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Take-Two have announced that Bioshock 2 will be released on November the third for Northern Americans, and on October the thirtieth for Europeans, on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. This of course means that the spoilers will hit the web a good four days before people from the US will be able to play the game. I suggest you stay away from the internet during those four days, especially if you don’t want to know that Atlas is f- actually, you can come to Ripten. We won’t spoil it. We promise.

The former Take-Two executive Gary Dale has been named as CEO of Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds today. “Having worked with Gary earlier in his career at BMG Interactive, I am deeply impressed with his management style and profound understanding of the entertainment business,” said David Jones, co-founder and creative director of Realtime Worlds. “As RTW transitions from being a traditional developer to an online publisher I could not be happier that Gary will lead us through this exciting phase of our growth.”

Dale himself adds that “The Company is on the verge of launching products that will change current conceptions of what MMO games are about.” Realtime Worlds is currently working on All Points Bulletin, an “urban action” style multiplayer online game. See the full press release after the jump, and marvel in its PR-speak glory.
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Although we’ve known about the existence of “Big Sisters” in Bioshock 2 for a little less than a week, (thanks to Bioshock 2’s teaser site) seeing the Big Sister now is still a sight to behold, thanks to the April issue of Game Informer. Who says print is dead?

The April issue of GI, while also chock full of Dead Space: Extraction and RE5 details, has a 10-page cover story on Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams details, including new information, new screenshots, and the first glimpse at the game’s Big Sister, who appears to be more slender and more threatening than the Big Daddies. (even with the cute wittle cage for the cute wittle sisters)

You can be sure that we’ll hear more about this game at GDC later this month. Click the image above for the full resolution cover.

Rockstar has announced today that Grand Theft Auto’s DS debut, Chinatown Wars, will be released on March 17 and 20, 2009, in America and Europe respectively. Take-Two had previously hoped that the game would make it out by the end of this year (currently the official website still seems to be holding out for this), but the game has been delayed. The reason? To “provide a better launch and marketing window”, according to the publisher. Anyone looking forward to this? Can’t say I am, but with the prestige the series holds I’m sure fans (and DS gamers who want to kill stuff) won’t be dissapointed.

In a Nevada lawsuit filed last week against publisher Take-Two interactive, former executive Robert Alexander is suing the gaming giant for $50 million.

The lawsuit is the result of what Alexander claims is a breach of an oral contract. Alexander’s time with the company is long-standing, having been with T2 in some shape and form since 2004. After leaving the company, he formed another distributing company which began to partner with T2. Read more…

Back in mid August, we reported that Take-Two had opened its boardroom doors to EA with the intent to jointly evaluate “strategic” *cough*buyout*cough* options.

It appears now that those talks have concluded and that the two sides could not see eye to eye — or more importantly, wallet to wallet.

Hit the jump for the full press release and some optimistic “the glass is half full” quotes from Take-Two execs. Read more…

Spoiler Alert: Your plane crashes.

After only having to wait a year and some change, PlayStation 3 owners will soon be able to experience the Rapture that is BioShock (see what I did there?).  Featuring all-new content and all of the DLC from the Xbox 360 version, BioShock is set to sweep PS3 owners up in its cheery narrative about the joys of life in only a few short weeks. Read more…

The Internet age has lifted humanity up to a fast-paced, easily accessible society. When it comes to console videogames, online gaming has become an essential part of the overall experience.

Ten years ago when a gamer would complete a twelve-hour single player game, the experience was all but over, and the only way to enjoy the game further was to play it all over again, running through the same occurrences with little to no fresh experiences. Flash forward ten years later, and gamers can now rejoice as their short-lived single player experience may now be expanded through the infinite realms of online gaming and downloadable content. Read more…

As reported earlier, Take-Two has allowed EA to join the company for some “alternative strategic planning” sessions. In short, Take-Two believes that EA’s initial offer was not lucrative enough, and has shifted focus in an effort to convince EA that they should sweeten the deal.

Could a SackBoy PowerPoint type presentation change the minds of EA executives? The two emails featured after the jump showcase yesterday’s email from Take-Two to EA, and today’s response from EA to Take-Two. Read more…

On October 30, 2008, the land of the rising sun will be treated to a fictional Bosnian with a blazing gun. In other words, the localized version of Rockstar’s GTA 4 will be released in Japan just before Halloween, or as the Japanese call it, “Bad American Cosplay Day”.

Full press release after the jump. Read more…

Conservative Michael Medved, best known for his movie reviews and appearances on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, launched a scathing attack on Grand Theft Auto IV on Townhall.com.

“The fact that so many middle income homes managed to find the money to buy the game (having already purchased the expensive hardware to drive it) indicates that the middle class is in no imminent danger of disappearance,” Medved wrote. “But the decision by so many consumers of every age and income group to invest countless hours of time in the dark world of Grand Theft Auto IV nonetheless demonstrates a threat to American values.”

Medved continues to relate the game to the decline of western civilization on GTA IV specifically, if not in general.

Townhall.com is the same conservative site that hosted Kevin McCullough’s similarly misinformed and poorly executed opinion on Mass Effect which garnered the attention of FOX News.

Let the rolling of the eyes begin.

Medved comes a tad late to the GTA IV auto de fe as the title has already been lambasted by the usual suspects. However, Medved’s insinuations border on the hallucinatory as he accuses GTA of America’s moral decline. In that vein GTA is also responsible for the African AIDS pandemic, global warming and the shrinking of the polar ice-caps, and political repression in China.

I can’t help but wonder where is vaunted conservatism was when he was staring at my girlfriend’s chest at the Seattle preview of Spider Man in 2002.

Source: Townhall.com

Industry giant and evil overlord Electronic Arts reported this morning that it had finished its wheeling and dealing with the Federal Trade Commission concerning the takeover of Take Two Interactive.

In its regulatory filing, EA said it would not go through with the previously offered $2 billion deal (because Take Two rejected it), and would instead return to the table, presumably with hired goons, no sooner than August 21 of this year.  The news apparently convinced some people that this deal will happen, as stock prices rose for both companies.  We have just experienced the beginning of the end. Read more…

A few days ago, Take-Two announced that the first episode of the Xbox 360 exclusive DLC for GTA 4 was going to be delayed until next year. The following day, a Microsoft spokesman said it was still on track for a Fall 2008 release.
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EA have been taking a few not-so-subtle strides in recent months regarding their desire to take over the world buy Take-Two. After being turned down several times, they don’t appear to be taking no for an answer, instead securing a loan of one billion dollars to help with the takeover.
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Justin Blankenship, a former FTC lawyer, expresses concern regarding the potential EA and Take-Two merger. Specifically, he believes that the merger may violate antitrust laws due to the hold the company would have on the videogame sports sector. Read more…

This is it?! This is insulting.

Take-Two Interactive told stockholders at a recent meeting that the buyout offer from Electronic Arts wasn’t good enough. Not that they’re not for sale, it’s just going to cost a potential buyer a bit more than $2 billion. Read more…

It has been confirmed today that Take-Two have refused an offer by Electronic Arts to buy the company. The offer came just a few days after the release date for Take-Two’s most anticipated title, GTA IV was announced, prompting Take-Two to refer to the offer as “highly opportunistic”. Read more…

Niko’s aiming for Spring — brown is supposed to be in this season.

Rockstar’s golden hooker, Grand Theft Auto, was supposed to return last October in the much anticipated fourth installment… wait, sixth installment? Eighth? Okay, let’s just say Grand Theft Auto IV and move on.

October came and went, and obviously the game was not released — if it were, you’d be playing it right now instead of just reading about it. All that’s about to change very soon. Read more…

The origin of this rumor stems from a post on EvilAvatar.com by Dr. Finger, a prominent member of the community. Dr. Finger claims that he spoke to a “contact” of his at his local Target store. Apparently, an internal memo was released stating that all Target stores are to stop selling Manhunt 2, and that any copies the store has are to be returned to Take 2. Read more…

Grand Theft Auto IV delay has everyone pointing fingers

The delay of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV video game for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 has fans and fanboys everywhere in an uproar. You can’t browse a video game website without running into something related to the delay. Whether it has to do with rumors of a refund regarding the exclusive downloadable content deal (which cost Microsoft 50 million) or as we are about to discuss, the many finger pointing articles being published across the web. Read more…