rockstar-games posts

The PC game market has been moving from the brick-and-mortar business model to the digital download way of doing things for the past few years. Today the official word got out that one of the most controversial games in the past few years is finally coming to the PC as a download exclusive. It's Manhunt 2, the stealth action game sequel from Rockstar Games that was first released in 2007 for the Wii and PS2.

This PC version is due out a week from today (November 6) for $29.95 on Direct2Drive. It's notable in the fact that it's an "AO" rated version of the game. It may be the uncensored version that got hit with an "AO" rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board when it was supposed to be released for consoles. Rockstar decided to delay the game's release and edit its content. It was eventually released, to mediocre sales and reviews, with an "M" rating in the US later in 2007. The "AO" PC version also apparently supports 3D monitors.

While we wait and wait and wait some more for Rockstar Games to give us more info about Max Payne 3, we have to just twiddle our thumb just a bit before more is revealed about the action shooter sequel. Thankfully a 30 second clip that looks and sounds just like an official Max Payne 3 trailer has popped up on YouTube and, well, it's just cool to watch.

No, there's no real gameplay in this clip (that would just make our heads explode at this stage) but the skill in this teaser has made many think its an attempt by Rockstar to release a viral video. On the other hand, the now incorrect "Winter 2009" release date at the end also makes us think this was just made by a fan with a lot of skill. Either way, we all win in the end.

[Via Joystiq]

It's a game that was officially announced over four years ago as a PS3 exclusive but is L.A. Noire coming to the PC as well? VG247.com reports that indeed could be the case based on a LinkedIn post from a team member of the game's development studio Team Bondi. The listing showed the game as coming out for the PC in addition to the PS3 and Xbox 360.

L.A.Noire is the first game from the Australian-based Team Bondi which formed in 2004 via former members of their development team behind Sony's PS2's open world action game The Getaway. L.A. Noire was officially announced in 2005 by the team and in 2006 Rockstar Games announced they would publish the game, a crime action title set in Los Angeles in the late 1940s. Since the announcement there's been little that's been revealed about the game and there's no word on when L.A. Noire willl be released.

Take Two Interactive's financial result always come about a month after every other publicly traded game developer released their numbers. That didn't change today as Take Two reported that it brought in $138.6 million in revenue for their last fiscal quarter that ended on July 31. That's well off the $433.8 million it brought in for the same time period a year ago. Take Two revealed a loss of $50.4 million for the quarter compared to a profit of $71.5 million for the same period a year ago.

Take Two had already braced their shareholders for bad news about their latest quarterly numbers two months ago including word that games like BioShock 2 and Max Payne 3 would miss their planned released by the end of this year.

It was an incident that changed how many felt about games and today the "Hot Coffee" mini-game that was discovered via a mod for the PC version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas just cost its publisher Take Two Interactive more than $20 million. That's the amount the publisher said it was paying out today to settle a class action lawsuit that was filed against the company over the discovery of the mini-game.

The "Hot Coffee" mini-game, which was put in by the team at Rockstar North but hidden from regular playing of the game, was discovered via a third party mod when the PC version was released in 2005. The ESRB changed the rating from 'M" to "AO" a few weeks after word got out about the mini-game which caused Take Two to recall all the unsold copies of the game. It later re-released GTA: San Andreas without the mini-game and regained its "M" rating. The settlement today has still to be approved by the courts.

In 2007, Rockstar Games's stealth action game sequel Manhunt 2 got hit with an "AO" rating by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board when it was supposed to be released for various consoles. Rockstar decided to delay the game's release and edit its content. It was eventually released, to mediocre sales and reviews, with an "M" rating in the US later in 2007. In the UK, the government's ratings board tried to ban the game from being sold but that decision was finally overturned by an appeals committee in 2008.

Now get ready for the controversy to hit again as Rockstar is apparently prepping the two year old Manhunt 2 to finally be released for the PC . . and in an apparently unedited version. A post on the ESRB's latest games list shows a "Windows PC" rating of "AO" for Manhunt 2 for "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs". There's no current listing of Manhunt 2 shipping to any retail outlets. It's possible that Rockstar will make the PC version available as an downloadable game only. Many other "AO" PC games have been released in this way in the US.

[Via Joystiq]

With the San Diego Comic-Con being held this week a number of new video game-to-movie deals and news were also made including selecting a director for the World of Warcraft film. However one of the biggest game franchises of all time, the Grand Thett Auto series, will likely never made it to the silver screen, at least if the game's development team has anything to say about it (and they do).

The Los Angeles Time reports that Dan Houser of Rockstar Games has stated, "We don't believe that the Grand Theft Auto games, which are massive in scope and structurally complex, can be adequately compressed into a two-hour movie." He didn't completely shut the door on such a prospect, however, saying, "If we ever decide to do a film, it will be because we have resolved our creative doubts, and while retaining enough control to ensure that if the movie is terrible, at least we will know we ruined the property ourselves."

During Take Two Interactive's conference call to financial analysts today, company execs confirmed that three of their biggest upcoming games won't be released in the calendar year of 2009. Those games are the 2K Games-branded titled of BioShock 2 and Mafia 2 and the Rockstar Games-branded title Max Payne 3. All three of these games will now be released sometime in the first half of the calendar year of 2010.

This is a huge blow to Take Two Interactive, particularly for the release of BioShock 2, which was one of the most anticipated games in the industry and one that was originally planned for release in the fall of 2009. Take Two's new release schedule still contains Gearbox Software's Borderlands as coming out in their current fiscal year for 2009 (which ends Oct. 31) but it looks like with BioShock 2's delay Borderlands will be 2K Games' big holiday title this year. Take Two execs stated they do feel that the holiday period is getting crowded with titles and that BioShock 2's delay will actually benefit the game.

Just over a year ago the New England-based game developer Mad Doc Software got purchased by Rockstar Games and was renamed Rockstar New England. Now the developer is rumored to be suffering from layoffs, according to a non-sourced article at Kotaku.

According to their report, the developer may have had layoffs that affected "at least 10 percent of the studio". As Mad Doc Software, the studio created mostly PC games including the RTS games Star Trek Armada II and Empire Earth II and III. As Rockstar New England, the only game they have released was the PC port of Rockstar's Bully: Scholarship Edition which was filled with bugs when it was released in the fall of 2008.

While these visuals were first seen in the latest issue of Game Informer magazine, today Rockstar Games released the first true screenshots for Max Payne 3. These shots show off the 10 years older Max as the now bald and pot-bellied former cop is doing what he does best in the hot setting of Brazil.

As we have mentioned before, Max Payne 3 is being developed by Rockstar Vancouver, taking over from Remedy who created the franchise and developed the first two games in the series. We will have to wait a little longer to check out the game in action; it's not due out until winter 2009.