After "Grand Theft" revs up, how much in its tank?

By David Ward

SAN DIEGO (Hollywood Reporter) - While there's little doubt about the power of this week's launch of "Grand Theft Auto IV," there is some question about the video game's legs.

The latest chapter in the wildly popular and controversial criminal action franchise will likely smash the $300 million global first-week sales figure for Microsoft's "Halo 3" in September, but how the game will fare by year's end is subject to debate.

"I think all the preorder programs now in place for these top titles really end up taking the long-term sales out of many games," said Michael Goodman, director of digital entertainment at Yankee Group. "So I don't think 'Grand Theft Auto IV' is going to have those kind of legs."

Many stores are opening up at midnight Monday to accommodate eager customers.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, parent company of developer Rockstar Games, even suggested that worldwide actual game sales could reach 6 million, generating $400 million for the publisher as it battles a hostile takeover attempt from rival Electronic Arts.

"Halo 3," for example, exhausted 67% of its total U.S. sales-to-date in its first month, and though NPD games analyst Anita Frazier said the game still is selling 100,000 copies a month, it no longer is in the tracking firm's top 10 monthly charts.

But David Cole, president of market research firm DFC Intelligence, stressed that "Grand Theft Auto IV" always has been a different type of franchise. "If you look at 'Halo' titles historically, they've always been the type of games that everybody rushed out to buy, but the 'Auto' titles have always had lots of legs," he said.

Because "Grand Theft Auto" depicts carjacking, murder and other questionable content that has upset parents, Cole noted many people forget that the games are very accessible and have real mass-market appeal, despite their M (for Mature) rating. Cole said "Grand Theft Auto 3" not only was the best-selling title of 2001 but also the second-best-selling tile of 2002 -- right behind "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City."

From Take-Two's standpoint, Goodman said the expected massive sales for the new title will at the very least give it some breathing room in its efforts to fend off Electronic Arts' $2 billion hostile takeover offer.

"EA is going to have to either up their bid significantly or pull back for six months to a year and hope the 'Grand Theft Auto' hoopla dies down, keeping their fingers crossed that Take-Two is not on a winning streak," he added.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Battles kill 13 in Sadr City, blockade eased

By Wisam Mohammed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces killed at least 13 gunmen in heavy battles overnight around Baghdad's Sadr City, the U.S. military said on Saturday, but authorities went ahead and eased a two-week-old blockade of the slum.

Cars were allowed in and out of Sadr City through some entrances, although other routes remained blocked and the sound of fighting was still audible on Saturday morning.

A U.S. military statement described a "complex" battle in the slum, a stronghold of militiamen loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Residents described the clashes as among the worst fighting there since Iraqi forces launched an offensive into the area a week ago.

The Sadr City fighting, we well as fierce battles in the southern city of Basra between security forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army militia late last month, has thrust the Iraq war back onto the centre stage of the U.S. presidential election campaign.

U.S. forces fired at least one Hellfire missile from drone aircraft and two rounds from the main battle gun of an M1 tank against fighters who targeted them with roadside bombs, rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the military said.

"No U.S. or Iraqi army soldiers were seriously injured and we went on to complete our mission," Major John Gossart, executive officer of the battalion involved in the fighting, said in a statement.

Police said seven people had been killed and 17 wounded in the overnight fighting. Sadr City's two hospitals said they received at least 33 wounded.

Despite the fighting, the Iraqi government's Baghdad security spokesman, Major-General Qassim Moussawi, said the situation was stable and the overnight clashes would not interfere with long awaited plans to lift the blockade.
"If more such clashes take place, we will deal with them by raiding the targets in an intelligent way," he said, adding that some roads were still shut to clear away bombs.

The blockade has led to skyrocketing food prices and days of claustrophobia for residents in the densely populated slum, which is under nightly bombardment. Residents said they were relieved to get out but wary about the future.

"I went today to university and it felt to me like a new fresh day in my life after two weeks of being isolated from the world," said law student Ahmed Kadhim.

But Nadeem Qasim, a civil servant in the water department, said he would not be optimistic "as long as the Iraqi army vehicles are still there and U.S. planes hover over the city. It means the problems and bombardment may resume".

LOUDSPEAKERS

As the fighting raged overnight, loudspeakers on mosques blared out speeches in support of Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters.

"We will not allow the Americans to enter the city whatever happens, if we lose our lives and our sons," they called out.

A Reuters correspondent who spent the night inside Sadr City said U.S. helicopters and jets flew overhead before midnight and several of the aircraft could be seen firing missiles.

The sound of heavy gunfire erupted in several parts of the slum, and fighters could be seen on the streets carrying rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns into battle."If more such clashes take place, we will deal with them by raiding the targets in an intelligent way," he said, adding that some roads were still shut to clear away bombs.

The blockade has led to skyrocketing food prices and days of claustrophobia for residents in the densely populated slum, which is under nightly bombardment. Residents said they were relieved to get out but wary about the future.

"I went today to university and it felt to me like a new fresh day in my life after two weeks of being isolated from the world," said law student Ahmed Kadhim.

But Nadeem Qasim, a civil servant in the water department, said he would not be optimistic "as long as the Iraqi army vehicles are still there and U.S. planes hover over the city. It means the problems and bombardment may resume".

LOUDSPEAKERS

As the fighting raged overnight, loudspeakers on mosques blared out speeches in support of Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters.

"We will not allow the Americans to enter the city whatever happens, if we lose our lives and our sons," they called out.

A Reuters correspondent who spent the night inside Sadr City said U.S. helicopters and jets flew overhead before midnight and several of the aircraft could be seen firing missiles.

The sound of heavy gunfire erupted in several parts of the slum, and fighters could be seen on the streets carrying rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns into battle.
Hundreds have died in clashes between Sadr's followers and U.S. and Iraqi forces since late last month, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown against the militia in the southern city of Basra.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sadr would not be treated as an enemy if he played a peaceful political role.

"Those who are prepared to work within the political process in Iraq, and peacefully, are not enemies of the United States," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday.

A top aide to Sadr, related to the cleric by marriage, was shot dead in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf on Friday.

Assassinations have been a frequent part of the power struggle between Shi'ite groups in southern Iraq, but the slaying of someone so close to the cleric could increase tension. Police imposed a curfew in Najaf, and a Reuters correspondent in the city said it was quiet on Saturday.

(Additional reporting by Khalid Al-Ansary, Aws Qusay and Peter Graff; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Michael Winfrey)

By Daisuke Wakabayashi and Kenneth Li SEATTLE/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp wants to stick with its original takeover offer for Yahoo Inc, but

By Daisuke Wakabayashi and Kenneth Li

SEATTLE/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp wants to stick with its original takeover offer for Yahoo Inc, but is not ruling out News Corp joining its bid or other options, a source close to the company said on Friday.

Separately, a source familiar with the matter said News Corp continues to talk directly with Yahoo on reaching a deal without Microsoft. The source declined to provide details on what a potential deal structure would look like.

The source close to Microsoft said the company's preference all along has been to retain the original deal structure that would involve paying $31 per share in cash and stock to acquire Yahoo. But Microsoft has not ruled out bidding with partners.

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp, reported that people close to Microsoft said the software maker plans to pursue Yahoo alone rather than with News Corp, which had held talks with Microsoft on a joint bid for Yahoo.

The Journal also said Yahoo's board of directors met on Friday to assess their options, including deepening their negotiations with Time Warner Inc's AOL on a deal to merge Yahoo and AOL, but that no decisions were reached.

Spokesmen for Microsoft, News Corp, Time Warner and Yahoo were not immediately available to comment.

The newspaper's Web site cited unnamed sources as saying that Time Warner had been expecting Yahoo's board to move closer to backing an AOL deal and that Yahoo's delays suggested that the company was hesitant to proceed.

A source familiar with the situation was unwilling to confirm to Reuters the Journal's characterization of Time Warner's thinking, but said that talks continue between Time Warner and Yahoo.
Microsoft had threatened last Saturday to launch a hostile bid for Yahoo and could lower its offer of $42.4 billion around April 26 if it does not get a deal.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that News Corp was in talks to join Microsoft's bid for the Web pioneer.

Yahoo also announced on Wednesday a test to outsource Web search advertising to Google Inc, which sources say is part of a three-way alliance that would combine Yahoo with Time Warner Inc's AOL instead of Microsoft.

(Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in San Francisco; Editing by Braden Reddall)