Rockstar has just announced moments ago that they have acquired the brains behind the Xbox 360 port of Bully, Mad Doc Software. Personally, I was expecting this as this is the same thing that happened to Rockstar San Digeo and Rockstar Leeds. Also, keeping in line with the other studio's, Mad Doc Software will be renamed Rockstar New England. This brings the total of Rockstar's studios to 9. That includes Rockstar's dedicated QA studio, Lincoln. The press release is as follows:

Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today the formation of Rockstar New England through the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Andover, MA-based Mad Doc Software, one of the premier independent development studios in North America.

"The team at Mad Doc Software is extremely talented," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "Bringing them within the Rockstar Games family will enhance our core technology and further support our commitment to creating progressive and innovative gaming experiences."

Established in 1999 by Dr. Ian Lane Davis, Mad Doc Software has led development on and provided contracting services for triple-A titles, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence and networking. The studio most recently worked with Rockstar Games on the Xbox 360 version of the critically acclaimed Bully: Scholarship Edition.

"To be a part of Rockstar Games is an amazing opportunity for everyone here," said Dr. Davis, Studio Head of the new Rockstar New England. "We're eager to bring our expertise to bear in the character-driven, open-world stories that make Rockstar Games titles so uniquely compelling."

About Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., is a global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games for the PC, PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Xbox 360® and Xbox® video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, Wii™, Nintendo GameCube™, Nintendo DS™ and Game Boy® Advance. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned labels Rockstar Games, 2K Games, 2K Sports and 2K Play, and distributes software, hardware and accessories in North America through its Jack of All Games subsidiary. Take-Two's common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at www.take2games.com.

Something not mentioned in the press release, Mad Doc's SpellWeaver, will most likely be published by Rockstar. Before the acquisition, Mad Doc was looking for a publisher for the game.

Press Release: Rockstar Games Acquires Mad Doc Software

EDIT: The official Mad Doc Software website has been changed. You can view the article here and a backup here.

When we predicted a possibility of Rockstar Launching Community-Centric Site at the start of this month we didn't expect to have it both announced and written about on the same day, only 2 weeks ahead. Today Rockstar announced their Community-Centric Site, called Social Club, which will make it's first deybue in Grand Theft Auto IV. Only hours later Yahoo compiled an article coving how using the Community Site will allow you to download music which can be played on your mobile in GTA IV.

Advertised throughout Liberty City, the cheekily-named "ZiT" technology is built into the game's mobile phone interface system. As players cruise around the world listening to the in-game radio, they can at any point 'mark' a song by opening their phone and dialing the number ZIT-555-0100. Gamers will then receive a text message with the song and artist names, and if they're registered at the forthcoming Rockstar Games Social Club community site, they'll find an e-mail waiting in their inbox with a direct link to a custom playlist on Amazon.com. All songs tagged "ZiT" will be stored here, available for preview and purchase at Amazon's going rate of $.89-$.99 per track. Best of all, those MP3s are free of the Digital Rights Management (DRM) limitations imposed on files downloaded through Apple's iTunes store and thus can be imported into any computer or digital device with no constraints.

We all know Music plays a large part of the Grand Theft Auto series, as well as gaming in general. With a soundtrack boosting over 200 songs, Grand Theft Auto IV has the attention of many record executives. Rockstar aren't just offering well-knowns either, most of the music in GTA IV as well as available for purchase through ZiT is music thats either unknown or was written exclusively for GTA IV.

None of those tracks, however, are accessible outside the game, and that's where GTA IV's model really takes off. Rockstar has boldly proclaimed that GTA IV's soundtrack is "the biggest in the history of entertainment," and with over 200 tracks, we're not prone to argue. In addition to high-profile tunes from popular artists, the developers are aiming for music geeks by handpicking rare, hard-to-find songs such as Electrick Funk's 12-inch treasure "On A Journey" and Elton John's "Street Kids" off his relatively unheralded Rock of the Westies. Some artists have even contributed brand new songs written exclusively for the game, including "Vagabond (Liberty City Mix)" by the Greenskeepers and "War is Necessary" from iconic rapper Nas.

So don't be planning on illegally downloading any of the tracks, you'd be wasting your time, and at $1 max. for one song, why on earth would you both? Your internet to complete your illegal download would cost more!

Source: Yahoo! Games

Remember a few weeks back when we reported that Rockstar was planning on launching a community centric site? Well Rockstar has just today announced "Social Club". The first game to use Social Club will be Grand Theft Auto IV. According to a press release, Social Club will provide these features.

• LCPD Police Blotter - A virtual map and tracker of single-player criminal activity logged in Liberty City from the aggregated data of millions of connected players - showing the most dangerous areas of town, most commonly used weapons and more.

   

• The Story Gang - This special single-player leaderboard recognizes players who complete Niko Bellic's main story arc of Grand Theft Auto IV - The leaderboard ranks players according to the total amount of playing time it's taken to complete the story, as well as a historical rank by who has completed it first. Members of this club will receive special online widgets and merit badges marking all of their in-game accomplishments.

   

• The 100% Club - Watch to see who will be the first to complete 100% of the game. The first ten people to be identified on the Social Club as reaching 100% will be sent an ultra-rare commemorative 'key to the city' to mark their accomplishment. In the future, the 100% Club will then carry a historical leaderboard showing rankings of who has completed 100% of a game in the shortest span of playing hours.

   

• The Hall of Fame -- This area will dynamically recognize those singularly elite players who have reached the top of the hill on various statistical leaderboards, and will also contain a personal awards display of special in-game landmarks and successes in Social Club competitions.

   

• The Liberty City Marathon -- A ranking of special physical milestones achieved in the game - from the amount of miles walked, driven, or swam - to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped. There will be additional special marathon-based competitions in the future from this area as well.

Also, Social Club will provide leader boards. The press release goes onto say more stuff will be added after GTAIV's release. You'll be able to register on April 15th and the site will fully launch on the 29th along side Grand Theft Auto IV. Possible games for the future to use Social Club? We're predicting Midnight Club: Los Angeles and Beaterator (Music share anyone?) will be next but don't quote us on that as we might be dreaming too much.

Site: Rockstar Social Club

Next-Gen.biz has posted an 8 page look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, it's affect on Rockstar Games and most importantly how co-founder Sam Houser feels about the series. Mr. Houser hasn't given an interview for a few years, so this was surprising.

"In part one of this expansive two-part look into the making of one of gaming's biggest franchises, Edge talks to Rockstar Games president Sam Houser and finds out how the most important game series of the last ten years came into being and how GTA IV will take the story to a new level."

I won't ruin the article for you, it's a great read so we suggest you read it for yourself at Next-Gen.biz. If you need a reason, just look at the fact Sam Houser doesn't give many interviews, and with that comes lots of thoughts and opinions by the man himself that show us exactly what he is aiming for with Grand Theft Auto IV and future games by Rockstar.

Related: Next-Gen.biz: 'GRAND THEFT AUTO: THE INSIDE STORY'

In addition you may also be interested in Next-Gen.biz: 'THE MAKING OF GRAND THEFT AUTO IV' which is the talked about 'part 2' of the interview, it also looks briefly into the History of GTA, but mostly into GTA4's technology and surprises.

Microsoft seems to be slow these days. We just spoke to another Rockstar rep who has confirmed that they are still waiting for the OK from Xbox Operations. What is taking Microsoft so long? We're not exactly sure. Surely if they were trying to beat the game with the patch it shouldn't be taking this long. Keep reading RockstarWatch as we're following the release of the patch.

Electronic Arts (EA) CEO, John Riccitiello, has stated that Rockstar is the “primary interest” in EA's bid to acquire Take-Two. This clears the speculation of the bid being based around the 2K Sports label which produces very popular sporting games. However, Mr. Riccitiello stated that 2K Sports is the “secondary consideration” or secondary interest of the bid.

The situation has been very good for Take-Two's stock as an altercation of the bid, as you can see by the chart below it spiked around the time of the bid and has been on a steady rise since.

The question of whether this deal is right or not it still floating around and still unanswered, everyone has a different opinion and really the deal could go either way. The stock holders are obviously enlighten by the bid and seem to be for it at the moment, but will it be a good move?

Our opinion; If the deal goes ahead Rockstar should split into their own parent company, really they are already set to do that. With all their studios, it's like they a parent already, but the risks and extra work that would be involved may be the down-fall of that idea. At the end of the day I guess, ourselves, we'd rather see Take-Two stay the way it is, but the way people are talking it seems like that may not be the case.