Writes The Times:

There’s a Western game in the works for next spring, and the next GTA to think of. “We’ll think of a city first, then the characters,” says Houser. The script he will end up co-writing will run to around 1,000 pages, nearly ten times as much as a feature film.

There’s plenty of other interesting quotes inside the interview, including Houser’s reaction to being the punching bag/pariah every time a violent video game is brought up in popular culture. Also, and I didn’t know this, but in The Ballad of Gay Tony, he and Sam put a saxophonist in the park in Liberty City as a tribute to their father, a jazz artist who plays the instrument.

The Driving Force Behind Grand Theft Auto [Times of London via GameDaily]

“I think reports on the death of package goods have been greatly exaggerated,” Feder told a gathering of analysts in New York earlier today. “Downloadable content is interesting and will continue to be interesting, not because it’s eclipsing retail but because of the instant feedback.

“You can learn as you go along” from customers.

Feder said that while he thinks that downloadable content will continue to increase, it won’t be at the expense of retail goods or retail stores.

“I’m bullish on downloadable content but not necessarily at the experense of retail stores and packaged goods,” he said. “I think package goods are here with us for a long time. I am pretty confident we will be seeing package goods and stores for a long time.”

I know you all had your heart set on purchasing Take-Two’s Ringling Bros. circus game for the Wii next week, and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are going to let you finish, but they suggest you first consider alleged abuses heaped by the staff of the world-famous circus on elephants and tigers every day. They’ve been investigating the circus for quite some time and feel that the truth might keep you from purchasing the game.

“During our investigation Ringling performed at new venues week after week, but its abuse of animals did not change. Our investigator captured workers on video as they beat and whipped elephants dozens of times in venues across the country. We also documented workers use sharp tools called bullhooks to jab and yank elephants by their sensitive skin. The abuses we filmed were captured backstage-hidden from public view-right before elephants were forced to walk onstage and perform. ”

They’ve even got a video up on their website, showing Ringling Bros. employees smacking around elephants, which is pretty ballsy considering how daunting an angry elephant would be. Luckily for the handlers the elephants stay calm, barely registering the various slaps and taps they are given.

Slightly shocking, I suppose, but it probably won’t keep people from buying the game. The fact that it’s a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus game for the Nintendo Wii, on the other hand, will definitely stop people from buying it.

Responding to a question about the announcement strategy for the next GTA from Arvind Bhatia of brokerage firm Stern Agee, Zelnick made Take-Two’s stance on the subject perfectly clear.

“We’re not going to announce it. We’re not going to announce when we’re going to announce it. And we’re not going to announce the strategy about announcing it or about when we’re going to announce it either, or about the announcement strategy surrounding the announcement of the strategy. Any other questions?”

What do you suppose that means?

The 2006 suit, which was tentatively settled for $US20 million, also alleges that company officers earned more than $US18 million in insider trading even as the company’s stock plummeted.

“As a result of the disclosures of the Company’s true financial condition, its stock ratings have been slashed,” the suit, initially filed by John Fenninger who purchased Take-Two common stock, states. “Moreover, the Company is exposed to class action lawsuits and regulatory enforcement actions brought by the Attorney Generals of several states. While the public investors lost over one billion dollars in market capitalization, the Individual Defendants pocketed over $US18 million in insider trading proceeds.”

Hot Coffee, a bit of hidden sex found behind the apartment doors of the game, was discovered in July 2005 after a modder released a hack for the game that unlocked the previously hidden content.

Earlier today, Take-Two announced that they had reached a settlement in the case, with the company and its insurer paying out more than $US20 million.

The nut of the allegations contained in the 34-page suit, is that Take-Two was spending more than it was bringing in and couldn’t survive until the next Grand Theft Auto. So, the suit alleges, the company pushed Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas out the door knowing that there was pornographic material in the game because delays would have cost the company too much. If the material was known to be in the, the suit continues, major retailers wouldn’t have sold it.

The outcome, according to the suit, was inflated stock prices based on bad or uninformed information from the company and a plunge in stock values when the truth came out.

The suit also alleges that Take-Two lied about the included sex scenes, nicknamed Hot Coffee, when they first came to light, with the company the scenes were “the work of a determined group of hackers who have gone to significant trouble to alter scenes.’”

The suit outlines how the value of Take-Two’s stock first rose significantly with the release of the game and then began to plummet as the allegations and suits came to light. The suit connects the two, alleging that the company lied during financial statements to try and cover themselves and later key executives profited from inside information while selling company stock.

It’s an interesting read and worth some time if you’ve been following the Hot Coffee allegations and are interested in a document that ties stock values and company statements to the life-cycle of the controversial sex scene in San Andreas. But do keep in mind that just because the suit was settled, that doesn’t mean the contents have been proven or disproven.

Class Action

The new European games convention, shifted this year from Leipzig to Cologne, will feature most of the major game developers, plenty of press conferences and an absurd amount of games. The list of developers on hand include Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Capcom.

We’ve just received Activision and Electronic Arts play lists and they’re impressive, including games like Modern Warfare 2, RAGE and APB.

Activision plans to bring all of their big titles with them to the show. That means we’ll be getting time with Modern Warfare 2, Bakugan, Singularity, Blur, Tony Hawk RIDE, DJ Hero, Band Hero and Guitar Hero 5.

Electronic Arts too will come to Germany packing some major heat with nearly 20 titles to show off. That means time with APB, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Brütal Legend, C&C 4, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 2, Need for Speed SHIFT, Need for Speed NITRO, RAGE, The Beatles Rock Band, FIFA 10 (next gen), MySims Agents, TS3EP1, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Dante’s Inferno, Dead Space Extraction, The Saboteur, NHL and Tiger Woods Online.

We’ve also heard that Square Enix will be showing off Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Mini Ninjas and Order of War. The biggest news coming from Square for the show is that Supreme Commander 2 will be playable for the first time anywhere during Gamescom.

We’ll be feet-on-the-ground, live at the show getting hands-on with all of the big games and liveblogging the big press conferences, including a recently announced one from Electronic Arts.

With rumours swirling that a Playstation 3 price cut is landing the week of the show, this could shape up to be one of the biggest Euro games conventions yet.

The piece is worth reading not only because it’s highly entertaining, but also because it does a great job of placing the last 18 months of Take-Two’s business dealings in context. Remember how last year EA wanted to buy Take-Two? And Zelnick said other companies were also interested?

If you’re keeping score, in a two year period, Mr Zelnick managed to, on three occasions, make vital statements that were within a matter of weeks proven to be either fabricated or just incredibly incompetent (or worse). Mr. Zelnick managed to resist and reject a buyout offer that was triple the company’s current share price while claiming other interested parties who never emerged. And Mr. Zelnick, meanwhile, tripled his management company’s compensation for these efforts because, after all, he does not engage in regrets and does not “take responsibility for the market.”

These statements and others strongly suggest that investors should proceed with extreme caution with any investment that involves Strauss Zelnick. His performance so far as an executive manager of a publicly traded company is one of the worst I have ever seen in my professional investment experience.

Granted, not many of you will be Take-Two shareholders, but still, that’s not the kind of picture you like to see painted about the guy (and board) responsible for publishing Grand Theft Auto and BioShock.

No Regrets, No Responsibility: Strauss Zelnick, Take Two Interactive’s Chairman [Market Rap, via GamePolitics]

It’s been announced that the popular basketball series is heading to China “and other key markets” in the region, in the form of NBA 2K Online.

The game will see a PC version of 2K go online, and… that’s about all we know, as 2K’s announcement was 100% about the NBA’s popularity in the region and 0% on how the game will actually work.

If they were to announce something along the lines of “you pay to unlock better players and new uniforms”, however, we wouldn’t be surprised.

The disclosure can be found within court documents relating to the franchise, and specifically reads “[3D Realms/Apogee Ltd.] admits that it has continually worked on the development of the DNF for many years, and continues to do so”.

In addition to this reveal, it seems publisher Take-Two began development of another Duke Nukem game, Duke Begins, in 2007. This title, however, was canned in April 2009, right around the time the publisher’s support of Duke Nukem Forever dried up, leading to speculation that “Duke Begins” was as much a bargaining chip in negotiations with 3D Realms as it was a legitimate product.

Am I the only person in the world who reads all this and thinks “why?”. This is Duke Nukem we’re talking about here, not Halo. It stuns me that Take-Two continued to sink so much money (we’re talking millions upon millions) into not one Duke Nukem project (which this side of the 1990’s was one too many), but two.

3D Realms Countersuit Reveals Continuing Duke Nukem Forever Work, New Duke Game [Shacknews]