GTA on Xbox and Cube in 2004

After Rockstar Games fulfills its agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment America at year's end 2004 (with the sequel to GTA: Vice City), it will immediately publish Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on GameCube and Xbox, reports Yahoo News.

The article, which focuses on the upcoming rash of mature-rated games, thanks to the immense success of GTA III and GTA: Vice City, includes a conversation with Take-Two Chief Executive Jeffrey Lapin, and new release dates for Project Manhunt, The Warriors and Max Payne 2. More importantly, it confirms IGN's research on the next GTA's release date, which we believe is in October 2004.

According to Yahoo News, Project Manhunt is due in October 2003, while both The Warriors and Max Payne 2 are due in 2005, the same year the next generation of systems are believed to be launched. The systems on which these games would appear was not revealed. Which leads us to believe -- speculatively, of course -- that both of those games will appear on the next generation of systems (i.e. PS3, GameCube 2, Xbox 2 and the Phantom 2, etc.).

Although we spoke with Rockstar Games officials today, the company's policy is to not comment on rumors. A source close to Rockstar Games said that the information in the article is definitely not concrete, but is possible.

"We don't really announce the Rockstar games until very close to release because we don't want anybody copying us," Lapin said in the story.

Of equal interest is that the Rockstar's potential move to put GTA III and GTA: Vice City on Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox. One month after Rockstar publishes the next GTA game (due in 2004) and completes its exclusivity agreement with SCEA, it will publish GTA III and GTA: Vice City on GameCube and Xbox.

We'll have more on these games in the near future.

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