Chairman Strauss Zelnick directly addresses reports stemming from his address to a business summit earlier this week, says industry sales shouldn't be so holiday-centric.
For this week, no news is good news for gamers eagerly anticipating Grand Theft Auto IV. On Tuesday, Take-Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick spoke at the 2007 BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainment Summit in New York City. When asked about the release date of Grand Theft Auto IV, Zelnick offered a status quo answer that was reported and rereported on industry trade sites until the executive was inaccurately characterized as backing down from the previously announced release window for the game.
Zelnick today spoke with GameSpot to set the record straight and squash the rumor once and for all.
"I wasn't intending to be newsworthy," Zelnick said of his response at the summit. "When asked about the release date, I confirmed the previous release date we'd given, which is our second fiscal quarter. That's to say sometime between the beginning of February and the end of April."
Some analysts have speculated that the reason for Grand Theft Auto IV's delay from its original October 16 release date was that Take-Two wanted to hold on to the game until the PlayStation 3's installed user base had overcome the system's slow start and had time to grow significantly.
Gas Powered Games' real-time strategy PC hit confirmed for release on Microsoft's console early next year.
Last month, Gas Powered Games founder Chris Taylor let slip in an interview that he was bringing his PC real-time strategy game Supreme Commander to consoles. THQ was mum on the subject at the time, for reasons made clear today.
Supreme Commander has indeed been announced for the Xbox 360 this morning. However, the company confirming the fact is not THQ, but Austin-based publisher Aspyr Media. Aspyr has teamed up with upstart British Columbia-based studio Hellbent Games to bring Supreme Commander to Microsoft's console. This will be the publisher's first title for the Xbox 360.
Beyond simply adapting the PC game's interface to work with a standard controller, Hellbent and Aspyr are adding exclusive new units, additional multiplayer modes, and tweaked maps. Naturally, players will be able to test their strategic aptitude against one another over Xbox Live.
DragonForce album jumps 126 per cent
There are early indications that Guitar Hero III has had a significant impact on record sales for bands featured in the game.
The game, subtitled Legends of Rock, was released in the US at the end of October. It will launch in Europe on 23 November.
Hard rock label Roadrunner Records said that sales of DragonForce's album "Inhuman Rampage" increased 126% week-on-week in the wake of Guitar Hero III's release. DragonForce's song "Through the Fire and Flames" is featured as an unlockable bonus track in Guitar Hero III.
Slipknot, another Roadrunner artist featured in the game, also saw its album sales increase.
The news follows comments made by EA's Steve Schnur at Games Convention Asia in September. Schnur asserted that games were now more relevant than radio when it comes to promoting new music.
US sales figures for Guitar Hero III are not yet available, but Activision is expecting the music title to be one of its top sellers this year. Its extensive marketing campaign for the game has included sponsorship of the Sex Pistols' reunion concerts in London last week.
Tom Bramwell Wishes homebrew would be sanctioned by platform holders
Doom creator John Carmack believes the DS would make a great proving ground for upstart programmers if only platform holders didn't stifle homebrew development.
"It is a shame that homebrew development can't be officially sanctioned and supported, because it would be a wonderful platform for a modern generation of programmers to be able to get a real feel for low level design work," Carmack told IGN in an interview about Orcs & Elves, "to be contrasted with the high level web and application work that so many entry level people start with."
Carmack took a similar route to creating Orcs & Elves, id Software's upcoming Nintendo DS game - created as a collaboration between Carmack and Fountainhead Software.
As he explained at QuakeCon 2007, he got the 3D code that underpins the game up and running in four days during one of his "working retreats" - where he locks himself in a hotel room for two weeks with no internet connection "for completely focused work".
Unofficial homebrew solutions do exist for DS, using flash cards for storage, but they're not supported by Nintendo because of the potential for piracy.
Nollenberger Capital Partners' analyst Todd Greenwald has stated that Call of Duty 4 could outsell Halo 3. Straight from the horse's mouth:
"Thus far, the game has an average score of 9.5/10 on Metacritic.com, which is almost unprecedented and puts it on par with Halo 3. It certainly is the highest-rated game Activision has ever created. Keep in mind, CoD4 is launching on four times as many platforms (Xbox 360, PlayStation3, PC, DS) as Halo 3 (360 only). Halo 3 has so far sold about 4 million units. A year ago, Call of Duty 3 sold about 3 million units, and we anticipate this year's version could do four million or more."
BioShock and Halo 3 earn most nominations when Spike TV unveiled the list of nominees for its 2007 Video Game Awards
To be eligible, a game must have been released between November 16, 2006 and December 1, 2007. The nominees were chosen by Spike TV's advisory panel, which is made of nearly two dozen game journalists.
BioShock and Halo 3 received the most nominations, with seven each, including nominations as Game of the Year and Xbox 360 Game of the Year. No Wii or PS3 exclusives were nominated as Game of the Year.
The "Most Addictive Game" category will be selected by online voters polled on the official VGA website.
The 2007 Video Game Awards will be shown on Spike TV on December 9. The complete list of nominees is as follows:
Game of the Year
- BioShock
- Halo 3
- Mass Effect
- The Orange Box
Best PS3 Game
- Heavenly Sword
- Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
- Warhawk
Click the read more link for the full list of nominations..