suit, though, is this statement by SouthPeak chair Terry Phillips: "As one of the most respected executives in the interactive games industry, we welcome Paul to the board of directors." LOL to the ROFLCOPTER! I laugh in their general direction, Diary. Eibeler was named "Worst CEO" by MarketWatch in 2005 for his handling of Take-Two and the way he dealt with the "Hot Coffee" scandal. I mean, I've taken my licks, but Eibeler getting hired? It's like nobody Googles anymore.
Take-Two stock takes punch after BioShock 2 delay
Shares of Take-Two Interactive took a hit overnight after the company announced BioShock 2's delay to the first half of 2010. After-hours trading saw the stock drop 13 percent. Today, during regular trading hours, the stock has hovered around a 10-percent loss.It's unlikely that a delay of Max Payne 3 or Mafia II would have caused investors to notice. GTA IV's DLC, The Ballad of Gay Tony, would have most certainly given the market agita if it had been delayed, but it still appears ready to come out all fabulous this fall.
Take-Two announces push into Asia with NBA 2K Online
Did you know that at 1.3 billion people, the mainland Chinese population encompasses around 1/6th of the world's population? It's true! This might help to explain why Take-Two Interactive announced today not just the launch of NBA 2K Online -- an online basketball game for the Asian market -- but also the creation of Take-Two Asia, a new satellite office for the BioShock publisher. The game is being co-developed by Take-Two and Chinese game company Tencent Holdings Limited for distribution in China and "other key markets" (notably Taiwan, South Korea and Southeast Asia). Information on the game's pricing structure or what it looks like or, well, anything really is rather scant, though we do know that it will include "all of the NBA teams, as well as current and retired NBA players." Will the game be free-to-play with microtransactions? Will it ever be offered on this side of the Pacific? Will we be able to showboat our jersey in a raucous celebration of happiness a la Kobe Bryant when we dunk on fools? We just don't know.
GTA MMO would be a profitable venture, analyst suggests
In a recent set of statements to Gamasutra, Mike Hickey, an analyst with Janco Partners, brought up the profitability of an MMO set within the Grand Theft Auto franchise.While Hickey notes that success would only be possible if Take-Two partnered up with another company who had a well designed infrastructure and MMO experience, the whole paragraph is certainly a nod in the direction of online crime games at large -- a genre relatively untapped in the MMO landscape.Certainly a Grand Theft Auto MMO would be the new gorilla of the online space, one can't easily forget about the stylized and anticipated offering from Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds, All Points Bulletin. A GTA MMO would certainly be nice, but APB will certainly be setting the bar for all upcoming crime MMOs, regardless of a GTA entry into the scene.
Take-Two reveals declining Q2 financial results
Gaming industry juggernaut Take-Two Interactive recently released its second quarter financial results (among other things), and as one might expect, the outlook isn't quite as rosy as Q2 of last year. With the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, Q2 2008 brought the publisher a net income of $98.2 million, or $1.29 per share -- this year, with no GTA IV to lean on, the company experienced a net loss of $10.1 million, or $0.13 per share. Not disastrous, but not exactly a celebration-worthy fiscal quarter, either.Combined with Q1, the first half of 2009 has brought Take-Two a net loss of $60.5 million -- a harsh contrast to the first half of 2008, when the company raked in a net income of $60.2 million. The report also highlighted Take-Two's top selling products over the past three months -- unsurprisingly, they included The Lost and Damned, Major League Baseball 2K9, Grand Theft Auto IV and GTA: Chinatown Wars. For more delicious, nigh-incomprehensible numerals, you can read the full report here.
A bunch of totally not cel-shaded Borderlands images
We really aren't going to get into a semantic discussion about Borderlands' new art style, so feel free to call it cel-shaded or illustrative, it's all marketing-speak bullet-points to us at this stage. Thing is, the game looks totally different than it did back in the day. We're just curious to see what Borderlands looks like in action now, and we'll hopefully have that chance at E3, commencing in just a little over a month. Check out the gallery below for new images (for the internets, at least), and be sure to click the hi-res button in the gallery to embiggen.%Gallery-51471%
APB's Realtime Worlds gets new CEO: Gary Dale
Realtime Worlds, creator of the XBox 360 game Crackdown and the upcoming Cops and Robbers themed MMO All Points Bulletin has announced that Gary Dale has been appointed as their new CEO to help oversee their transition from being a traditional game developer to an online publisher. Realtime Worlds repurchased the rights for All Points Bulletin from publisher Webzen last year for an undisclosed amount.Dale has previously been the chief executive officer and executive vice president of Take-Two Interactive Software. Before that he was the chief operating officer for their Rockstar Games publishing label. Realtime Worlds was founded in 2002 by David Jones, whose previous credits include Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings, and had served as CEO up until now. He remains with the company as creative director.
2K's Hartmann predicts shift to server-based gaming in 'the future'
2K Games Global President Christoph Hartmann believes server-based games are, like, the future. Not really the most surprising revelation from the exec, considering 2K Games is helping mix pitchers of OnLive Kool-Aid by placing its games on the mystical device. Hartmann expresses to GI.biz that in the future, "the market will shift to more server-based games - similar to the movie business where most people just rent instead of view films in the cinema." 2K plans to release Major League Baseball and the BioShock franchises on the service.Hartmann believes the OnLive technology will meet expectations, noting that the service will have more competition soon. It'll be interesting to see if OnLive (or some other similar service) proves the doubters wrong. Hartmann's right, though -- server-based gaming is the future, but just how far ahead do we have to go for it to be the present?
GTA: Chinatown Wars sells 89K units in March
Proving the analysts wrong, GTA: Chinatown Wars launched far below their prognostications in March with a mere 89,000 units sold, NPD has confirmed to Joystiq. The game was expected to show that a high-profile M-rated franchise like GTA could perform well on Nintendo's handheld. With a mere 0.3% of the 29.3 million DS units sold in the US rocking the crime drama, that could be interpreted as not being a good sign for more big M-rated titles on the system.Despite incredibly solid reviews, it appears that Chinatown Wars has quite the hill to climb towards analyst projections. Perhaps only having a half-month of sales is the issue, with the crime caper releasing March 17 ... maybe next month will be kinder.
Ringling Bros. game coming to Wii, DS
2K Play announced today that it plans on creating a Wii and DS game based on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Beyond that ... there's really not much information. The image above was taken at Madison Square Garden, in "celebration" of the partnership with 2K, where the high-wire artist walked the tightrope using a Wiimote and Nunchuk for balance. 2K's press release states this "no doubt was a precursor of what to expect in the upcoming video games."Given 2K's surprising cash infusion from the Carnival Games series, it wouldn't be surprising to see the publisher tap into that voodoo with this upcoming Ringling Bros-licensed title. According to 2K, more info will be made available at E3.
Take-Two files trademark for 'Irrational Boston'
The clues have been building up and it appears that 2K Boston may be changing its name to Irrational Boston, the original name of the development studio (albeit now with a location tacked on to the name). The information comes by way of a trademark registration (via superannuation) filed by parent company and publisher Take-Two Interactive, not to mention shirts we spotted 2K Boston employees wearing at GDC last week.Little is known about how the name change will affect the development studio but we are prone to wild speculation. So let's begin! Is it a sister studio inside 2K Boston? Is it to spin off 2K development studios under the "Irrational" name? And what does this mean for the other half of the original Irrational Games that's now named "2K Australia?" The official word from 2K Boston as of this morning was, "No comment," but we should expect to hear something "very soon." We'll update this post as news comes in.[Via superannuation]
What does it cost to keep EA at bay?
In order to keep out of EA's portfolio Take-Two Interactive spent nearly $11.1 million, according to Security and Exchange Commission filings submitted by the Grand Theft Auto IV publisher. In a seven-month-long period Electronic Arts attempted to purchase Take-Two Interactive by way of initial offering and then by bidding directly to shareholders. After numerous delayed deadlines, Electronic Arts finally canceled its quest to purchase the company who owns such high-profile studios as 2K Boston, developers of BioShock. Gamespot reports that Take-Two incurred the costs during the "strategic review process" of the EA offer. Today, Take-Two Interactive remains an independent company but shareholders are probably grinding their teeth about its current financial situation. At the height of buyout talks, EA was offering $25.74 per share but Take-Two rejected the offer, now the company currently trades at $8 per share ... but that probably has a lot to do with this whole economic crisis thing.
Take-Two spent $11 million preventing EA takeover
Security and Exchange Commission filings by Take-Two reveal the publisher spent $11.1 million to keep Electronic Arts at bay during its seven-month-long takeover attempt. Gamespot reports that Take-Two incurred the costs during the "strategic review process" of the EA offer.For better or worse for investors, Take-Two won its battle against EA and remains independent. Although, investors can't be too happy to see the stock they could have gotten $25.74 for during the EA offer currently trading around $8 per share*.*In fairness, game stocks in general are down. Apparently something to do with an economic crisis.[Via GameDaily]
GTA franchise nabs over $700 million in 2008
Yesterday, following the release of its quarterly report, Take-Two Interactive CFO Lainie Goldstein announced the Grand Theft Auto franchise has brought in $710 million in 2008 during a conference call. According to a report by our second-cousin site GameDaily, GTA's 2008 skrilla accounts for about 60% of the company's publishing sales. In the, ever important, fourth quarter, GTA netted $40 million -- about 17% of the company's total sales.Surprise kids! GTA makes money and Take-Two is bloated like a midnight launch line. Maybe Take-Two should consider locking Rockstar down for the future. Oh, they did? You know what our mothers used to say, "Great minds think alike and fools seldom differ." Hey, we just got that. Someone isn't getting their holiday greeting card this year.[via Joystiq]
Rockstar vets cement long-term deal with Take-Two
For brothers who've become popular creating games starring characters who seek out freedom from society's corporate machine this is a strange move but not unexpected. Take-Two Interactive have announced a new long-term agreement with "key members of the creative team" behind Grand Theft Auto IV, including Sam (pictured) and Dan Houser. Terms of the agreement would see the team locked into an publishing deal with Take-Two until January 31, 2012. The arrangement also includes a new incentive compensation program for the Rockstar Games label and an agreement from Take-Two "to fund the future development of certain new intellectual property to be owned by a newly formed company controlled by key Rockstar Games team members." Our guess? Lemmings Kart Racing. Believe.
Take-Two: GTA franchise made $710 million this year
In a conference call today following the release of Take-Two's quarterly report, CFO Lainie Goldstein revealed the GTA franchise brought in $710 million so far this year. According to GameDaily, that aforementioned chunk of ducats would account for about 60% of the company's publishing sales. In Q4, GTA brought in $40 million, which is about 17% of the company's sales.So ... yeah. The newsflash is GTA makes lots of money for Take-Two, which clearly is a huge shock to us all. Guess it's a good thing the company locked down the Rockstar talent then, huh?
Take-Two Interactive considering subs and microtransactions for top titles
Subscriptions have been the bread and butter of MMOs since the days of Ultima Online, but subs may be coming to some popular standalone PC titles from Take-Two Interactive, presumably the Grand Theft Auto franchise and BioShock. Brian Crecente of Kotaku reports that "at the BMO Capital Markets conference, Take-Two head honcho Strauss Zelnick seemed very up on the idea of downloadable content, micro-transactions and even... subscriptions." This falls in line with their business model of periodically offering downloadable content to either extend the storyline of a game, or to simply offer varied gameplay experiences. Downloadable content and microtransactions could solve some of the issues game publishers have with their titles being re-sold, allowing them to have a continuous revenue stream, and perhaps dissuading many consumers from reselling that game in the first place. Regular content refreshes could ensure that these games don't go stale and end up relegated to a dusty bookshelf. Zelnick implied that this business model, should it come to be, would likely only affect Take-Two's biggest titles. This implies changes to the business models for Grand Theft Auto and BioShock, although the words "Midnight Club Online" also seem apt. But do you feel that adding the trappings of the MMO business model, namely subs and microtransactions, would enhance your experience with a standalone title, both as a gamer and as a consumer? Are more MMO-like PC games a good thing, or are you more of an MMO purist?
BioShock ships over 2.2 million
No question: Take-Two lurves their BioShock baby. In an announcement today, the publisher revealed that, to date, BioShock has shipped over 2.2 million units across both the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows platforms. Not too shabby, eh?It's clear that with this news, Take-Two's gearing up for BioShock mania. Combine strong sales with the recent announcement of BioShock on PS3, news of the Verbinski-directed BioShock film, and the inevitable BioShock 2 announcement from 2K Marin, and we're on the cusp of the next big franchise in gaming. Good thing or bad thing?
Bully patch making things worse?
Hey everyone. Remember how the Xbox 360 version of Bully had all those problems? Remember how Rockstar soon delivered a patch to iron out all the bugs? Well, it looks like the patch didn't quite work as advertised. In fact, if reports on the intertubes are to be believed, the patch actually made the game worse for some players. Specifically, there are reports of audio stuttering, which is something we've heard from our own readers, as well as graphical glitches and freezing issues. The question now is whether or not Rockstar plans to patch the patch.%Poll-11759%
