Rockstar will have a booth at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) again this year, and if your attending your in for a few surprises. Beaterator for PSP and Chinatown Wars for PSP will both be on show, along with a private theatre with a glimpse of Red Dead Redemption being previewed. There will also be the usual free merchandise, which is always worth the trip!

A photo of the Rockstar Games booth was included on their Facebook page earlier today, keep an eye out for it:

Be sure to check out the Rockstar Games booth at PAX if your in the area, it's sure to be a treat!

Source: Rockstar's Facebook post

Accompanying the launch of the friends and message wall features of Social Club is a redesign of Rockstar's own website. The last time the website received a major redesign was back in 2005. The old design was criticized for not being easy to navigate because the links were hidden until you went near them. Today's redesign, however, is a full 180 from the old design. Everything is visible and easy to navigate. It also looks pretty awesome in my opinion. Be sure to check it out!

Source: Rockstar Games

Take-Two today held a conference call today to give people an update on the financial status of the company. CEO Ben Feder stated that Beaterator will be coming towards the end of this year. Also, in-spite of all the analysts claiming that there will be another big Grand Theft Auto next year, Feder also put those rumors to rest stating that there will not be a multiplatform Grand Theft Auto next year. Something interesting though is that Agent was not mentioned in the line up for next year. So either Agent will not be coming next year or Take-Two doesn't want to get people's hopes up. They also reconfirmed that Chinatown Wars will be coming in Q4 of this year which puts the release date sometime between July 1, 2009 through September 30, 2009.

As I was looking around on GameStop's website today, I came across two Grand Theft Auto bundle packs that have yet to be announced by Rockstar. One pack for the PC is exactly like the trilogy packs released for the PS2 and Xbox consoles. It includes GTAIII, Vice City and San Andreas. We're not sure at the moment if the games have been patched to correctly work on newer OSes. (Personally, I don't have a problem with the games on Vista but some have reported various problems) The other pack for the PlayStation 2 includes both Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. Both bundles will retail for $30. The PC pack releases on 30th of this month and the Stories pack releases on the 23rd.

GameStop: GTA PC, Stories PS2

Throughout the year, it has been questioned many times by fear mongers analysts whether or not Take-Two can keep the key people at Rockstar on board when their contract ends next year. Fear not, Take-Two has just announced that they have signed a contract with the key people at Rockstar NYC and Rockstar North to stay with the company until at least January 31, 2012. In addition to the contract, Take-Two has agreed to fund a new IP that will be made by a new and separate company under control of some key people at Rockstar. No details were stated about the company, the IP, or even if the company and/or game will carry Rockstar branding in some way.

Press Release: New Long-Term Agreements with Rockstar Games' Senior Creative Talent