Having sold 2.5 million copies on its first month and hitting eight in 2009, Alta-yeer and Assassin's Creed definitely set the bar high for the trilogy. But as early as now, Ezio and Assassin's Creed II are expected to do much better, with pre-orders up 10-20% from their predecessor. According to Mike Hickey of Janco Partners, Assassin's Creed II will do better than the first, and it'll give a much-needed boost for Ubisoft and its Q3 numbers.

Activision's got high aims for the debut of Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), picturing it to be the "biggest entertainment launch ever." That's not such a stretch too, considering how highly-anticipated this title is. And it's all up to TBWA, the global ad agency tapped by Activision for the job, to make it happen.

If you've been keeping up with Electronic Arts' efforts to buy out Take-Two Interactive, then we've got an interesting bit of behind-the-scenes news for you. It seems that EA's own John Riccitiello views the takeover bid as an offered helping hand to the publisher, and this in itself is not going good with quite a few of this industry's leading analysts. Check out all the details in the full article and see what you think about this little hubbub.

Even though Electronic Arts has released information that they will be releasing Spore sometime this year, around March to April, analyst Mike Hickey believes otherwise. He believes that the company will be delaying the launch of the game to the second half of 2008. Details in the full article.

Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan, popular for making infamous (and oft accurate, like the PS3 price cut) predictions, may be making another one by predicting that game developer studio THQ will have a significantly lower performance than was first predicted.

THQ, who owns Company of Heroes and Supreme Commander and the upcoming games Saints Row 2 (PS3, 360) and MX vs. ATV Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, DS), was once given a forecast of US$ 244 million for this quarter and US$ 1.15 billion for the fiscal year. Pachter lowered these estimates to US$ 225 million for the quarter and US$ 1.09 for the year.

The lowered estimates are due to the underperformance of THQ's games Stuntman: Ignition (PS2, PS3, 360) and Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, PC, DS), and also their video game adaptation for Pixar's Ratatouille. Their earlier Pixar video game Cars performed very well in the market but Ratatouille failed to to live up to the success.

THQ once claimed that fees for making video games of owned intellectual properties (like Ratatouille) would be compensated with sales of the game. However, Mike Hickey of Janco has questioned this claim. He believes their line-up is overshadowed by the success of more popular games like Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock.

Furthermore, Hickey believes that THQ's casual games market will also be overshadowed by other more popular releases. He backs this up by saying that no THQ titles show up in the 50 top selling Wii games in Amazon. He concludes by saying it'll take "several more years of next-gen (that is, PS3 and Xbox 360 games) installed base maturity" before the line-up of casual games can get "meaningful traction."

 

Things are looking brighter for Take-Two Interactive, as more analysts put trust in the company and believe investors could have their money well placed if they take part in the success Bioshock, Manhunt 2, and Grand Theft Auto IV promise. The first game mentioned already saw its release, but Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey foresees more for the title.

According to the latest research note by Hickey, Take-Two's "management turnaround plan" should boost share value, and upcoming Manhunt 2 will contribute a lot in bringing the dough. For Bioshock, well, he thinks the publishers can take the surprise hit to the PS3, PS2, Wii, and handhelds as the company reaches its 2009 fiscal year.

As for Mafia 2, the next big thing from Take-Two on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC which Hickey expects to experience platinum sales, the analyst suggested, "Additional capital could be used to insure liquidity for working capital needs, fuel potential studio acquisitions, and fund future development projects."

All signs lead to more investors and greenbacks for Take-Two, but our eyes are on Bioshock. Not only is it a Microsoft exclusive, but also a graphical marvel made possible by 360's power. Looks like time will tell how it'll fare on other platforms, or if we're talking spin-offs here.

Buy: [Bioshock (Games for Windows)]
Buy: [Bioshock (Xbox 360)]