It seems the next GTA will debut upon the PS3 exclusively, against many 360 gamer’s wishes. GTA Chicago appears to be coming October 2007 for the PS3, or at least the “official” (because I do not know if it is real) site states. I would think Microsoft would be shoving money down Rockstar’s throat for a simultaneous launch however it seems we will have to wait. Of course, the next gen GTA will release upon the 360 eventually. Do not worry, we still have Table Tennis to play in the mean while.

New Grand Theft Auto teaser site goes up [Evil Avatar]

Gamefront reported that according to Japanese wholesaler sources, in the light of consistently poor weekly sales of Xbox 360’s in Japan, Microsoft will be relaunching their next-gen console in hopes winning over the Japanese market. The official announcement could arrive as soon as next week during a press conference held by Microsoft.

This event will occur around June 29th in conjunction with the release of a bundle of Japanese released 360 titles including Sega’s Chrome Hounds, Idea Factory’s Spectral Force 3: Innocent Rage, AQ Interactive’s Bullet Witch, and Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. 

No word yet on whether this will be a change of marketing strategy or whether it will ful fledged relaunch but lord knows Microsoft needs to do something in Japan. We will have to wait and see how things turn out but Judging by the latest sales figures I doubt anything short of a miracle named Mistwalker studios will change the Xbox 360’s fate. Hit show more to check out the latest Japanese sales figures.

Microsoft to relaunch Xbox 360 in Japan in June [GameIndustry]

March 20 - 26, 2006
Nintendo DS Lite - 119,986
Nintendo DS - 39,307
PS2 - 34,169
PSP - 31,077
Game Boy Advance SP - 5,627
Game Boy Micro - 4,883
GameCube - 1,458
X360 - 1,415
Xbox - 117
Game Boy Advance - 98

One of the folks over at Evil Avatar have received their copy of the Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit, which means the retail version should not be far behind. We were given hope of a quick fix for the wireless controller near launch however, this peripheral was nowhere to be seen. I will certainly be picking up my copy as soon as it is released.

The features are better than expected:

less than 2 hour charge for one battery

less than 4 hour charge for two batteries

25 Hour playtime

By Sam Barron Today Ubisoft announced that Far Cry Instincts Predator for Xbox 360 and Far Cry Instincts Evolution for Xbox are now in stores Ending of a month of several new titles for the Xbox 360, today Ubisoft announced that Far Cry Instincts Predator for Xbox 360 and Far Cry Instincts Evolution for Xbox are now available in stores everywhere. “Ubisoft is building on the critically acclaimed Far Cry Instincts brand with the addition of a stellar new adventure that fans of the franchise have been anxiously awaiting,” said Tony Key, vice president of marketing for Ubisoft. “With an action-packed single-player campaign and an array of addictive multiplayer modes, combined with the highest graphical quality available on current and next-generation consoles, Far Cry Instincts Predator for Xbox 360 and Far Cry Instincts Evolution for Xbox further exemplify why Far Cry is one of the hottest franchises available to the Xbox audience.”

By Jeff Crosby IGN is reporting that Halo 3 might be out in spring of 2007 IGN is reporting that the much anticipated Halo 3 will be filling store shelves in spring of 2007. From the article "The next Halo is coming in March 2007. According to a Microsoft source who asked to remain anonymous and a second source close to the company, IGN today learned that Microsoft will publish the next Halo game (as predicted in January) in March 2007. When phoned, Microsoft declined to comment." Though Microsoft has failed to comment on the date, we should (maybe) know more details at this years E3 in May.