Malik  (9/20/04)

PStwo 2.0 

Last Friday I reported about rumors (key word being "rumors" and that I even used the term rumors while most news sites opted to call it fact...damn, I'm good!) stated on MSNBC.com about PStwo coming out on October 26th and GTA:SA being delayed to match this release date for an identical release to boost the sales of the PStwo. Well, from a new Rumor Control segment at Gamespot.com (I love this column...had to say it), they picked apart the rumors from the fact as well as they can with the knowledge people are willing to let out on the matter. 

Basically, as far as I can see, GTA:SA will come out on the 26th of October, despite a week earlier release date being in the works for the majority of this year. This is, if it holds true, one of the few times I can think of that Rockstar/Taketwo would actually delay a much anticipated game (and is there one more anticipated right now than GTA:SA? I think not). However, the whole release date of the PStwo, or if it's even ready for release, or what the status of it is...well, it's all basically in limbo as far as the PR people are concerned. 

This crap load of rumors being called fact all came out when PJ McNealy, a technology analyst, came out with a report saying that if a new and smaller PS2 would be coming out, Sony would probably opt for a release on the 4 year anniversary of the PS2's launch (October 26th). However, this report started to get perceived as fact by many news organizations and, in turn, it was called fact.

So, as far as I can piece things together, here's the deal;

PStwo: Probably will happen at one time or another since Sony can try to milk a little more out of the sales of PS2 by trying to make it look a little more on the trendy side. So, for now, it is doubtful to see a PStwo on October 26th, but it will probably come out sometime in the near future (as in the next year).

GTA:SA: Looks like the date will be October 26th, despite earlier announcements by Taketwo of a release about a week earlier. This is pretty rare for Taketwo, but it might be happening this time around...at least it's only a week and not the year or more delay of games like Halo 2, Half Life 2, Fable, Doom 3...well, the list goes on and on...

A bundle of GTA:SA with the PStwo: Not happening now, at least. I don't see this one ever happening, but who knows...

Hopefully, this will be the end of this type of crap-journalism that requires people not looking into their sources (like seeing if something was announced by a company as opposed to being anticipated by an industry analyst...I'm looking at you Reuters, etc).

Malik