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Max Payne 3 shipped 3 million, sales 'lower than anticipated'
Max Payne 3 has shipped 3 million units since its launch for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in May, Take-Two Interactive announced in its first quarter 2013 financial report today. Max Payne 3 and Spec Ops: The Line both sold fewer copies than Take-Two anticipated, leading to first quarter results below the company's expectations, CEO Strauss Zelnick said.Still, "the outlook for our slate of upcoming releases is stronger than ever," Zelnick added. "Early consumer enthusiasm suggests robust demand for our extraordinary lineup of upcoming releases, particularly Borderlands 2, NBA 2K13 and BioShock Infinite. We continue to expect fiscal 2013 to be one of the best years in Take-Two's history."
Grand Theft Auto 3 coming to PSN next Tuesday, no word on Vice City just yet
When ESRB ratings for Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City on PlayStation 3 sprang up earlier this year, it seemed assured that the games were headed to PSN's PS2 classics section. Indeed, Grand Theft Auto 3 is joining the no-frills lineup next Tuesday for $10.The news was revealed on the latest PlayStation podcast among other PSN releases for next week. Like all PS2 classics, GTA3 isn't getting an HD update or Trophy support. Also, that Vice City ESRB listing hasn't panned out just yet, but we're sure it's on the way.
Kingdoms of Amalur MMO 'wasn't fun,' Take-Two was mystery Reckoning 2 publisher
Despite being "in love" with the Kingdoms of Amalur MMO before its developer filed for bankruptcy, 38 Studios head Curt Schilling worried "the game wasn't fun." Schilling opens up on a variety of subjects in a recent Boston Magazine feature story, saying, "It was my biggest gripe for probably the past eight to 12 months." Even 38's own employees weren't playing it in their free time, apparently.Additionally, Take-Two Interactive – publisher of everything from BioShock to Grand Theft Auto – is fingered as the mysterious publisher vying for rights to a Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning sequel. For its part, Take-Two calls Schilling's claim "rumor and speculation." Schilling contends the sequel deal was close to "final sign-off" when Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee's mid-May public statements gave Take-Two cold feet.Finally, in a last minute effort to save his company, Schilling and other executives spoke with an unnamed Chinese investor about potentially working together, as well as South Korean MMO company Nexon. Neither deal panned out, and the company declared bankruptcy this past June.The Boston Magazine piece is quite a thorough examination of the history of 38 Studios, and contextualizes much of the sordid tale we've seen play out over the past eight months. Get a delicious beverage and a comfy seat – it's gonna be a while.
Borderlands 2 would make a great musical, and this trailer proves it
The musical aspirations of Gearbox Software have never been more clear than in today's Borderlands 2 "Wimoweh" trailer. Yes, Claptrap is keen to bounce along, but so are all the other vile residents of Pandora. Is it too much to ask for an Easter Egg involving this song somewhere in the game? We don't think so.
Max Payne, trying his hardest to get through his gritty, noir life
The hilarious short film about Max Payne above takes all the gritty realism of Max's latest game appearance, and puts it in the lavender-scented reality of suburban life. Might we suggest not having water in your mouth, lest you're ready for a spit take.
Get a damn basketball with your fancy copy of NBA 2K13
Move over NBA Baller Beats, you're not the only video game shipping with an actual, honest to goodness basketball in the near future. The Dynasty Edition of NBA 2K13 will come packed with the colorful orb seen above, courtesy of Spalding. It appears to be covered in various human limbs, as far as we can tell.The $99.99 collector's edition also comes with DLC in the form of "All-Star add-on content presented by Sprite," 2K Sports-branded earbuds from Skullcandy, and a "basketball textured controller skin" in case the thought of not feeling a basketball for 10 seconds is just too much to bear. Pre-orders can be placed through one of three retailers, accessible via the game's Facebook page.
Have a taste of Max Payne 3's 'Local Justice'
When Max Payne 3's "Local Justice" DLC arrives next week, it's coming in guns blazing. And likely in mid-air, in slow motion, while carefully aiming so as not to waste bullet time. Because, ya know ... Max Payne.
Learning religious proselytizing from Civ 5's 'Gods and Kings' expansion
Perhaps the biggest addition in Civilization 5's upcoming Gods & Kings expansion is religion. But don't go thinking it's some innocuous cultural addendum – as the Firaxis folks above explain, religion in Civ 5 is all about subjugation.
Take-Two's Zelnick 'skeptical' of Wii U, not of next generation
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said he was "skeptical" of the Wii U in a recent interview with Gamasutra. He noted that Take-Two hasn't announced any games for the platform.Zelnick talked about the strategy he believes a company like Take-Two should follow. In regards to new console launches, he said that "if you get it right, it's a terrific time to launch a new IP." He also spoke against annualizing non-sports games, so as not to risk "burning out the consumer," which echoed statements he made in late 2009."Some of our competitors have had this trajectory where they extract a lot of value and the IP goes away. We're trying really hard to build permanent IP. And if you have to rest the title for a few years, over time you'll extract more value," he said. "We're not trying to create something good and market the hell out of it. We're trying to delight customers with something great – and market hell out of it."
EA: first year with Origin 'a huge success,' service to become 'stickier'
EA's Origin service is "a huge success" in its first year, according to EA senior VP of global e-commerce David DeMartini. Despite a rough start with end-user license agreement mishaps and banning some users from playing games they purchased offline, DeMartini said the service has seen 12 million downloads and counts 50 publishing partners among its catalog.Still, he called the first year "foundational," and he's excited to add "more sticky features" to Origin. Not, like, "We're gonna pour maple syrup on the servers," but in the sense that players will see Origin more as a service (like Steam or Xbox Live) rather than yet another digital retail outlet."We want to put features in place where we fully take advantage of your friends lists and gameplay activities amongst all of your friends so you can compare achievements," DeMartini said. "We want you to be able to challenge your friends, and to challenge your friends to play other EA games to try and achieve things that might even be across EA games."DeMartini insisted that EA games removed from Steam, such as Dragon Age 2, remain off the service due to Steam's rules. "We'd love to have those titles up on Steam, but unfortunately, those titles don't follow the rules that Steam has so therefore those titles are not up on Steam."As for the future beyond those "stickiness" additions, DeMartini noted additional publishers he'd like to see join Origin. "If Activision was open-minded, we're absolutely willing to take on their great titles. Diablo III is a great game. Call of Duty will be very popular. Take-Two ... I mean there are a couple of large publishers out there that are not on Origin."
Firaxis takes a walk through time with Civ 5's Gods and Kings expansion trailer
When Civilization 5's Gods & Kings expansion launches next week, it'll have more than a few extra civs and that whole religion thing. Allow the fine folks at Firaxis to walk you through exactly what to be prepared for in this handy – and heavily informative – video, just above.
Celebrate Max Payne 3's PC launch with this fancy new trailer
Max Payne may be a grizzled, drug-addled alcoholic, but he's looking a heck of a lot prettier in his latest trailer. With today's launch of Max Payne 3 on PC, Rockstar doled out the latest clip from that platform's lofty graphical watermarks. That means more than just a better looking Max; this trailer has a better looking everything.
Analyst: GTA V will launch in Q1 2013, sell 14 million copies
Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia is predicting big numbers for Grand Theft Auto V something fierce. Bhatia projects Grand Theft Auto V will debut during the first three months of 2013 and will pull in $700 million in revenue for Take-Two Interactive with 14 million copies sold over its launch window – though Bhatia didn't say just how long he considers this launch window to be.This $700 million figure is close to the $775 million earned by Modern Warfare 3 in its first five days of launch back in November, which is an entertainment record that has yet to be bested. Rockstar's previous effort, Grand Theft Auto IV, has shipped over 22 million copies worldwide.
Take-Two ends fiscal '12 with loss, high '13 projection raises eyebrows
Take-Two Interactive's revenues for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, were $825.8 million, short of last year's $1.14 billion, because it didn't have Red Dead Redemption in it. Last year's breakout star, L.A. Noire, did well with 5 million units shipped, but that doesn't compare to the more than 13 million units (8.5 million at that time) done by Red Dead Redemption.Overall, the publisher had a net loss of $108.8 million for the year, compared to the $48 million profit in the previous year.Here's where things get interesting: During this afternoon's investor call, CEO Strauss Zelnick reiterated a point from earlier in the call that there are "titles yet to be announced for fiscal 2013." This is significant because the company expects revenues of $1.75 - $1.85 billion for the fiscal year ending next March. Look back at that blockbuster Red Dead Redemption year, and note that revenues reached $1.14 billion. So, what's the deal?Officially, at this time, Take-Two plans to launch Borderlands 2 in September, NBA 2K13 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown in October and, finally, BioShock: Infinite in February. Although any one of those could be a runaway hit, there's still $600-$700 million missing over that impressive Red Dead year to hit the projection. Either Grand Theft Auto 5 is secretly on the docket for this year or Take-Two is expecting blockbusters from more than one of the announced games.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown trailer digs deep into the 'ant farm' base
XCOM: Enemy Unknown's October 9 launch date this morning was also coupled with screenshots and a developer doc on XCOM's base of operations. Referred to as the "ant farm," the XCOM base is a living cutaway, allowing players to build out and create all new rooms to assist the agency in its clandestine operations. %Gallery-155901%
Metareview: Max Payne 3
Max, dearest of all my friends. So good to have you back. You look a little tired, friend. Is it all that leaping and shooting, or is it something more? Sit down, sip a little vodka and look at what they're saying about you. Joystiq feels you make "people die real good." What about everyone else? Take a look... G4 (100/100): "The performances are top notch, the action plays out with unrivaled fluidity, and the multiplayer is deep and rewarding. Silly distractions aside, Max Payne 3 is an action lover's wet dream that also happens to employ some of the slickest direction and transitional trickery this side of a David Fincher box set. Lock and load. It's bullet time...time." Game Informer (93/100): "The same great gunplay from the campaign is replicated in the multiplayer modes, and immense depth is tied to the ranking system (with a level cap of 50) and slew of unlockable guns, skins, and items. Rockstar also provides a crew system that tracks world ranks, kill-to-death ratios, and first place finishes for each crew." Giant Bomb (4/5): "Rockstar has taken a lot of risks in the ways it has reshaped the series with Max Payne 3, and there's something to be said for opting out of the easy route. The aesthetic overhaul is certainly the most noticeable, though there's no understating the impact that certain gameplay modernizations have had on the experience. While fans might have a hard time processing the dramatic change in tone, it's approached with a seriousness and conviction that I respect, and frankly, have come to expect from Rockstar." Edge (70/100): "Max Payne 3 might solve the problem of how you manage to reload when carrying more than one gun, but detailing alone can't change the fact that this is a surprisingly conservative game from Rockstar. Its absorption of cover mechanics makes Payne feel more familiar than he should, but even then his signature tricks are over a decade old. This is a game about a world-weary killer doing the only thing he knows how to, and for all its spectacular action beats there's something apt about Max's fatigue."%Gallery-155342%
Max Payne is moving forward (mostly toward next week's launch)
Despite Max Payne 3 not launching at retail until next Tuesday, Rockstar went ahead and released the "launch" trailer this afternoon. And despite Max's crippling addiction to painkillers and booze, he seems to be moving forward with his life, as seen in the clip. Where he's going ... that's another story entirely.
Wedbush thinks Grand Theft Auto 5 will launch in October
With this morning's announcement that BioShock Infinite will now launch in February 2013, publisher Take-Two Interactive altered more than a game's launch date. Take-Two is a publicly traded company, and one fewer gigantic product launch during the holiday season – arguably Take-Two's only holiday product launch, unless you count fall launches of Borderlands 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown as "holiday" – means that shareholders will want to know what's up. That worry is reflected in Take-Two's stock price, which took a five percent hit since the market opened this morning.But when Infinite got pushed out of the holiday season, it opened the slot up for another high-profile Take-Two-published title: Grand Theft Auto 5. "In our view, the delay opens the window for Grand Theft Auto V to be released in October 2012," Michael Pachter of Webush Securities wrote in an email this morning, echoing a release window leak from earlier this year.In his eyes, Infinite wasn't just delayed to make it "something even more extraordinary," as Ken Levine put it, but because the folks at Rockstar, "notified Take-Two that GTA V would be ready for October." He believes this resulted in Take-Two offering Irrational Games an extra few months to prepare BioShock Infinite. His logic? "The studio [Rockstar Games] has scheduled every prior GTA release during that month (with GTA IV delayed to April 2008, due to bugs in the PS3 version)."Furthermore, Pachter and co. speculate we could hear more about GTA 5's launch date "as early as May 22" during a scheduled quarterly investor call, or perhaps in a few more weeks at E3 2012. We've yet to hear back from Irrational, Rockstar, or Take-Two on the subject.
BioShock Infinite delayed to February 2013
Take-Two has delayed BioShock Infinite until February 26, 2013."When we announced the release date of BioShock Infinite in March, we felt pretty good about the timing. Since then, we've uncovered opportunities to make Infinite into something even more extraordinary," said Irrational Games Creative Director Ken Levine. "Therefore, to give our talented team the time they need to deliver the best Infinite possible, we've decided to move the game's release to February."Levine also mentioned in a separate statement that the game will be going dark from here on out, noting it will not be shown at mega events E3 and Gamescom."That way, the next time you see our game, it will be essentially the product we intend to put in the box. Preparing for these events takes time away from development, time we're going to use instead to get the best version of Infinite into your hands in February."%Gallery-124453%
Max Payne 3's multiplayer footage gets us all nostalgic
The gangs of Max Payne 3's multiplayer setting make us forget all about the balding alcoholic star of Rockstar's upcoming game. Instead, they're more reminiscent of a film classic from 2002 set in Rio de Janeiro's poorest neighborhood, City of God. Take a look at the new multiplayer trailer above, then compare with a trailer for the film below the break. We think you'll see more than a few similarities.
