The rest of Take-Two's slate, including BioShock 2, Red Dead Redemption and Mafia II appear to be sticking to their regularly scheduled dates. But Max Payne 3 is now penciled in for a fiscal Q4 2010 release, giving the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game an August to October release window.

The rest of Take-Two's bad news is financial. The company expects fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 to be below guidance due to "the performance of its Major League Baseball titles in the fourth quarter" and "lower than expected initial performance of several of its key holiday releases."

Take-Two's 2010 is also expected to be loss-heavy, thanks to Major League Baseball losses and the "movement of one triple-A title out of the fiscal year."

Strauss Zelnick, chairman, says the company's quarterly financial woes "were partially offset by the performance of our catalog business and a number of our holiday titles, as shown by the successful launch of Borderlands and the leading ratings and market share of NBA 2K10."

With the publisher's full fiscal year guidance expecting a loss, even with the release of BioShock, Red Dead Revolver and Max Payne sequels, it sure doesn't sound like Rockstar will have a new Grand Theft Auto on store shelves—at least not before November 1, 2010—to help put Take-Two in the black.

That time code running in the bottom left leads us to believe that this brief teaser wasn't quite ready for prime time—Rockstar Games officially has no comment on the authenticity of the thing—but it certainly looks like something we could see replaying over and over and over again. Sharp as a tack, no matter how you may feel about the newer, balder, paunchier Max.

Max Payne 3 is still scheduled to hit the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sometime in the first half of 2010 as far as we know.

Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said during an earnings call today that Mafia II, Red Dead Redemption, BioShock 2 and Max Payne 3 would all be shipping sometime between February and June of 2010. That's a pretty packed schedule, but it's not like Take-Two has much choice.

Some of those games were pushed back from originally planned 2009 releases, joining the ever crowded Q1 and Q2 of next year. Take-Two gave a looser release window for some of those games back in July. At the time, Take-Two execs blamed a softer economy and development issues.

But Zelnick sounded confident that all four heavy hitters would ship in that five month window.

Rockstar Games, developer of two of the slipped titles that now have more firm sounding release plans, has had a little trouble making its dates this generation, with similar slips on Midnight Club Los Angeles and Grand Theft Auto IV.

Publisher Take Two announced its revised release slate during a call with investors on Monday afternoon, timed to elaborate on news of the BioShock 2 delay.

The company "currently plan[s] to release all four titles in the first half of calendar 2010," company CEO Ben Feder told investors. He included the caveat that the company always strives to find the "optimal" time to release their titles.

The publisher also has announced games for the second half of the year, though he declined to name what they will be. Speculation among investment analysts is that one of those late 2010 titles could be a new Grand Theft Auto, given the development patterns of franchise development studio Rockstar. When asked directly by analysits on the call if a new GTA was coming late in 2010, Feder and Take Two chairman Strauss Zelnick declined to confirm, deny or offer any specifics.

The plan to release four big sequels in the first half of 2010 is a byproduct of Take Two's expressed desire to maintain a standard of high quality for its games, a claim also used to justify GTA IV's push from its original fall 2007 release window to spring of 2008.

But Zelnick also said that the BioShock 2 push was also partially due to a softness at U.S. retail, where the company is seeing orders for new titles come in lower than expected and where, he said, the number of high-quality titles may crowd the marketplace. While that may be the case, early 2010 is beginning to look crowded as well with the Take Two foursome joining God of War III, Dante's Inferno, Mass Effect 2 and several other games slated for early next year.

One analyst asked if BioShock 2's delay could be blamed on the PS3 version of the game or on its series-first online components. "The pushback of BioShock 2 is related to development overall," Zelnick said. "I certainly wouldn't want to pinpoint it to any one platform or any one feature because that's not the case."

If you're a Game Informer subscriber, you're more than likely already familiar with some of these shots, already having come to terms with Max's struggles with baldness and adult-onset beer gut. Mr. Payne clearly has the triceps to double-wield a pair of almost any weapon and a carefree wardrobe perfect for thrilling bullet time dives.

For a half-dozen shots of Max Payne 3 in action, action set far from Max's old stomping grounds in New York City, check out our gallery of Rockstar Vancouver's Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation shooter.

Max will have the ability to fire two pistols at once in Max Payne 3.
He's also be able to shoot people to death with shotguns.
Max will also be able to hold two sub-machine guns, but fire just one of them.
He'll also take momentary pauses from shooting hundreds of people to find cover. Then he'll shoot someone.
Max's adventures will take him to varied locations in which he shoots people, with all manner of lighting conditions available to the former police officer.
Payne will also take time to reflect on his shooting spree, looking left and right for new people to fire guns at.

Rockstar Vancouver thinks it needs someone older, but doesn't plan on replacing the voice actor with an established star, and will relay on casting — something, VP of development Jeronimo Barrera, says "we're good at."

"All the Max Payne themes will remain intact — manipulation, betrayal, and the stuff that really made Max Payne," said art director Rob Nelson.

The first two games in the Max Payne series were developed by Remedy. Max Payne 3 will be handled by Rockstar in-house.

Rockstar using new Payne voice actor [Eurogamer via Joystiq]

According to early, still rumored details from the mag, Max Payne 3 will move the series to Sao Paulo, Brazil, featuring a paunchier, balder, more heavily bearded Payne. The game is said to take place more than a decade after Max Payne 2, but the middle-aged pot-bellied Payne hasn't lost his penchant for "bullet time" slow-motion action over the years. That mechanic is reportedly still intact.

Another rumored update is that Max Payne 3 will feature some sort of multiplayer component. We'll have to wait until the newest issue of Game Informer arrives at the office to learn more.

Max Payne 3 is slated for release sometime this Winter. Thanks to Patrick for the early details.

The sequel, in development by Rockstar Vancouver, will tell the story of a retired police detective "embroiled in a world of corruption, turmoil and intense violence."

"We're starting a new chapter of Max's life with this game," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation."

Since leaving the NYPD and New York itself behind, Max has drifted from bad to worse. Double-crossed and a long way from home, Max is now trapped in a city full of violence and bloodshed, using his weapons and instincts in a desperate search for the truth and a way out.

Max Payne 3

Rockstar's Max Payne 3 emerges again [CVG] [Image]

Quartermann: Max Payne 3 and New PS3 Exclusive Coming From Rockstar? [1UP]

Max Payne 3 on the Xbox in 2007? According to the Best Buy site, the game will be hitting the Xbox on Jan. 1, 2007.