The game will supposedly cost 1,200 points, or $15.

As a PS3 fan myself I’m eagerly anticipating the announcement for the release date for playstation network.

Shanda reported that the revenue from mmorpgs increased by 47.4%, and casual games revenue increase of 1.1%.

SNDA opened at 60.23 and closed at 60.40 for a gain of +0.17.

In after hours SNDA is currently at 60.90 (+0.50). It will be interesting to see how the stock reacts in the morning.

Gamestop (GME) opened around 25.80 and closed at 24.32 for a change of -1.48 (-5.74%). Buzz on forums seems to be because of xbox360’s announcement of full game downloads.

Winner: NetEase.com - NTES

Loser: Nintendo - NTDOY

Here are the Gametraderdaily.com power rankings for the week ending March 6. These power rankings are based on this last weeks stock performance in terms of percentage change. These rankings are not meant to be a guide to use to buy or sell shares of stock in a company. Gametraderdaily.com is not responsible for anyone who uses these power rankings in their investment decisions.

PLEASE NOTE: Small Cap stocks will generally show a larger percentage change because an increase/decrease in stock price is more significant than larger cap stocks. Also, at the very least, these numbers (percentages) are very close approximations.

Video Game Stocks (traded on American stock exchanges - need to trade at $1.00 or more to qualify)

1. THQ - THQI +4.83%
2. GameStop - GME +4.55%
   
3. Konami - KNM +3.26%

International Game Stocks (traded on American stock exchanges - need to trade at $1.00 or more to qualify)

1. Perfect World - PWRD +9.24%
2. Gigamedia- GIGM +2.31%
3. NetEase.com - NTES+2.07%

- The head of the police union in Germany really wants certain video games banned because of recent school shootings. Its funny how some people can be so ignorant. Want to start pointing fingers at cartoons also? After all, there are quite a few cartoons deemed appropriate that showcase quite a bit of violence.

- According to vgchartz.com, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS has sold over 60,000 copies in Europe. 63,766 to be exact.

Winner: Nintendo - NTDOY

Loser: none

Winner: Shanda-SNDA

Loser: none

One thing we know for sure, this game won’t sell more copies than Grand Theft Auto IV. Or will it? See, its going to be very interesting when Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is released, because one thing we know for sure is that we really don’t know.

Over 100 million DS gaming consoles have been shipped, which might suggest that Chinatown Wars could break sales records based on how other titles in the GTA franchise have done in the past. But, the Nintendo DS is known as a family oriented gaming system. The fact is, a large population of DS gamers are boys and girls under the age of 18. GTA: Chinatown Wars is a mature game, intended for gamers 18 and over, so it will be more difficult for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase the game. Of the DS gamers over the age of 18, a significant number of them illegally download games for their DS. This is indeed a factor because you cannot illegally copy games for the Playstation 3 or Xbox360 - at least not as easily. According to the ELPSA Intellectual Property Crime Unit, around 90% of North American DS users illegally download DS games. Personally, I think those numbers are high. Really high. But, even if those numbers are not accurate, its still a big enough deal to make note of. Has Take Take put Chinatown Wars between a rock and hard place?

The bottom line is, this game is getting great ratings. According to Gamespot.com, the average critic score is now at a 9.5 out of 10. And have you seen the trailers? I commend Take Two for taking the effort to make very good use of the DS capabilities. Plain and simple, if it is a good game, there are those who are going to buy it. There will be parents who will buy the game for their kids (how bad can a DS game be for my child?), there will be pirates who will be proud to fork over the dough to actually hold a game in their hands once again, and who knows - maybe Grandma and Grandpa who were just introduced to the DS last year, will now want something a little more edgier and exciting than Brain Age…

We are giving a Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars an impact score of 72 out of 100. In comparison, GTA IV would have around a 99/100. We are also projecting that Chinatown Wars will become a mature hit on the DS by selling 3 million copies by years end, protest groups become more active in the next couple of weeks, and another kid jacks his parent’s car and drives to the local grocery store to buy his favorite cereal…

Next week we will be featuring Majesco’s Gardening Mama for the DS!

IMPACT SCORE: Impact Score is a scoring system based on historical sales results, trends, game reviews, hype, opinion and facts. This system rates the impact a game might have for its company in terms of sales, reception, recognition etc. A game can score anywhere from 100 points to zero. A game that scores a 100 should have the biggest of impacts on its’ company while a score of zero would be a game that should do virtually nothing for its’ company.

This week, Take Two will be releasing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. According to Gamespot.com, the current average critic score is whopping 9.5 (GOOD NEWS for Take Two!). But who is going to buy this game? The DS is known as a family oriented or younger user system. A LOT of players that own the DS can’t legally buy the game because they are not 18 years old. But trust me - if they were able to buy this game, there would be a chance that GTA Chinatown Wars would be a mega-hit because a lot of those little buggers that play the GTA franchise. Then you got the older, hard core gamers, that own the DS sometimes and illegally download their games for free - NOT ALL, but some. That will defiantly cut into sales and profits. It will be interesting to see how this “experiment” in gaming works out…

News Bytes for Tuesday, March 16:

• According to vgchartz.com, Capcom has shipped over 4 million copies of Resident Evil 5. The game has also captured the top spot on the UK charts (we know they love their zombies!) . RE5 is the biggest launch Capcom has ever had.
• More good news for investors in Majesco-COOL. Gardening Mama, part of the Cooking Mama franchise is scheduled to be release at the end of this month - March 31st to be exact. This comes about a week after superb Q1 results.