While publisher Take-Two is still evaluating specific launch dates for anticipated sequels BioShock 2, Max Payne 3, Mafia II and Red Dead Redemption, the company today said that all four are now expected to release between February and June 30, 2010.

While speaking during an investors conference call, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder explicitly noted that the four are still due within the first half of calendar 2010, but should not be expected within the first quarter of the company's fiscal year, which ends January 31.

Update: BioShock 2 will be released within the first half of "calendar 2010," Take-Two CEO Ben Feder clarified during a conference call. Three other major releases are planned within that timeframe: Mafia 2, Max Payne 3, and Red Dead Redemption.

As before, the company is still evaluating specific launch windows for those games.

"[BioShock 2's delay is] not related to any specific platform or any specific element of it," the company later said of the forthcoming PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game. "Generally there are some development issues that we need to deal with."

Original: Take-Two today announced that BioShock 2 has been delayed to a new release date in its 2010 fiscal year.

While the game's original release date of November 3 technically fits into the beginning of the year--which begins on November 1, 2009--the company implied a... Read more

A few new details on Max Payne 3 have emerged out of Rockstar Games, as the company today issued a fact sheet to accompany the debut screenshots released yesterday.

Among the revelations is word that other Rockstar studios are helping the Bully veterans at Rockstar Vancouver with the anticipated sequel--prior to the official announcement, rumors had suggested that The Warriors veterans at Rockstar Toronto were working on the game--and the return of "Max's ever-present internal monologue."

As for the mention of an "intelligent cover system," don't fret too much--Rockstar has already promised that "the way that you experience this world [of Max Payne 3] isn't just take cover, shoot, and move to the next piece of cover."

Developer: Rockstar Vancouver (as primary) other R* studios contributing
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Releases: Winter 2009

About The Story
Max Payne 3 begins 12 years after the events of Max Payne 2, with Max visibly older, more violent, and more world-weary from the... Read more

Following the recent flood of details, the first screenshots from Rockstar Vancouver's Max Payne 3 have arrived, providing a better look at the aged, bald and pot-bellied protagonist. Set 12 years after the events of Remedy's Max Payne 2 and packing a cover system that is "not the focus of the game," the anticipated sequel hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this winter.

Update: With more Game Informer subscribers receiving the latest issue, Shacknews can confirm the rumored points in our original report.

Furthermore, we've also updated the list with several new details, including more on the cover system and word of human shields.

New Details

• The cover system is "not the focus of the game," writes Game Informer, with Rockstar's Rob Nelson noting that "the way that you experience this world isn't just take cover, shoot, and move to the next piece of cover."
• "We took all the elements of traditional Max and expanded it out so the game becomes gun ballet, or gun-fu, or whatever you want to call it... Read more

Following months, if not years, of internet rumors, Rockstar today officially confirmed the development of Max Payne 3.

In production at Rockstar Vancouver (Bully), Max Payne 3 features a now-retired Payne who still can't escape a world of corruption and violence.

"We're starting a new chapter of Max's life with this game," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation."

Max's new chapter will include a new city, as he left behind New York City after the events of Max Payne 2. Rockstar did not specify the city the new game will take place in.

Max Payne 3 will be released for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next winter.

A new entry in the long-dormant Max Payne series and a new PlayStation 3 exclusive are both in development at internal Rockstar studios, going by the latest batch of rumors from print magazine EGM and sister website 1UP.

Max Payne 3 is apparently is development up at Rockstar Toronto, the studio responsible for the movie-inspired beat 'em up The Warriors. Considering the upcoming movie, a new game in the action-heavy shooting series would come as little surprise, though studio owner Take-Two has remained tight-lipped.

Originally created by Remedy Entertainment, the first Max Payne debuted in 2001. Publisher Take-Two then purchased the property from Remedy and producer 3D Realms in 2002, with a Remedy-developed sequel following in 2003.

A third game was teased at the end of the sequel's credits, though Remedy--currently at work on Alan Wake--soon noted that it was not developing the next Max Payne.

As for the new PlayStation 3 exclusive, the publication had little to offer, only noting that it is being helmed by Grand Theft Auto IV veterans Rockstar North.