Take-Two dates and news in latest report

Take-Two has revealed its latest quarterly financial results in an announcement laced with interesting bits of news. From a gamer's perspective, surely the most interesting is confirmation that Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne will be released for the PC in the US on October 15th. We had previously been told that the game would be due out in Europe on October 31st, which might just fit, but we suspect a mid to late November date is a bit more likely.

The next interesting item is confirmation that Vice City is coming to the Xbox, and not in a de-branding exercise geared towards circumnavigating an exclusivity contract either. Having renegotiated its deal with Sony, Rockstar will be launching a GTA3 and Vice City double pack on PS2 (October 22nd in the US) and Xbox (November 4th) this year.

Also on the GTA front, Rockstar has confirmed that a new game in the series will be released in fiscal year 2004, along with "extensions of other proprietary intellectual properties from Rockstar's internal studios". Another Midnight Club title, perhaps? We can also expect a game based on the Paramount film "The Warriors" from them.

Still focusing on Rockstar North, the Scottish developer's first non-GTA title for a while - the ambitious PS2 title Manhunt - will be released in the US on November 19th, perhaps rubbishing the previously announced European date of October 31st, unless Rockstar is planning to release a game first in its country of origin. Sadly, that seems unlikely, but given the proximity of last year's US and European Vice City dates, we shouldn't have to wait too long.

Looking further ahead, Take-Two's Gathering label is still hoping to ship Hidden & Dangerous 2 this year (we had October 24th), Railroad Tycoon 3 (October 31st?) and Space Colony (September 26th), while Gotham Games is planning to launch MTV Celebrity Deathmatch on a whopping five formats (PS2, Xbox, Cube, PSX and PC) before the end of 2003. Moving into Q1 of the next fiscal year (November to January) we should expect to see the long-awaited PS2 and Xbox ports of Mafia. That's a spicy meat-a-ball!

Oh and, lest we forget, Take-Two's financials also announce the publisher's plan to acquire TDK Mediactive. Not that exciting, you might venture, but Pirates of the Caribbean and Robotech stand out amongst their games, with other TDK titles Shrek, The Haunted Mansion, The Land Before Time, The Muppets, Corvette and Masters of the Universe also now falling under the sprawling Take-Two umbrella. Take-Two is paying approximately $22.7 million for TDK.

It remains to be seen whether existing TDK products will be absorbed into Take-Two's many brands, or whether TDK will become its own label. We don't actually care either way.