Late Night Consoling

Publisher Rockstar Games announced today that it has brought on former employee Gary Dale to serve as its chief operating officer. Previously, Dale was president of BMG's software division, which published games by Grand Theft Auto creator DMA Designs (now Rockstar North). Take-Two acquired the BMG division in 1998, and following this Dale moved to Capcom, where he most recently worked as European Managing Director.

"Having been involved in the formation of what later became Rockstar Games, I am now thrilled to become a member of the team at such an exciting time," said Dale. "Rockstar Games has built an impressive portfolio of internal development resources and valuable franchises, and I look forward to helping Rockstar Games continue to define the interactive entertainment landscape in the next-generation era." Rockstar Games founder and executive producer Sam Houser added, "We are delighted to bring Gary back to Rockstar Games. Based on our long history of working together, Gary has a deep understanding of our mission to create compelling games that will propel interactive entertainment to the center of the entertainment industry."

Rockstar Games is owned by Take-Two, and encompasses numerous worldwide development studios.

As many Xbox 360 gamers are surely aware, Microsoft last year announced a multiplayer beta for Halo 3, and launched an official site at which users can sign up for a chance to be included once the program goes live. Yesterday, we reported that "specially marked" copies of Real Time Worlds' upcoming Crackdown would contain Halo 3 beta invitations. Today, Microsoft officially announced the Crackdown promotion, and announced yet another method for entry.

From 12:01am Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, February 1, 2007 until 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time on February 3, 2007, gamers who play at least three hours of online Halo 2 multiplayer over Xbox Live and then become one of the first 13,333 to register at the Halo 3 official site will receive a beta invitation. Only United States residents of at least 17 years of age and in possession of an Xbox 360 will be eligible. It is not clear whether this route will be available to those who have already registered at the official site; Shacknews has contacted Microsoft for clarification but has not yet received a response. Not all users who have already registered at the site will be chosen to participate; those that are will be contacted later this month.

As for the Crackdown method, it appears that all launch copies shipped upon the game's February 20, 2007 release date will contain the beta invitation, meaning that players will not have to scour shops looking for golden tickets. It is not clear how many of these invitation-laden Crackdown units will be manufactured.

Capcom sends word that its upcoming Lost Planet (X360) launch event, to be held in San Francisco on Thursday, January 11, will be open to all gamers free of charge. The event will feature free food, Xbox 360 demo stations, and a Lost Planet multiplayer tournament with the chance to play against the game's developers.

Those interested can sign up at the official site using the username "Genesis" and password "111" (without the quotes). Full details follow:

Thursday, January 11, 2007
8:00pm to midnight
SF Concourse Exhibition Center, East Hall
620 7th St. at Brannan

Lost Planet is slated to release the following day, Friday, January 12.

Yesterday, we reported on recently released sales figured pertaining to current-gen console sales over the 2006 holiday season, implying that the NPD Group was the source on the numbers. This was incorrect; the numbers should be credited to market research firm IDC.

It's a slow news day.

I'm just sayin'.