Rockstar To Develop Games Franchise Exclusively For PS3

Rockstar Games, the premium content development division of game publisher Take Two Interactive Software, Inc., will soon load Sony’s PlayStation 3 gaming console with new gaming titles, as per the news on the official US PlayStation blog on Friday.

In the blog, Michael Shorrock, director of third party relations at Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), wrote that Rockstar Games, best known as the makers of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series of urban crime games, is creating a new franchise exclusively for the PS3. However, he didn’t mention the name of the titles.

“We are announcing that a new franchise from Rockstar Games will be exclusive to PS3. As part of our long standing relationship with Rockstar, and the incredible success for both companies with the cultural icon that is Grand Theft Auto, we’ve agreed to the PlayStation exclusive rights of the next great franchise from the Rockstar studios,” he wrote. “Rockstar really wanted to make a game that you can truly only do on PS3.”

Rockstar Games, earlier, developed several video games for Sony PlayStation 2, including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Bully, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Smuggler's Run and many more.

Now, the question arises whether Rockstar will include the same titles that helped PS2 earn top-selling status years ago. While both the parties, Sony and Rockstar, have not yet released even the slightest detail about the forthcoming franchise, Shorrock in the blog just indicated that the franchise is not LA Noire, but something all new.

Late in June, the New York-based game publisher decided to temporarily suspend the release of the violent video game Manhunt 2, a sequel to its 2003 title Manhunt in the wake of an ongoing ratings controversy in the United States and a ban in Britain and Ireland.

Troubles for the new Manhunt 2 game title began when the US’s Entertainment Software Rating Board, the video game industry's self-regulated ratings board, gave a preliminary version of "Manhunt 2" an "adults only" rating, the most stringent rating that would likely ruin its sales in the country. The game was originally due for a July 10 release in the United States on both Nintendo Co.'s Wii and the PlayStation 2 (PS2) by Sony Corp.

With its move to get back together with its old friend Rockstar Games to produce a new franchise of titles exclusively for PS3, Sony apparently is trying to boost its efforts to take the lead in video game arena.

Officially announced in May 2005, PS3, Sony’s third video game console and the successor to the 7-year-old PlayStation 2, boasts of Cell processors that are purportedly 10 times faster than current-generation computer processors.

Jointly developed by Sony with IBM and Toshiba, the Cell is the heart of the PS3 and represents Sony's first attempt to ensure they had the most powerful console on the market. Besides Cell, PS3 features a hard drive as standard, an in-built broadband adapter and a Blu-ray disc drive.

The Japanese game giant in June announced its plans to launch at least 380 new game titles for its PlayStation 3 gaming console in order to boost up the sales of its next-generation console which is continuously losing its market share to Nintendo company’s wildly popular gaming console, Wii.

The three biggies in gaming arena, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, are locked in a fierce battle for dominance in the $13 billion U.S. video game market, and for the moment, Sony is lagging behind both of its competitors in terms of sales, while Nintendo has emerged as the numero uno in sales.