“You either have to be first, best, or different.” Sound advice to follow. Since it took me as long as Tommy Boy to graduate from college, I’ve realized I’m going to have to be something ‘different.’ For example, I start off everyday wearing flaming red boxers with airplanes on them.

So when Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of the Board of Take-Two (Rockstar Games), publicly entertains the idea of creating a rhythm game, I’m forced to wonder what type of boxers Take-Two is going to put on its new title. What will make this one stand out from Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Dance Revolution, and the other popular rhythm franchises that have beaten Rockstar to the punch?

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Art is expensive. Particularly electronic, interactive art that allows its audience to participate in everything from the slaying of Barrow-Wights, to break-neck police chases through crowded, virtual streets. As hardware and software developers continue to push the envelope of the video game experience – progressing from little more than colorful distractions (Frogger and Pong come to mind) to complex interactive narratives – the production of their art becomes more costly.

An unfathomably enormous amount of man-hours goes into the construction of games the likes of the recent smash hit Grand Theft Auto IV. Today, Pong and Frogger only satisfy if the player’s avatar can play them on a decrepit old arcade machine inside a virtual bar so luminescent with detail that one can practically smell the urine stain in the corner.
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EA’s founding tag line is “we see farther.” Well, in this case, that couldn’t be closer to the truth. EA sees where Take-Two Interactive is headed and wants a piece of the action. With Grand Theft Auto IV’s record-breaking first week sales of $500 million and Universal Pictures shooting a BioShock film, it’s no wonder Take-Two considers EA’s offer of $25.74 per share “grand theft.”

Despite the fact that EA is a much, much larger company, it knows that Take-Two can innovate, something that EA has had problems doing since the turn of the century. While EA has caught a nasty case of “sequel-itis,” Take-Two’s Rockstar Games is making a killing thanks to edgier titles, like Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt.
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Have you bought the latest installment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise yet? If not, you’re probably in the minority – according to the game’s record-smashing sales, everyone and his mother went out to buy the game in its first week. The game made $310 million in its initial twenty-four hours, easily trumping the previous entertainment sales record set by Master Chief himself (a measly $170 million). It went on to gross $500 million that first week.

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