On the other side, Take Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick, has gone hard for the Democrats — no surprise there, considering how his games are such pariahs in the culture war demagoguery of the right. Zelnick's given $2,000 to Barack Obama, and hedged his bets in the primary with $2,500 for John Edwards in the primary, and a grand each for Joe Biden and Bill Richardson. No Hillary? Dis! Yeah, wonder why. Anyway, there are more names and numbers on the jump.

Giving to Republicans, according to Develop:
• Will Wright: (Spore, The Sims) $3,000 to McCain; previously donated $2,350 to Giuliani
• Bobby Kotick (Activision CEO) $2,300 to McCain; previously donated $2,100 to Mitt Romney
• Curt Schilling (38 Studios) $2,300 to McCain.

Does Schilling really qualify here? Yeah, guess so.

Democratic contributors, according to Develop:

• Strauss Zelnick (Chairman, Take-Two) $2,000 to Obama; had previously donated to $2,500 to Edwards, $1,000 each to Biden & Richardson
• Ben Feder (CEO, Take-Two) contributed $1,000 to Biden in 2007
• Sam Houser (Rockstar) $4,600 to Obama
• Patricia Vance (president, ESRB) $2,000 to Obama
• John Riccitiello (CEO, EA) $4,600 to Obama
• John Smedley (Sony Online Entertainment) $2,300 to Obama
• Richard Garriott aka "Lord British" (Ultima series, NC Soft) $2,300 to Hillary Clinton
• Alex Rigopulos (CEO, Harmonix) $4,600 to Obama, the maximum allowable in two cycles, plus a $28,500 contribution to his victory PAC.
• Kathy Vrabeck (president, EA Casual) $2,300 to Obama
• Gabe Newell (pres., Valve) $2,300 to Christopher Dodd

By the way, if you want to look up neighbors, bosses, professors, celebrities, whomever and see who they've supported with the long green, Congressional Quarterly's Moneyline is much more user-friendly than the FEC.

Records Reveal Political Power of Dev Heavyweights [Develop Magazine via Play.tm]

Via Ars Technica and GamePolitics, former Buffalo Bills defensive back Jeff Nixon has written an open letter to John Madden (also a Hall of Famer and former Oakland Raiders coach) which details some documents discovered in this suit. Nixon alleges the plaintiffs have communication between the a union official and an EA developer cc'd to another union official, in which everyone agreed to scramble retired players' likenesses to keep from paying them, beginning with Madden NFL 2002. The players may not be identifiable visually, or by number, but they still have the same height, weight, years of service and performance characteristics, making them wink-and-nod identifiable.

The reason for the scrambling? Take-Two apparently was going after retired players' image permissions for a game that never got off the ground. Nixon alleges EA and the NFLPA's marketing unit, NFL Players Inc., rushed to lock down a contract that secured the most valuable retired players' rights for below-market payments, and says he has an email (jump) admitting this.

Writes Nixon:

When a substantial competitor to EA [Take-Two] began to emerge for use of retired players, EA and Defendants rushed to enter into a contract locking up the most valuable retired players’ rights in exchange for payments that were admittedly below market. [NFL Players Inc]’s Senior Vice-President, Clay Walker, admitted as much in the following email:

“Take Two [the EA competitor] went after retired players to create an “NFL” style video game after we gave the exclusive to EA. I was able to forge this deal with [the Pro Football Hall of Fame] that provides them with $400K per year (which is significantly below market rate) in exchange for the HOF player rights. EA owes me a huge favor because that threat was enough to persuade Take Two to back off its plans, leaving EA as the only professional football videogame manufacturer out there.”

Ars Technica also pointed out another email dug up by the suit:

An e-mail sent November 1, 2007, is equally plain in its language. Andrew Feffer, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the NFLPA wrote to EA Sports' representative Paul Cairns that "Clay and Joe's negotiation of these discounted terms was a significant contribution to EA as you more than likely would have paid in excess of $1 million for these rights without their involvement and assistance." In other words, you saved a cool million because you had people negotiating who weren't hoping to strike the best deal for the players.

As for the agreement to scramble players' likenesses, Nixon's letter also says this is from LaShun Lawson, the VP of multimedia for NFL Players, Inc., to EA producer Jeremy Strauser, cc'd to Doug Allen, then president of NFL Players Inc.

“For all retired players that are not listed... their identity must be altered so that it cannot be recognized. Regarding paragraph 2 of the License Agreement between Electronic Arts and Players Inc, a player’s identity is defined as his name, likeness (including without limitation, number), picture, photograph, voice, facsimile signature and/or biographical information. Hence, any and all players not listed... cannot be represented in Madden 2002 with the number that player actually wore, and must be scrambled."

The lawsuit goes to trial next month in San Francisco.

Lawsuit: NFL Conspired with EA to Cheat Players [Ars Technica]
EA Hid Identities of Retired Players in Madden, Lawsuit Document Says [GamePolitics]
An Open Letter to John Madden [NFL Retired Players United, Jeff Nixon]

BioShock [Eurogamer via VG247 via 1up via Dtoid]

Umm. Do Ninjas wear cloaks? Perhaps the metaphor breaks down a bit at that point.

No matter - the point is that EA has entered into a confidentiality agreement with Take-Two and both parties are now obliged to keep their lips tightly zipped with regard to the companies ongoing discussions.

Following the FTC's announcement last week that they would not oppose any merger, EA decided not to renew the formal bid and has been having some cosy chats with its new friends at Take-Two.

Cosy chats that from now on we will not be party to. Bah.

EA: We Might Be Talking To Take-Two, We Might Not. But We're Not Talking About It Publicly Anymore [Sillicon Alley Insider]

Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no additional action by the Commission is warranted at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed.

So.. essentially EA are free to pursue their merger. Or would be, had they not let their bid expire on Monday.

With the FTC investigation put to bed, though, EA are now able to enter into private negotiations with Take Two. Take Two is now to give EA its three-year financial forecasts and the game will continue...

An EA merger with Take-Two gets U.S. antitrust OK [Reuters via GamePolitics]

"The PC version of GTA IV has not even been announced for release and is still in development so is not about to be released on a website."

The entire conversation is very long and almost takes on the scope of a 419 baiter thread. But they do provide screenshots (granted, those can be faked too.)

Basically, these two guys concoct a detailed tech support problem with a free demo of Grand Theft Auto IV, and see if Take 2 will bite. Of course, they do, but only to a point. After getting that little nugget above — which they're convinced was copypasted from some higher-up's response to befuddled tech support — they get another tech who is less fun and a little more circumspect about their claims.

While the last message does say, "We are unsure when the PC version of the game will be released," that does not mean, "We are sure it will be coming out, just not when." I am likewise unsure of when I'll win the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes.

ComputerandVideoGames.net reported rumors back in April that a PC GTA IV was due out in October, citing European retailers. That didn't bring a denial from Rockstar UK, just "no comment." So unless and until Rockstar wants to lay the rumor smash, this remains rumor only. I wouldn't get my hopes up, but you never know.
How We Pranked Rockstar [Blog, thanks reader Matt]

Now, it's a different story — Grand Theft Auto IV and BioShock are some of the highest-rated titles on Metacritic, and Take-Two is the number three publisher in the industry. The turnaround strategy seems to be working.

Feder credits the success to focus on the part of the publisher's creative studio teams. "They had their heads down, not focused on what was going on outside of what they were doing," Feder said. One of those outside things is an ongoing and aggressive acquisition bid by Electronic Arts, which Feder declined to discuss.

He was happy to discuss GTA IV's unprecedented debut. Since he's a business kind of guy, I asked him how much he deals with the Rockstar team:

"I deal with them all the time," he said. 'We are really proud of [Rockstar's] performance, and they're proud of GTA IV. it's been an unmitigated success, not just from a financial standpoint but from a creative standpoint... it's stunning success on any metric."

Feder said Take-Two prioritizes giving its studios creative freedom - what's his strategy for nurturing that creativity in the publisher's studios? "We need to protect our creative folks," he said. "We need to make sure that the outside world doesn't interfere with their creative process. We then need to provide the resources, and finally, we cant get in their way... [by] putting something in a box whether it's ready or not."

"We serve no wine before its time. We respect their work and their creativity, and that's not a strategy that everybody takes in this business."

Letting that wine take its time often means delays, however. "Title slippage is the bane of this business," said Feder. "We may have gotten lucky in the past, but titles slip."

Does that mean we can expect delays, then, with titles we're expecting? "We're on track," said Feder. "We try to operate with financial discipline and operational discipline. First and foremost, we need to delight and amaze our customers."

Since Feder mentioned "protecting" the creative talent, we asked about the ways that GTA IV has been strung up as a social whipping boy in the past for the so-called horrors of violent video games. Does Feder feel Take-Two's done a good job of standing up for Rockstar's work?

"I think we defend our work all the time," he said. "First and foremost we need to start with the notion that an M-rated game is not for kids... don't call it a game then, call it interactive entertainment, but it's not for children."

"But one of the great things about GTA IV iis that the parameters of the debate have completely shifted. It's not about any of the controversy... because the initial reviews were, it is an artistic tour de force, a technological tour de force, a success on every stretch of the imagination, it stretches the definition of an interactive experience. That was the bookend by which all discussion began, so any controversy that came out had to combat all that positive momentum."

So is Take-Two finally winning the PR war? "I don't think of it that way," he said. "I think it was just a hugely impactful and culturally important product."

Whatever you think of the law or those who practice it, this guy's out there lawyerin' and lobbyin' for your rights to play — well, Take Two games, at least.

According to the profile, Krauss came on board when Strauss Zelnick took control in 2002. Other fun facts:

• When Krauss took over as general counsel, Take Two had only two in-house attorneys. In the six years since, they're up to 15, handling the company's never-ending concerns with intellectual property and First Amendment cases.

• Even after beating a case he still finds it has strong replay value. "Take-Two operates in 20 different jurisdictions, so every legal issue 'has to be replayed over and over again,'" the profile says. These include global jurisdictions, of course, but surely they also cover some U.S. state-level cases. Some lobbying is a part of his duties, Krauss says.

• Quoting the profile: "Take-Two has had to defend itself against those who consider this form of entertainment scary and dangerous. Krauss works with his counterparts at other game companies and other allies to meet criticism by politicians and critics "who try to politicize the video game industry."

• Krauss' dad was a Broadway producer; he considers his job "a happy and welcome return to working with creative people." He's a Duke undergrad and Washington University J.D. Krauss also worked for the Manhattan D.A., where he probed the financial institutions implicated in Enron's collapse.

Start Game [Law.com, via Gamepolitics]

BioShock PS3 [Strategy Informer]

BioShock has been hailed as one of the most highly cinematic and richly plotted titles in interactive entertainment, making it extremely well-suited to film... Our ability to attract a major studio and unparalleled creative team speaks volumes about the strength of our BioShock franchise.

Full release after the jump:

BioShock Heads to Hollywood
Universal Pictures to develop movie based on hit video game from 2K Games

Gore Verbinski, Director of Pirates of the Caribbean, to Direct/Produce

BioShock Heads to Hollywood
Universal Pictures to develop movie based on hit video game from 2K Games

Gore Verbinski, Director of Pirates of the Caribbean, to Direct/Produce

New York, NY - May 9, 2008 - 2K Games announced today that it has reached an agreement for BioShock®, the universally acclaimed smash-hit video game, to be developed as a feature film by Universal Pictures. 2K Games, whose 2K Boston and 2K Australia studios developed BioShock, is a video game publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

The prospect of bringing this blockbuster game to life has attracted not only a major studio, but top Hollywood talent. Gore Verbinski, director of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, is slated to direct and produce the BioShock movie. John Logan, Academy Award-nominated writer of Gladiator, The Aviator and Sweeney Todd, is in talks to do the screenplay.

The expected release date and terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

An original property developed by 2K Games, BioShock is one of the most successful new interactive entertainment franchises to launch in recent years. A critical and consumer hit, BioShock has sold more than 2 million units worldwide since its release in August 2007. A sequel to the game, BioShock 2, is planned for a release in 2009.

"We are excited that 2K Games' vision for BioShock will be carried forward in a new medium," said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two. "BioShock has been hailed as one of the most highly cinematic and richly plotted titles in interactive entertainment, making it extremely well-suited to film. In partnering with Universal and Gore Verbinski, we have assembled a team that respects the uniqueness of BioShock and will translate it into a powerful movie experience."

Mr. Zelnick added, "Our ability to attract a major studio and unparalleled creative team speaks volumes about the strength of our BioShock franchise. It also demonstrates how Take-Two is delivering value based on our strategy of creating and owning our industry's most powerful intellectual property."

Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K Games, noted, "BioShock fans appreciate the depth and complexity of the game, and our partnership with Gore Verbinski will introduce the world of Rapture to an even wider audience. In addition to his impressive body of work, Gore is an avid video gamer and true fan of BioShock. That was extremely important to us in deciding to move forward with this project."

BioShock: Triumph of the Imagination

Considered to be one the finest games in the history of interactive entertainment, BioShock unfolds as a deep and exciting adventure. Barely surviving a plane crash, the player lands in icy uncharted waters and discovers an undersea city called Rapture, a failed utopia whose citizens had embraced genetic engineering before the city descended into pure anarchy. Power and greed have run amok and the city has succumbed to civil war. It is a gripping game that forces the player to make complex moral choices. Fans have embraced BioShock's mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. BioShock is also renowned for its rich visual detail depicting a gorgeous Art Deco world set deep beneath the sea.

BioShock has earned some of the highest ratings and strongest accolades in video game history. It is one of the best-rated titles for Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, with a MetaCritic rating of 96. Numerous organizations bestowed "Game of the Year" status on BioShock in 2007, including The Associated Press, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), Game Informer, Spike TV's Video Game Awards, G4's X-Play, Amazon.com, The Houston Chronicle and Paste Magazine. Additionally, BioShock ranked among the top 10 titles on many other "Best of 2007" award lists, including The New York Times, Time Magazine and Maxim. BioShock was internally developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia and is owned by the 2K Games label of Take-Two Interactive Software.

Story
You play Niko Bellic, an Eastern European who has been lured to the US by his cousin Roman who claimed to be wildly successful here. Roman lied. He just runs a small taxi company and needs tough guy Niko to help him in his fight against debt collectors and people who he's generally rubbed the wrong way.

City
Liberty City, modeled after New York, is actually smaller than San Andreas from GTA III. Broken into 4 districts, players will enjoy pseudo-areas Broker (Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), Bohan (Bronx) , Algonquin (Manhattan), and Alderney (New Jersey).

Single Player
You can change Niko's clothes, but you can't change Niko. GTA IV will not allow huge character customization in this mode. That's for multiplayer. But it isn't so bad playing Niko. He's a modern man who takes the occasional cab, uses the internet to read more about his targeted hits, and knows to hide in cover during firefights while shooting with far better (over the shoulder) mechanics than his predecessors.
Rockstar has claimed gameplay as long as 100 hours. A play-through by Xbox World 360 was completed in 25 hours without sidequests, and estimated to run an average player around 40 hours for the main campaign and another 25 for sidequests (that's 65 hours total). Every GTA IV day is 48 minutes of real time. That means a 40 hour game will take roughly 133 days of game time, or a little over 4 months.

Multiplayer

Here's all the multiplayer...that we know about. Pull out your trusty cellphone and dial up the fun (but keep that party to 16 people, m'kay?).

Race
•Players race from one point to another with cars, boats and helicopters
•In Free Race mode, it's a start to finish race. In Canonball Run mode, players must hit checkpoints along the way

GTA Race
• It's Race mode with weapons that spawn along the way. Plus you traverse on foot.
• A tutorial mode is included.

Team Deathmatch
• Two to eight teams battle. As opposing teams are taken out, the winning team takes their cash.

Hangman's NOOSE
• Four players attempt to escort crime boss while avoiding SWAT team attack. Online only.

Team Mafiya Work
• Two to eight teams take separate contracts like stealing cars and escorting wanted men. The team who completes the most contracts in a certain time wins. Teams can also attack other teams.

Team Car Jack City
• Two to eight teams steal marked cars that spawn on the map. Whichever team delivers the most to the chop shop (in the best condition, or containing drug bonuses) wins the most cash and wins the game.

Turf War
• Two teams capture control points (or "bases") in a game very similar to Team Fortress 2. Controlling points equals cash. Cash equals winning.

Cops 'n Crooks
• Two teams only. One team are crooks who need to escort their boss safely. One team are cops who must bust the boss.
• All for One mode works as described above. One for All mode ditches the boss, and the crooks must escape with no respawning.

Co-op Campaign
• Our own Brian Crecente described it only as a "short co-op campaign," not a full co-op game ala Crackdown.

Other Interesting Multiplayer Tidbits:
• Characters can level up, peaking at level 10.
• All games are played on same Liberty City map.
• Liberty City map is fully explorable in all game modes.

Rockstar Social Club
Rockstar has announced a website called the Rockstar Social Club, and the first game it supports will be GTA IV. Among plenty of other services, the club will track the first player to complete 100% of the game and the fastest single-player participants over time.

GTA IV Music and Amazon
If you like any of the 200 songs that play in the game and have signed up at the Rockstar Social Club, just text message a special code through your in-game cellphone. Over time, a playlist will be built from the selected tracks which can be purchased DRM-free through Amazon for about $2 a pop.

FAQ

What's the deal with downloadable content?
Extra "episodes" will be exclusive to the Xbox 360. Sony has said that PlayStation 3 owners will get some type of DLC.

What's better about GTA IV?
• No load screens, ever (UPDATE: Stephen Totilo reports that the game indeed has sporadic, brief loads. However, there are no actual loading screens. Word fun.)
• Autosaving
• Liberty City will remember the damage you've caused.
• Euphoria engine brings AI physics to falling, getting hit, etc.
• Every street is named
• GPS support
• Targeting no longer sucks.

What vehicles will the game feature?
Cars, motorcycles, boats and helicopters. No planes.

Will there be storyline co-op?
As we said above, yes, but it won't be nearly the complete game.

What's in GTA IV Special Edition?
As explained by Rockstar:
• A customized Grand Theft Auto IV metal safety deposit box with keys.
• The Art of Grand Theft Auto IV. This 68 page book contains never-before-seen production artwork from Grand Theft Auto IV.
• The Music of Grand Theft Auto IV. This CD features select new material from top artists that can only be found on this release.
• An exclusive Rockstar keychain for the safety deposit box keys.
• A limited edition Rockstar duffel bag with vibrant orange lining.

How much will Special Edition cost me?
$89.99

Well I'm not paying no $89.99.
Then you ain't getting no GTA IV Special Edition.

What was that reference from?
Caddyshack.

We'll try to keep this page updated with the latest news, so be sure to bookmark it and come back every now and again.

Be sure to also check out:
GTA4 Hands-On: The World is Yours
GTA IV: Reinventing a World

Sources other than Kotaku: [Official GTA Site] [MTV Multiplayer] [Wikipedia] [GTAIV.net]

Today Electronic Arts told Jack thanks, but no thanks:

Mr. Thompson,

We have received your letter to EA's shareholder site. In response to your offer to assist in the proposed acquisition of Take-Two, we would strongly prefer that you not get involved in this matter. EA is a strong supporter of creative freedom for game developers. We feel that your past statements - including false claims about content in our games - make any collaboration with you impossible.

Sincerely,
Mariam Sughayer
Sr. Manager Corporate Communications
Electronic Arts, Inc.

Wow, that's about the nicest fuck off I've ever heard. Now get back to the kid's table Jack, the adults have to talk about important things.

For EA, sports is enough to pay for the whole [$2 billion] thing. If you get rid of sports competition, you suddenly add Take Two's $200 million per year in sports revenue and EA doesn't compete on price anymore.

Currently [EA and Take Two] compete in pro basketball, college basketball and hockey. So by taking out all of that, EA has a monopoly in sports. If these guys have a monopoly, they're not going to cut pricing on sports games as quickly. We've been seeing sports games come down [in price] before Christmas the last couple of years. That'll never happen again.

Pachter: Sports Drives T2 Deal for EA; GTA is "Gravy" [GamePolitics]

Responding to rumors we broke earlier today that College Hoops 2K9 has been canceled due to a breakdown in negotiations with the license holders for collegiate basketball, 2K Sports parent company Take-Two had this to say to Kotaku:

2K Sports has decided not to continue negotiations with the CLC for the license for its top-rated College Hoops franchise, which would have been released next in November 2008. We are committed to providing fans with high-quality, critically-acclaimed sports games, but given our disciplined approach to the business, we do not believe the current discussions would result in an acceptable outcome.

I followed up with Take-Two to try and get more details and while the declined to talk about any roll EA might have had in the break-down, they did confirm that College Hoops 2K9 has indeed been canceled.

No word still from The Collegiate Licensing Company or Electronic Arts, but we'll keep you posted.

Rumor: 2K9 College Hoops Canned, EA Seeks NCAA Deal [Kotaku]

This may disappoint some people with this, but the game I'm looking forward to in 2008 is Smash Bros [Brawl]...[and] now that I finally managed to crack my way into Outland, I'm now psyched for the next WoW expansion.

New management appears to us to be sincere, but we think it is important to state the obvious: they are new. They have not managed a business like this one in an environment like this, and we don't see them making tough decisions fast enough to deliver upside to the low end of company guidance...We are somewhat surprised that there were not staff reductions following the abysmal performance of All-Pro Football, especially after keeping the development team occupied with that game a full two years after competitor Electronic Arts signed an NFL exclusive

GTA IV is No 'Panacea' for Take-Two, says Analyst [gamedaily]

This evening's Take-Two Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2007 Results Conference Call wasn't exactly a Queens of the Stone Age concert, I know shocking right? There were some marginally interesting tidbits that floated out of the stream of fiscal data.

Here's a break-down of highlights and fun quotes, including one confirming the non-existence of Grand Theft Auto IV for the Wii:
*BioShock has shipped more than 2 million copies
*Carnival Games shipped more than 500,000 units since its debut in late August. 2K Play plans to bring the game to the DS in fiscal 08 and other platforms down the line.
*Take-Two doesn't expect missing the October release date for GTA4 will hurt sales, just spread them out more.
*GTA 4 has been rated in Australia, after the company sent the board there a reel showing off a "substantial part of the game."
*GTA 4 is still not coming to the Wii: "Right now I think, no disrespect meant for the platform, but there are other titles better suited for the Wii."

That's kinda weird, if you ask me. They didn't have any problem bringing Manhunt to the Wii, so why not Grand Theft Auto. I know Manhunt was a PS2 game, but I can't imagine that they can't rework GTA4 for the Wii somehow. I suspect they didn't expect the platform to be as popular as it has been. Come on Rockstar, I want to use my Remote to beat hookers.

Multiple edits were made to revise Manhunt 2 for its M-rated version. Hackers apparently have altered one of those edits to produce an illegally modified version of the game that can only be played on an unauthorized, modified PlayStation Portable handheld system...Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick said, "I stand behind the game and the ESRB ratings process. It is unfortunately the case that no one in the entertainment software industry is immune from hacking...We would also like to emphasize that Manhunt 2 is intended for an audience aged 17 and above.

BREAKING: Rockstar Confirms Manhunt 2 PSP Hack [gamepolitics]

I was always under the impression that when you do parody, it's a sign of respect... If we make fun of Grand Theft Auto, we're not going to hurt the sales of Grand Theft Auto... But yeah, we've definitely had some reactions - we've had to pull stuff from the game.

Rizzer elaborated that it was probably a lawyer who's been the source of said conflicts, but that's no excuse in our book. Parody has long offered legal solace to those stretching the bounds of freedom of speech and social commentary, even in the light of potential profits—just imagine this classic SNL vid without such protection. EA's response to self-censor has very likely been the result of playing nice to save legal costs and headaches as opposed to actual IP infringement.

With as often as Rockstar (justifiably) whines about freedom of artistic expression, we're ashamed of their double standard. Seriously. We're shaking our finger and everything.

EA upsets games companies with The Simpsons [cvg] [image]

Of course our boy is a letter writer, and Game Politics has a copy of the letter written to Take Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, informing him that they have until 5PM this Friday to inform him via email that the sequence will be removed from the game or he will take actions to stop the release of a game that "targets me personally in this fashion." A copy of the letter was also filed with the federal court in Florida, who I am sure is getting as much a kick out of this as we are.

This back and forth between the lawyer and Take Two is beginning to get ridiculous. Granted GTA IV is only a game, but why even bait the guy, knowing full well he would make a connection between himself and the fictional video game lawyer? It almost feels choreographed to me, like Rockstar planned on showcasing the one mission in their hour-long gameplay session that would ruffle his feathers. Enough already.

Jack Thompson Says GTA 4 Mission Target is Him; Threatens to Block Release [Game Politics]

"To succeed on those formats you've got to put everything into it or step away - we're already lucky to have a really committed team, so I think that we will step up to become an established Rockstar studio know for original projects."

Former Take-Two CEO Ryan Brant was sentenced to five years of probation for his role in stock-option backdating, after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors, Bloomberg reports.

Brant's February plea also required him to pay $6.3 million to settle a civil suit filed by federal regulators another $1 million to New York city and state officials. He's already forked over $4.7 million of that. More than 200 companies are under similar investigations, but Brant, 35, became the first CEO convicted in the cases.

``I'm deeply sorry for my role as an executive in the company and my role in the options dating process,'' Brant told New York State Supreme Court Justice Brenda Soloff today in Manhattan. Brant had faced up to four years in prison.

Brant was one of three Take-Two officials convicted in the case.

Take-Two Ex-Chief Sentenced to 5 Years of Probation (Update3) [Bloomberg]

Stating their options as shipping the game as-is, redoing it for a better rating, or simply canceling the title altogether, Pachter estimates that the fallout of the Manhunt 2 problems will cost the company around half of his original estimate of $40 million in revenue. Going to have to go with him on this. For one, you lose half your market and you're going to lose half the profit. Then there's the word of mouth reaching parents about the game, making them much less likely to fall back on the normal parenting technique of handing over money and nodding noncommittally. Thirdly, he's The Pachter, and his word is sacrosanct. Michael Fahey

Pachter: Manhunt 2 Troubles Will Cost T2 Millions of $$$ [Game Politics]

To be perfectly frank, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to realize what's going on with Wii and DS. I will tell you that very quickly we turned to both 2K and to Rockstar and said guys, we need a DS strategy and a Wii strategy and we are working on it. As we get into the next quarter and into budget season for 2008, everybody in this company is completely focused on it.

Of course, this doesn't mean that you will start seeing Nintendo games coming from Take Two anytime soon, unless they've invested some of that GTA money into some kind of magic bottom that they can pull Nintendo games out of. Kim Phu

Take-Two F2Q07 (Qtr End 4/30/07) Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha via Game|Life]

Shoe, meet other foot.

GamePolitics sends word that Take-Two, in an effort to preemptively stop Jack Thompson's insane and completely baseless attacks on the company and their games, is sueing the attorney.

In the complaint Take-Two says that Thompson has a history of making threats of legal action and has done so again with Manhunt 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV.

The suit alleges that Thompson's public nuisance tactic essentially violates Take Two's First Amendment rights. Lawyers for the game publisher argue that the Florida statute under which Thompson is seeking to have the games declared as nuisances essentially makes the controversial lawyer "a private attorney general on behalf of the State of Florida."

I think Thompson is slowly working his way toward the super douche achievement, just five more frivolous suits to go and it unlocks for him. Brian Crecente

Breaking: Take-Two Sues Jack Thompson [Game Politics]

Joel Parker writes of his foray into cybersquatting with the post [There was a small chance that] ROCKSTAR GAMES AND TAKE TWO INTERACTIVE [could have] SUED ME.

Shortly after Manhunt 2 was announced, Parker decided to register www.manhunt3.com and then promptly forgot about it... until an attorney with Take Two contacted him and pointed out the registration was a trademark violation.

After a bit of research, Parker contacted them to transfer over the domain. They paid him his costs and threw in a bag o swag as a thank you. The freebies included three t-shirts, a grey pullover, a knitted cap and a coffee mug with a district Japanese design on it and the Rockstar logo.

So if you want free Rockstar swag go register Manhunt 5 or some such and wait for the email. Brian Crecente

[There was a small chance that] ROCKSTAR GAMES AND TAKE TWO INTERACTIVE [could have] SUED ME [Gameoftheblog]

Take Two also confirmed that episodic content for the game would be released in 2008. As we mentioned back in September of last year, both systems will get episodic content that is unique to the platform, meaning that different systems will have different bonus content. Fun stuff. Keep in mind that none if this is tattooed on anyone's arm yet, so things could still change between now and then. Michael Fahey

GTA IV: October Release Confirmed, Episodes Coming in 2008 [Team Xbox]

Saying that Take-Two has "lost its way", Pachter points out that the company's Grand Theft Auto franchise will remain a source of profits, but that the money-losing 2K Sports could be a target for acquisition from mega-publisher Electronic Arts.

Pachter wrote:

It is clear to us that Take-Two's sports business would have tremendous value to EA, as it would give EA a monopoly on football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. It is arguable that EA would benefit by as much as $1 billion if it were to obtain an exclusive; this does not mean that it is willing to pay $1 billion.

Good luck with that All Star Football 2K8 effort, Visual Concepts. Working at EA wouldn't be that bad, would it? Guys? Michael McWhertor

Analyst downgrades Take-Two stock [Gamespot]

A little more than a half year after Take-Two shuttered Rockstar Vienna (formerly known as neo Software), the founders have announced that they are forming a new company.

Games That Matter Productions will pursue a "visionary game production business model."

14 years and 14 days after establishing Rockstar Vienna (formerly known as neo Software) Hannes Seifert, Niki Laber and J rgen Goeldner are proud to present their new company: Games That Matter Productions GmbH.

A new company with a visionary game production business model.

The press conference to announce the goals and business model of Games That Matter will take place on January 25th, 2007.

I hope that by "matters" they mean to something other than the bottom-line. It would be refreshing to see an experienced group of developers putting their efforts into making games that aren't about just better graphics and more money. Brian Crecente

Games That Matter [Via PlayThrough]

Computer and Video Games has the latest trailer for Bully, alias Canis Canem Edit, and they're not sharing. I'm going to make you hit the link to watch it on their site, as a quick YouTube hit didn't turn anything up.

True to form, the voice acting continues to sound pitch-perfect, the characters are intriguing and the game looks nice and varied. I think this is going to be a solid title. Eliza Gauger

Canis Canem Edit trailer [Computer and Video Games]

I laid into the kid with a flurry of punches, including a punishing uppercut I'd been taught by an alcoholic Vietnam vet. Wham, wham, wham: Pretty soon I'd pummeled my opponent into the ground. And for my brutal finishing move?

I leaned over and gave him a hand up. I lectured him about the importance of not bullying defenseless kids, and he apologized, promising that he wouldn't be such a meanie any more.

So starts a slightly spoiler-ridden, but very good article about the truth of Bully (Canis Canem Edit if you're nasty), Rockstar's latest progeny. The thrust of the piece is clear: by reacting solely to the title of the game, all those protesters and Jackasses were only setting themselves up for embarrassment. In Bully, you are not the bully. You're morally sound. You get in trouble for hitting girls.

So what does this say about Rockstar? I posit that this was some serious ninja shit by the R* boys, and that they knew exactly what they were doing with this title, and the near complete dearth of actual marketing. I think they knew that all they had to do was whisper the sweet B word into the ether, and it would eventually reach the right ears: ears attached to empty heads and load mouths. And I'm not talking about bloggers, shockingly.

Rockstar has struck a huge blow for the cause. They gave the enemy a shovel and just watched them dig. When the game comes out it will be important to keep covering it, rubbing it in that the Jackasses were wrong.

We have an opportunity here to take some serious territory. Don't let me down. Eliza Gauger

Bully for You [Wired]

The project is called Teaching With Games and has the support of Take Two, EA, Microsoft, and the ISFE.

"I can definitely see the potential of using games in the classroom. It proved to be a great tool for motivating students and engaging their interest. I would like to use games for teaching in the future if the technical problems could be addressed," commented Claire Gemmell, a teacher at St John's School & Community College in Marlborough. The technical problems she's referring to involved licensing and copy protection issues that prevented some teachers from easily installing the software or running the games on school networks.

Games in the study included RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Sims 2, and Knights of Honor.

I personally have been a proponent of regular old gaming (as opposed to educational games, which usually suck) as learning tool since I realized how savagely I fought to acquire the reading skills necessary to play adventure games when I was wee.

Games are set up to reward learning just as a basic tenet of play, so they're already ideal forms of teaching. What did you learn from gaming, my wee apelings, and how did it help you? Eliza Gauger

Study: Games Can Aid Learning at School [Gamedaily BIZ]

GameVideos.com is hosting the second Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories trailer, featuring a flabby, flirty walrus and a cross-dressing, Bowie-esque bellboy who informs us that everyone was on cocaine in 1984. Hell, still am! Florian Eckhardt

Apparently, this time, against Sony and Take-Two for a Grand Theft Auto related wrongful death:

On Monday, September 25, Thompson will journey to another state and announce, with his co-counsel, the filing of what will likely prove to be hugely significant wrongful death action against Sony and Take-Two...

One thing Thompson will talk about at the news conference are the ways in which the industry has targeted him and his family for harm in retaliation for his appearance on 60 Minutes... One thing that is useful in what is going to occur Monday is that the prosecutor of the kid who killed in this instance actually called Thompson and asked him to bring this lawsuit...

Apparently, someone Googled up 'ambulance chaser kook'. Anyway, we'll keep you posted.

You know, I just actually checked out Jack's Wikipedia entry for the first time. Seriously, go read it: he's totally out of his gourd. Did you know that in the prelapsarian days when he targeted homosexuals instead of rap music and video games, he called Janet Reno a lesbian while simultaneously claiming she came on to him?

There's only one conclusion that can be drawn: Jack Thompson is secretly a woman. Or a giant walking clitoris. Either/or. Florian Eckhardt

Jack Thompson Ready to Drop Another Game Violence Lawsuit? [Game Politics]

Virtual pimp-smackin' gang-bangers are extrapolating worlds from recent cryptic comments dropped by NoA President Reggie Fils-Aime at least week's Nintendo Presser, in which he confirmed that Nintendo was in talks with Take Two.

I'll be spending some time later today with the folks over at Take-Two to see what type of support they can give our console.

What's so exciting about that? Well, in combination with Fils-Aimes' confirmation that Nintendo would be publish M-rated games for the Wii, there's a flurry of speculation that Fils-Aime might be alluding to bringing Grand Theft Auto to the Wii.

That's an Evel Knievel style leap over the gulf of counter-intuition, there. Take Two's got a host of properties it could put on the Wii without touching Rockstar. But gossip? It's what we do. Florian Eckhardt

GTA to whack Wii? [Gamespot]

Anyway, Game Informer magazine is the bearer of exclusive new info on the newest media darling from Rockstar. GamePolitics gives us this quote from the article:

The fighting, while light in tone, can get fairly violent as you can use found items like garbage can lids and baseball bats. However, Rockstar Vancouver has implemented steps to mitigate the violence to some degree. More damaging weapons like the bats degrade quickly, after three to five hits, preventing you from walking around beating everyone in sight. Also, if the player decides to hit a girl or smaller child, the prefects will quickly swarm and take you down. In this way, Rockstar - usually known for pulling no punches - seems to be trying to create an organic system of consequences...

I'm more irked by the inclusion of girls in the do-not-hit category than I ever was about a bully-based sandbox beater. Punch a girl for Rockstar!

On a side note, I cannot get over the outstanding quality of the game art. We're entering a golden age of game artwork, if Team Fortress 2 and the stuff from Bully can be taken for a trend. Eliza Gauger

Bully Info Starting to Flow [GamePolitics]

The most idiotic thing about the furor over Rockstar's upcoming school-based game Bully is that it's fueled by one of the scantiest PR campaigns I've ever seen. A single trailer (or two?), some fantastic concept art, and a few sentences make up the entirety of the information released by Rockstar proper.

It may be that the company is so adept at handling controversy by now that they know the crowing of the Insane Jackasses will save them tens of thousands in advertising expense. The antigamers only need to be fed a single pallid shaving with the Rockstar logo attached and they're off and running, foaming at the mouth with ignorant distemper. Whatever it is, they're against it.

We even got a comment from the head of an anti-bullying advocacy group a few weeks ago, condemning us for mentioning the game and calling us to arms against it. The email was tl;dr, going on and on about the hideous content and horrible demon influence it would have on innocent human-larva. I wrote back: "Ma'am, have you actually played the game? Because we sure as hell haven't." I got no reply.

In this Crecente piece over on ScrippsNews, we finally hear from the intelligentsia, and they tell us what we already know: only non-gamers fear games, and this is simply a continuation of our proud cultural traditions of marginalizing and demonizing our children.

Clive Thompson, video game critic for Wired News and contributing writer for The New York Times, calls video games this generation's rock 'n' roll.

"Video games are as divisive as rock 'n' roll was and they have created an experiential generation gap."

It's that gap, Thompson thinks, that is sparking much of the outcry against video games:

"There are a number of reasons why games are more disturbing to people than movies or music. It is demographics; the people who are worried about them, don't play them and don't understand them. It's a perfect storm of misunderstanding."

What's most vexing about this war is that many of our opponents are of an age that they should remember the hate and fear from their own parents towards long hair, free love, and rock n' roll. It's saddening that revolution is so quickly forgotten, but I suppose when you got your wild oats sewn so widely in your youth, you're content to become a hateful old bastard in your dotage. Eliza Gauger

More here [ScrippsNews, via GamePolitics]

The studio responsible for Grand Theft Auto III Rockstar North is searching for in-Game Animators, level designers, motions editors and network programmers. The company's listing reads:

We are looking for talented network programmers. Candidates will have considerable experience writing high and low level network code across a variety of systems and be able to demonstrate fluent C++ programming skills.

There's been loads of speculation that GTA IV will be a MMO. The game will definitely have some sort of online aspect as Microsoft and Rockstar have a partnership so that exclusive content can be delivered via Xbox Live. The extra network programmers could be involved in that and handling the Sony online network. Or they could be turning GTA into World of Warcraft but with car jacking and hookers. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Rockstar North]