Future Plans for Take Two Interactive...?

[Stelio]

With the recent news of Take Two picking up Visual Concepts as well as a number of other companies to start producing Sports Franchises...

...I do believe that they are going to incorporate an all in one type of game in their plans for a future GTA game. One where you can enter competitive sport. I may be wrong but I do see them creating this game with some solid gameplay in that aspect with people who know how to create those games. The best part is that when this game goes online you you will more than likely be able to play these sports "minigames" online as well.

My take on things for the future of GTA...

Throwing a bit of an RPG maker into the mix, you get to create your own charater deciding what type of path in life you take. Be on your way to becoming a sports star, embark on a career in law enforcement, etc. This will open up new doors in gameplay. The cool part here would be that if you dont quite like what your career is leading you to anymore you can change career paths either by gowing to the unemployment agency, streets, whatever else you'd like to begin a new chapter in your life (I do want to say that I think that if you are to die you should be forced to start over from the very beginning creating a character all over again). Another cool thing here, if you do something along your life to "becoming something" you will inadvertantly end up on news broadcasts and headline the papers either by you stellar/poor gameplay in sports, policing, something that affected your life positively or negatively in your life. I do believe that this game with incorporate many of these new gameplay types. I could list numerous more but I am @ work right now :) I mean, who works anyway? lol

Let me know what you all think? Thes sports thing, to say the least, is good news. Since they cannot release an NFL football game do to exclussives by EA, incorporating fantasy sports games with great gameplay into GTA would be phenominal. AND, who says they can't use liscenses by ESPN too?

I'm out.

B EZ!

[Z]

You can't get deep if your not focused, and GTA has too much going on to focus on any one direction. If you look at GTA technically, it is not a very good game. It has many problems such as popup, freezing, mediocre gaming, weak to no story, poor graphics, etc. you also have many game modes like driving, shooting, fighting, etc. but none of them is that good. The thing is that they simply have too much going on, but the variety and choices make up for all of that. That is why you see a lot of people enjoy it. Although free roaming and variety doesn't convince many games that end up buying it, thus soon neglecting it.
But the idea of having competing mini-games for online play is very feasible. You don't have to make the entire game online to played. You can just have the mini-game options online.

About Take-Two and Visual Concept, I wouldn't worry about them. The game experience, control and feel are more important than licenses. I believe VC make better games than EA in every aspect; presentation, control, realism, etc. and they can always use names out side of the NFL like college football, or other leagues like the Canadian league.
I agree that not having the names is a commercial drawback, but I don't believe it is essential for a game. Look at the movie-games out there. Nearly all of them are a joke. It is interesting to see what will be done in this exclusive license in sports in the coming years. I am more concerned about 989 Studios sports line.

[Omega Blue]

You can't get deep if your not focused, and GTA has too much going on to focus on any one direction. If you look at GTA technically, it is not a very good game. It has many problems such as popup, freezing, mediocre gaming, weak to no story, poor graphics, etc.

HAH HAH that was hilarious. The "pop up" problem is not R* or a software problem. Its actually a hardware problem. It also happens in Mercenaries, even on the XBox version. Never once did my copy of GTA SA freeze, not in any way does it have poor graphics. I duno about you but i dont expect a game that re-creates an entire State to have Half Life 2, Halo2, or Doom 3 graphics on todays console hardware.

GTA not a good game? seriously? are you sane? A not very good game doesn't hold the Guiness World Record as the best selling game ever now does it?

GTA SA is revolutionary gaming, takin a step futher. Like i said, re-creating an entire state, a living, breathing, world in the Ps2, with no in-game loading times. Thats just beyond amazing. The technical achievement R* got on the Ps2 it more under-estimated then Halo 2 is over-rated.

Do this, load up GTA SA, go to the farthest bottom right corner of island and drive in a clock wise circle first to the bottom left of SA then up to SF then all the way accros the old air port then to Las Ventura then down to your hood. ALL without loading times, all on the Ps2, 6 year old hardware.

[The_One]

Do this, load up GTA SA, go to the farthest bottom right corner of island and drive in a clock wise circle first to the bottom left of SA then up to SF then all the way accros the old air port then to Las Ventura then down to your hood. ALL without loading times, all on the Ps2, 6 year old hardware. Yup, it's definately amazing. And if I'm not mistaken, the original GTA 3 had to load when you reached a new "area", did it not? Well, at least the PC version that I played had loading time between areas (albeit, not long, literally a fraction of a second).

[Z]

First off, your views or mine of GTA is irrelevant here. There are two GTA threads that are dedicated to it. If you want us to discuss it thoroughly pick one, PM me and let's get it on! ;)
And keep in mind that such preferences come down to opinion. You like Lamborghini, I like Ferrari.

And financial success isn't directly related on the game play itself, it has to do more with marketing. How else can you explain Tomb Raider reaching platinum sales, where as ICO was nowhere near it? It's a wacky world o_O

Now, while GTA has a lot of modes, it doesn't hold the crown in any of the. As it is now, imagine it being solely a shooting game, or a driving game, or any other mode. How will it stack up to the titles that are dedicated to each kind of play? How does its driving hold up to NFSD, Midnight Club, Burnout, etc? How does its shooting holds up to SOCOM? How does its fighting compare to Prince of Persia? Get what I am saying?

However, as they are now, I believe they still can be played as online mini-games. Of course, it is expected to be better come next installment.

I would think that a game developed from the ground up for this concept would give a better experience than to try to re-model an existing title for that purpose. Either a dedicated GTA, or a new title for such game play is more feasible.

[bRoNx]

I think you boyz are getting a little off topic...

Anyways, I think Stelio had a good idea. Imagine if GTA was on par/better than NSF/Burnout etc. in the driving department. Then imagine it being on par/better than SOCOM for shooting, and Prince of Persia for fighting. It'll be AWESOME to say the least, and it'll combine all genres AND excel in every one of them...you'll never need another game.

Now I believe Stelio was talking about having an indepth sports side to GTA. I personally think it'll be wicked...it'll mean that GTA won't be all based on violence, and a criminal career, but rather a real life quest...whether you wanna be a hitman, a cop, or a sports superstar...I like it! With Visual Concepts on board, the sports side is well taken care of :P

Lastly, Z, I don't understand why you're bringing up GTA's flaws :? ...hello, this is a PS3 thread...meaning Stelio's talking about GTA on PS3...with BluRay and Cell, I believe all that can be taken care of.

[Pina]

Better yes, bigger no. It will be complicated to build a bigger game in the first generation of games. If they used a team of 100 for this latest GTA, i imagine that (example) the guys responsible for the cars in the game will take 5 to 10 times more time to build a car.

So, or they have a team 5 times larger, or they have more time on theyre hands. Either way it will cost a lot. Even of the next GTA is "smaller" in scale when comparing to the last one.

[Z]

Imagine if GTA was on par/better than NSF/Burnout etc. in the driving department. Then imagine it being on par/better than SOCOM for shooting, and Prince of Persia for fighting. It'll be AWESOME to say the least, and it'll combine all genres AND excel in every one of them...you'll never need another game.

you can imagine and play make believe all you want. I am talking about how feasible this concept is. No developer will make such a game perfect in every direction even if they can. you are suggesting, for example, that instead of making separate NDFS-PP-SOCOM, etc games, they should be cancelled and made into one game. it is not financially acceptable.

secondly, I am talking about the game NOW, not how I imagine it would be like if.

I think you boyz are getting a little off topic...


I never went off topic. I didn't even answer the GTA fan and told him to go to a proper thread. I only made a quick comment on marketing.


- Lastly, Z, I don't understand why you're bringing up GTA's flaws ...hello, this is a PS3 thread...meaning Stelio's talking about GTA on PS3...with BluRay and Cell, I believe all that can be taken care of.


Hello, he is talking about how feasible to do a certain idea he has. I answered. and if you read what I said you will notice that I said A GTA GAME SPECIFICALLY BUILT FOR THIS IDEA WILL EXECUTE IT BETTER.

[Stelio]

I sure that they (R*) have some level of personnel surveying the various forums looking for any interesting ideas we may have. And if not, I sure hope they implement them on their own.

I forget who it was that made the comment that GTA games do a lot of different things albeit not that greatly, ie. driving, basketball, swimming, fighting, list goes on...I do believe that this is more of a physics problem rather than a graphical issue, as you already know. I do believe that the addtition of quality sports developers will adress these aspects of gameplay in order to lock things up and make them enjoyable. The fact is that in this GTA world nothing necessarily has to be REAL. BUT...I do think that by implementing the necessary physics at least into the game, it will put these newly incorporated companies to good use whilst still keeping them competetive in the market of "Sports". The only difference here would be that this would be an actual world where you are pretty much limitless at what you can do and I forsee this SHATTERING all sales records previously set, IF in fact they actually do this (which I think they will).

All of your opinions, whether I agree with them or not, are important and greatly appreciated.

(thumbs up!)

[Stelio]

FURTHER NOTE:

In the beginning no one had ever wanted to take the chance in making a game like GTA in the first place. Not becuase they didnt think about it but becuase it required a lot to work out. Many companies weren't sure of taking the step in creating such a game and wondering if it will work. Might sound strange now but it's true. Take-Two and R* are companies willing to take risks in producing and publishing games in general. Throughout history there have always been critics trying to play down such great events relavent to field, whether it be science, games, or whatever else you can think of. Then, there have always been people trying to acheive the unthinkable, for a piece of history, if you will, and the ones who succeed are praised for their efforts. Im sure you know what I'm getting at here.

[Lumine]

I don't really see what GTA and a multi-sport RPG have in common, to be blunt. It seems that you are just taking a good game and tacking on a whole bunch of bells and whistles that will ruin it. Now, I am not saying that they are bad bells and whistles, I just think they would ruin GTA. Why tarnish the GTA name by presenting the player with a legitimate livelyhood. It would be like they caved in and cleaned up.

However, I do think it would be cool to have an RPG style game where you could go into sports, although it would be dificult because there aren't many popular sports where you go at it by yourself, you might hafta to bring up a whole team or something, but thats just details.

edit: On a side note: I expect the amount of random crap you can do, as well as graphics, to skyrocket on the ps3. I got a statistic somewhere that something like 80% of clock cycles were dedicated to AI. Can't seem to find a link now, though

[bRoNx]

Well, I guess the "sport" part won't fit with GTA...maybe not yet. But I would still love to see them perfect all other facets of the game...such as shooting, hand to hand combat, driving, flying etc. I don't see any reason why everyone else has to stop making shooters/driving sim's, combat etc just because GTA may has it ("you are suggesting, for example, that instead of making separate NDFS-PP-SOCOM, etc games, they should be cancelled and made into one game"), look at how many different shooters are on the market at the moment...point made (I hope!) :?

Anyways, I for one can't wait to see what Take Two come up with now that EA have signed exclusive deals with NFL, AFL, ESPN, CIA, FBI (anyone left?). Afraid of a little competition? I think so.... :x

[Omega Blue]

First off, your views or mine of GTA is irrelevant here. There are two GTA threads that are dedicated to it. If you want us to discuss it thoroughly pick one, PM me and let's get it on! ;)
And keep in mind that such preferences come down to opinion. You like Lamborghini, I like Ferrari.

And financial success isn't directly related on the game play itself, it has to do more with marketing. How else can you explain Tomb Raider reaching platinum sales, where as ICO was nowhere near it? It's a wacky world o_O

Now, while GTA has a lot of modes, it doesn't hold the crown in any of the. As it is now, imagine it being solely a shooting game, or a driving game, or any other mode. How will it stack up to the titles that are dedicated to each kind of play? How does its driving hold up to NFSD, Midnight Club, Burnout, etc? How does its shooting holds up to SOCOM? How does its fighting compare to Prince of Persia? Get what I am saying?

However, as they are now, I believe they still can be played as online mini-games. Of course, it is expected to be better come next installment.

I would think that a game developed from the ground up for this concept would give a better experience than to try to re-model an existing title for that purpose. Either a dedicated GTA, or a new title for such game play is more feasible.

I was not discussing GTA The Game, i was discussing, GTA the technologies. Something (sadly) your tiny brain and low IQ failed to preceive. If you re-read my post in entirety you see i am making refrences as to what R* was able to accomplish with todays technologies.

If that weren't enough you called me out on discussing GTA and being off topis yet you continue discussing (big surprize) GTA. Its one thing to be a dumbass, its another to be a dumbass and a hypocrit.

The financial success does not have anything to do with the gaming? Last time i checked, when a game sold as well as GTA or Halo 2 or HL2 or NFSU2, it was probly because those people liked it, and to them it was a good game.

Can you ride BMX bikes, shooter cops, steal cars, fly airplanes, buy a house, go to the casino all in Prince Of Persia? Can you do ALL of that in Socom? Do You See What Im Getting At?

"Quantity Has Its Qualities"

[Stelio]

[quote="Lumine"]I don't really see what GTA and a multi-sport RPG have in common, to be blunt. It seems that you are just taking a good game and tacking on a whole bunch of bells and whistles that will ruin it. Now, I am not saying that they are bad bells and whistles, I just think they would ruin GTA.

I would like to remind you what the world of GTA is all about. It is about the life of an individual who lives a life of crime. This life leads the gamer to progress through a story and reveal plot twists.

Adding more options for the gamer will only enhance the gameplay element to it all. Each decision you make in your life will affect the story through a pyramid type, story evolution. Becoming a sports star (of your choice) would be cool, you would have to attend practices and games in order to progress through your career to stardom. If you slack off then it reflects badly on your image as an athlete/role model while at the same time put your sponsorships at risk as well as other contracts you try to secure. You will not be limited to this kind of stuff. After all, the game is open based. You can make decisions as you do in every day life. Leading the life of a cop would be cool too. Look for criminals to apprehend, along with a personal life to go with it is great. There are multiple women you can date each with a personality of their own, and eventually start a familly with and get married. Every decision you make in your life will affect the outcome of your destiny. Introduce condems into the game too. Hell, if you have unprotected sex with women you can risk various viral infections, again, affecting your life as a result. This game would be limitless.

The thing here is that, yes, it likely would be too large to develop, but you should begin to introduce these things in the first incarnation of the game on ps3 and build it up for the next release, etc. The online would be awesome too. You can incorporate the "minigames" (sports) with the real life scenarios of turf war and other careers/scenarios. Cops vs. Robbers if you will. Imagine leading the life of a boxer. You must train to remain in good shape, accept challenges and even challenge for a title, all of which ends up on the news afterwards. High profile individuals (stars, politician, business men) can have the option of highering body guards/personal security to prevent assassination. All of which can be implemented online. And...just because you lead a good life doesnt mean that you cant lead an underground life of crime. But you must find people you can trust and do what it takes to reamain out of the public eye in that aspect. I can litteraly spend hours discussing ideas that can actually work in a game such as GTA but I would preffer reading others comments :)

[ricois300]

One of the sports series that would go great with GTA would be the EA Street games. Go down to the local Bball court or local park for football and pick up a ball and get other local people to play. You could have neighborhoods going against each other and reputation and respect is gained from that. You don't need licensed teams, but you could have celebrities from the game invloved.
The engine needed would be less intensive than a full blown football sim, but still give alot of the features and fit into the GTA universe.

[Stelio]

I dont doubt for a second that they plan on having street hoops minigames in future installments of GTA. But I still think they also have major league competition...Vice City, Liberty City, San Fiero, Los Venturas, Los Santos, all of which could incorporate major league teams in their respective stadiums. Not to mention any additional cities that might be included in the future. The models for these cities are already in place, all they would have to do is have a new engine (cell specific) run the graphics and we're good to go.

[Rizon]

it would be a good idea putting all these ideas, genres or whatever into the game of GTA.

San Andreas is revolutionary like Z said, and there is a good chance they could do it again by putting all this stuff into a game.

However i feel there could be a limit sort of thing that Rockstar can do without wreaking the game, they put to much in, it'll get just out of hand and a complete mess.

By the way, Isn't Take Two know known as Rockstar North these days, or are we just refering them as Take Two?

[Z]

First off: as a note, I refuse to lower my self to respond to pathetic beings that have no shred of decency or respect for neither themselves nor others.

Back to Topic:
-it is true that not many experiment with new concepts and directions, but if one succeeds, you will notice everybody starting to copy that idea. for example, I have never heard of an espionage game before MGS. now, almost every game has a sneaking part. RE was the firs survivor horror game. how many horrors do we have now? also expect a lot of games to copy Snake Eater's 'survivor' and 'eating' game play come E3.
So GTA gaming is being copied a lot. we see games implementing its concept everywhere; the latest Spider-man, Jack2/3, Kill all Humans, Under the Skin, Tony Hawk. etc. 'Free Roaming' is a big thing in gaming.

-about 'canceling' other games for it; what I was saying is that if Take Two wants to make a GTA game that has worthy modes to actually be mentioned in the same sentences as the big names in specialized in those individual modes, they will have to focus on them as if they were individual games themselves. in other words, they will be making a separate driving, shooting, fighting, sim, games then combining them all in one game. that is not acceptable. Take Two (as any company) would rather release five titles than cramming them all in one. look at how many titles some companies like EA are releasing of THE SAME GAME! for example; you got Madden NFL Football, NCC(something) Football, College football, Street Football, penguin football, E.T Football etc. get the point?

-Now, about making a GTA game with such a concept, I would say it will be a better idea of making a game that focuses on this idea, and less on a GTA type game. you can still use the GTA name for better reception, or invent a new franchise.

-Finally, what are you thinking abut is completely normal. everybody says what if (names favorite games) come together in one? It was only yesterday that I did the same and said what if a Tekken vs. VF game was made?
but sometimes, it just doesn't work. I would love to see a Final Devil May Cry Tekken Fantasy: Snake Andreas Ultimate game being made!. Sometimes leaving it at that is better.

[Stelio]

Z


Your point is valid and well documented. Ufortunately, I don't see it your way in this case. I believe that they can still incorporate these elements into their gameplay and still release future sports titles down the road.

[Z]

Z


Your point is valid and well documented. Ufortunately, I don't see it your way in this case. I believe that they can still incorporate these elements into their gameplay and still release future sports titles down the road.

I agree. of course they will make as many games as they can, whether they come up with the best game or a mediocre one, they'll be sure to market it as widely as they can. just look around, I think Winning Eleven as 2 or 3 editions under different names. look at how many football EA releases every year.

your idea is intriguing, and I am sure the financial success of GTA will lure them in trying new methods, ideas, and direction. it won't be as successful if they just keep adding more missions and a bigger playground.

talking about Rock Star, I realized the graphics of a very early PS2 game they made called Smuggler's Run 1 &2. although it was an early offering, it has very impressive graphics. it is actually better than some late titles. that takes us to the kind of graphics GTA might hold up nex-gen (I think there will be another GTA side title before that). I have no doubt that GTA:SA could have been better graphically- much better. you have a lot of techniques to achieve that like multi-layer texturing, streaming, etc. but the reason they didn't do that is that it will take a huge amount of time and effort to do so. and GTA can do just fine with out a 'prettier look'. again, that is one of the many down falls of the game that its variety and option cover up for.

that is why I expect it to be along time till we see the next-gen GTA, and why another GTA side game (like vice city) will show up before that. in fact, all of the big titles will take at least a year and a half to come to PS3, e.g. Tekken, FF, SH, RE, MGS etc.
but the graphics alone would be worth every second!

[Kiwi]

Take-Two inks agreement with MLB Players' Association

Publisher will have exclusive third-party pro baseball rights beginning in 2006; deal still allows for first-party MLB games.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Take-Two was in talks with the Major League Baseball's Players' Association to ink an exclusivity deal similar to EA's pact with the NFL. Today, the athletic union issued a carefully worded announcement that it had struck just such an agreement with Take-Two--sort of.

"The Major League Baseball Players Association ('MLBPA') today announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to grant sweeping rights to Take-Two Interactive, Inc., to develop and publish a broad portfolio of products that are expected to drive the baseball video game business to unprecedented heights," read the statement. Currently, Take-Two co-publishes the ESPN Major League Baseball 2K series with Sega. The game is developed by Kush Games, a subdivision of Sega's internal sports studio, Visual Concepts, which Take-Two has acquired the option to buy.

Initially, the vague wording of MLBPA's statement made it unclear if Take-Two had exclusive MLB rights after all. However, further along, the exact terms of the deal are spelled out. Starting in 2006, "Take-Two will have exclusive rights among third-party publishers to develop and market simulation, arcade and manager-style baseball video games on the current and next-generation PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, personal computer and hand-held video game systems," read the statement. (Emphasis added.) Said third-party exclusivity will last for seven years, until 2012.

Presumably, this means that Electronic Arts' pro baseball series, MVP, will not return after MVP 2005 launches . But an EA spokesperson would not say the agreement marked the end of EA Sports baseball games. "We will launch MVP Baseball 2005 this spring, and we're exploring our long term options. This proves that there's plenty of competition in sports games," said the rep.

However, the Take-Two/MLBPA deal is not totally exclusive, as the EA/NFL agreement was. "At the same time, manufacturers of video game systems will have the opportunity to develop and publish baseball simulation games for their own platforms," read the statement. That caveat is significant since one of the most popular baseball series, MLB, is published by Sony and internally developed at its 989 Sports studio.

Both Take-Two and 989 Sports reps were contacted for comment on the announcement; neither had responded as of press time. But that didn't stop John Olshan, the MLBPA's director for interactive games, from heaping praise on Take-Two. "The baseball video game business has been underdeveloped for years," he said. "The upcoming change in technology makes this the perfect time for us to implement our plan for growing the business, and we have no doubt that Take-Two's proven creativity and innovation, combined with their incredible distribution strength and powerful commitment to baseball, will add real excitement and depth to the video game marketplace. Baseball fans will be the big winners."

Source: Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/)

[The_One]

The Video game industry seems to be plagued by many "exclusive" rights nowadays... Kinda like the movie industry eh? I don't know about you guys, but I'm not liking this at all...

[Stelio]

[quote="Matt"]Take-Two inks agreement with MLB Players' Association


The inevitable occurs. Now, if only I was a fan of baseball. lol. I don't mind the videogame, however.

I hope they do the same thing with the NHL now.

As for football, I think this would mark an incredible moment in Canadian Football Histroy if a CFL game was planned for Canadian release. This passed season has set a record for attendance, ratings, tv deals (commercials), across the country. This would be very much welcomed AND embraced by Canadians abroad. New market for Pro Sports besides NCAA/NFL??? Worth while exploring anyway.

I guess only time will tell. I hope they do, even if means releasing it as a test (cheaply) to see how it stacks up.