Last month we reported on comments from Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey, who said that Rockstar Games' GTA IV launch could be so huge that it could actually dent the box office release of Marvel's Iron Man, which hits theaters this Friday (May 2). Now, according to the Financial Times, more fuel has been thrown on the fire as EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello (whose $2 billion bid for Take-Two has continually been rejected) commented that Hollywood is actually fearful about the impact of GTA IV.

via gamedaily.com

Ubisoft Montreal have announced that the Prince of Persia franchise will be making its giant leap onto next-gen systems. The as yet unnamed sequel to the rejuvenate the action-adventure genre" with the next Prince of Persia as well as introducing a "brand-new illustrative art style" to the series.

via ps3fanboy.com

To get a good idea of what type of action one can expect from 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, one need only take a look at the premise. 50 Cent and G-Unit perform a concert overseas, only to find out that the promoter has stiffed them. Desperate to avoid 50's wrath, the promoter offers the group a diamond-encrusted skull as payment. Before 50 and the gang can bring their prize home, it is stolen by a group of international gangsters. Thus begins G-Unit's globe-trotting, gangster-slaying, havoc-wreaking search for the holy grail of bling. Earlier this month, developer Swordfish Studios showed us around a work-in-progress version of this arcade shooter in which the action is every bit as over-the-top as the storyline.

via gamespot.com

Some of you may not be fond of Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World's fighting-with-monsters scheme, but we think it looks pretty neat. Spencer Yip from Siliconera gives us an even more in-depth look into the system than before, reporting that you can ditch your entire party (with the exception of the main character Emil, of course), for a party full of monsters, like in the screen shown above.

After you battle monsters, you'll often have a chance to negotiate with them and have them fight for you. It's not as simple as "catching" them all, though, since some monsters will refuse to join your party if they have a grudge against one of your other allied creatures. Since the game provides 200 different species of monster that you can fight with, which we think this can add a lot of depth to this Tales rendition.

via nintendowiifanboy.com

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon will be coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2 and DS this autumn.

Both Elijah Wood and Gary Oldman will return to voice Spyro and mentor Ignitus respectively, and the pair will also be joined by Christina Ricci and Mark Hamill. Our childhood hero and adolescent fantasy girl together at last! Sweet!

via gamesradar.com

It's not the lowest price we've seen the remade Final Fantasy III sell for, but Gamestop's latest price drop isn't bounded by a sale period. Now that Final Fantasy IV is on the way, it's just the right time to drop Final Fantasy III to $20 and use it as a marketing tool for the new game. That's our theory, anyway.

via dsfanboy.com

And playing the part of the jilted lover in today's episode of As The Game Industry Turns is Infogrames, as the company confirmed that while it recently offered to purchase Eidos-owner SCi, the Atari-parent saw its bid turned aside "at this stage."

The timing of the news is particularly interesting, given that SCi last week said that it had rejected an unspecified acquisition offer, though it remains unknown if the publisher was talking about Infogrames or some other mystery suitor.

via joystiq.com

Microsoft says that the Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV will “provide hours of additional game play” when it launches later this year.

“Play Grand Theft Auto IV multiplayer online with your friends starting today over the Xbox Live online entertainment network,” reads a statement released Tuesday.

via next-gen.biz

Strategy First, the publisher behind the Europa Universalis and Galactic Civilization series, released new story details for Exodus from the Earth, a sci-fi first-person shooter. The company also said that it is scheduled for a Fall 2008 release.

via pc.ign.com

If you've followed the path of Japanese gaming for a long time, you might recognize the titles mentioned in the subject line. It seems a listing has popped up at the Japanese retailer Game Star for two "Best Of" titles in Hudson's PC lineup -- Ginga Ojosama Densetsu Yuna (renamed Galaxy Fraulein Yuna in the anime episodes released in the US) and a Tengai Makyo collection. Select titles from both franchises are getting re-released on the PSP, which is exciting.

via pspfanboy.com

This update is the cherry on our hot fudge sundae. While we've already seen the majority of Soulcalibur alumni return to Soulcalibur IV, we've yet to gander upon these three combatants. Rock, Talim, and Yoshimitsu are all making their way back into the fourth game. While this isn't a surprise, it's always exciting to get that first look.

via ps3fanboy.com

Online dynasty. Those are the two words that have been ringing in our ears since the moment we found out about the feature that looks to be the focal point of EA Sports' upcoming college football game, NCAA Football 09. Of course, the game is going to feature plenty of gameplay and visual tweaks that will present a more atmospheric and, well, collegiate atmosphere to the college game; and, yes, EA Sports did talk about all of those features and more during its unveiling of the game at tonight's press event in New York City. However, the details that have our ears perked are those that deal with the online dynasty mode, so let's just start there, shall we?

via gamespot.com

And no, we're not even talking about Deca Sports, which features kart racing as one of its ten activities. Rather, Conspiracy Entertainment is making another Wii game in their Cocoto series, called Cocoto Kart Racer (which is already out for the DS, GameCube, PC and PS2). The title should be coming out soon (the press release said Q2 2008), and will probably break the hearts of children everywhere. We're not saying it will necessarily be a bad game (even though the other versions got poor reviews, so let's be realistic), but the point is, it's not Mario Kart.

via nintendowiifanboy.com

Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games are incredibly formulaic. If you've played one, you know that each version: a) pitches you, a powerful warrior, against hundreds -- if not thousands -- of generally stupid A.I. opponents; b) contains loads of glorified historical figures; and c) could possibly wear out your controller due to all the button-mashing. Series newcomer Warriors Orochi -- this one on the PSP -- sticks to the same love-it-or-hate-it model, with a few new features that make the experience more enjoyable for longtime Warriors lovers.

via 1up.com

The success of Wii Sports was always likely to spawn imitators but after numerous frames and tournaments with AMF Bowling: Pinbusters! we’re still left scratching our heads as to why this exists. It is, as a whole, considerably worse than what is one fifth of Wii Sports - in look, execution and enjoyment.

via gamesradar.com