News written by Matti Robinson (June, 2007)

According to an earnings call with Laine Goldstein, the Take-Two CFO, $50 million changed owners as Microsoft secures downloadable content for GTA IV. With this hefty amount of money, Xbox 360 will get two content packages.

"The first 25 [million dollars] is for the first episodic content package that’s supposed to go out and that is in March of ’08.", "The second 25 [million dollars] will be for the second episodic, the episode, and that will be later in fiscal ’08," said Laine Goldstein about money paid by Microsoft.

Nowhere is mentioned PS3 exclusives or episodic content, and asking the difference between Xbox 360 and PS3 version of the game Strauss Zelnick of Take-Two comments, "Obviously we’ve episodic content coming for X-Box 360 for the title and because the consoles do differ, there will be some differences in the games." This doesn't exactly raise the hopes of PS3 owners, but it is still a bit too early to say.

Source:
Seeking Alpha (Earnings Call Transcript)
CVG

GTA IV Movies
GTA IV Screenshots

After 18 months of complaints and concern regarding the Xbox 360 heat problems, Microsoft seems to be ready to take a step forward, however that might not be the leap everyone is waiting for.

Several Xbox 360 owners have confirmed that the cooling solution of their console have been upgraded while in repair. The improvements include a completely new heatsink for the Xenos GPU. Microsoft hasn't officially confirmed this, neither is there any proof that the improvements would be fitted inside upcoming retail consoles.

A long wait is over for some of the 360 owners, and hoorays are echoing from the Xbox 360 community after tragic "Red Ring of Death" and "My PS3 just killed my 360" incidents. But it remains to be seen, is it a new company policy or just couple of unorthodox cases.


Retail cooling solution


Upgraded cooling system