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For the past few months, Rockstar has been teasing us with gorgeous in-game trailers for its upcoming open-world Wild West action game Red Dead Redemption. Well, today the teasing stops. The developer has thrown open the corral gates and let loose a trailer with actual gameplay -- and we think you'd have to agree it looks pretty amazing.

More than just a bunch of quick cuts between brief action clips, it's fully narrated, describing the goals of the dev team at Rockstar San Diego and backing them up with in-game footage. Besides just talking up how open the open-world is, it goes into aspects such as the ability to play like a hero or outlaw -- do you bring your bounty back alive or dead? -- and also shows quick glimpses of a variety of cool-looking gameplay, from the old "try to stab the table between your fingers without cutting yourself" to dragging a guy behind your horse on a rope. But, mostly, it just looks so damn cool.

We'll stop with the talking so you can commence with the watching. Giddyup!

Though most gaming enthusiasts received the announcement of the streaming game service known as OnLive with raw, unmitigated zeal, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick isn't convinced of the platform's revolutionary properties. According to GamesIndustry, Zelnick explained during the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York City, that, if successful, OnLive would "meaningfully and beneficially transform the economics of our business." However, he later added that the digital distribution-centric system "doesn't really speak to our business model."

Zelnick noted the benefits in not having to worry about costs associated with production and distribution, but explained that "the bulk of our business is packaged goods because initial releases are for the console business." He later claimed that OnLive's bold distribution model "probably won't be a sea change in our business." Shortly after that, he did 1,000 sit-ups, and then arm wrestled everyone in the audience simultaneously. Needless to say, he won.

If you pre-order Red Dead Redemption from GameStop, you'll be able to start redeeming a bit early -- specifically, a code for an exclusive pre-order bonus. The retailer will offer customers the chance to vote on one of three in-game challenges that, when completed, will award players an in-game costume.

The hard-earned costume changes will have some unspecified effect on gameplay: according to Rockstar's announcement, "the outfit will uniquely affect how the surrounding world responds to the game's protagonist, John Marston." We don't know what any of the three choices are, but people would respond differently to a man in one of those inflatable sumo wrestler costumes. Just putting that out there. More information about the challenges and the outfits will be released in January.

Amateur songwriters and frequent impromptu freestyle rap battlers take note: the iPhone version of Rockstar's Timbaland-ized beat creation software, Beaterator, is now available from the iTunes App Store for $4.99. The iPhone release features a redesigned interface, of course, since the PSP version relied on futuristic "button" technology.

Other than that, it sounds similar to the original, though we don't know if it features everything from the PSP title: the press release announcing the product mentions that it features the ability to alter and add effects to sounds, as well as transposition and layering of loops. You can also upload your composition to the Rockstar Social Club!

What seemed like an interesting curiosity as a full-priced PSP game sounds a lot more impressive as a five-dollar download, doesn't it?

Beaterator ($4.99):

While Take-Two has a number of solid properties, such as BioShock and Borderlands, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto is unquestionably its largest and most important franchise. However, sluggish sales of recent GTA efforts, from the handheld Chinatown Wars to the 360-exclusive DLC Episodes from Liberty City, have Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter worried about the future of Take-Two's flagship brand.

"Has the Grand Theft Auto franchise peaked? Given the strength of GTA IV in 2008, the question may seem misplaced, but our concern is that the very highly rated new GTA content for Xbox as well as PSP and DS did not perform up to expectations in 2009," Scahchter notes, while addressing potential criticisms to his claim. "Now, we very clearly understand that these do not represent 'true' new GTA titles. However, the fact is that these were compelling titles, attractively priced, and reasonably well-promoted, yet they fell relatively flat."

We can't put our finger on it, but for some reason, Gearbox's recent trademark filing for the title Borderworlds sounds awfully familiar. Oh, that's right! It released that other game with the eerily similar title earlier this year, Border ... wait. Borderareas. Or was it Borderlocales? Borderlands? No, wait, it was Borderregions. Yeah, definitely Borderregions.

Following yesterday's positive comments from the Take-Two conference call, a sequel to the fastest-selling new IP of 2009 certainly seems like a natural next step. However, considering a world is considerably larger than a land ... or region, Gearbox could be planning something appropriately larger in scope than the series' first installment. Or, it could simply be covering its titular bases, as appears to be the case with the "War Hero" trademarks filed earlier this year.

Update: Apparently, the Borderworlds trademark was filed back in 2007. Apologies for the confusion!

[Via superannuation]

If we took away one important lesson from Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick yesterday, during the company's investor call, it's this: it takes a lot of time to make "triple-A" games. That's why Zelnick isn't interested in annualizing the Grand Theft Auto franchise. "We don't feel that GTA oughta be an annualized franchise," he said, adding that he was "pleased" the series has been "testing new formats and new platforms" this year with two DLC expansions on Xbox Live and GTA: Chinatown Wars for DS and PSP.

Instead of pushing out a new GTA game every year, Zelnick explained that Take-Two is focused on the "balance between how long it takes to develop such an incredible title that meets consumer expectations and how long you need to make sure than an appetite has been both satisfied and whetted [for the next game]." He padded his point with phrases like "high profitability" and "resiliency of the franchise," though when taken to task over how the publisher expects to make money in a "non-GTA release year" -- and in light of projected, continued losses from its baseball franchise -- he responded, "We remain committed to that goal [of profitability] ... naturally, we are disappointed that we're not projecting to achieve that goal in 2010." Meanwhile, somewhere in California, Bobby Kotick laughed maniacally.

Take-Two has released "preliminary" earnings results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year (ending October 31, 2009), blaming a $.09 a share slump on poor sales of its Major League Baseball games. It seems the publisher might have been misled by the commonly held misconception that baseball is the "national pastime" -- modern warfare has clearly seized that honor. Take-Two didn't specify which MLB titles might have underperformed, but it released The BIGS 2, MLB Front Office Manager, MLB 2K9, and MLB 2K9 Fantasy All-Stars all in 2009, and all to mediocre critical reception.

2K expects to take a $30–35 million loss on its MLB business and further adjusted its financial outlook downward following the BioShock 2 delay. While Borderlands and NBA 2K10 helped generate some revenue last quarter, Take-Two's future doesn't look to be paved in gold. "Looking ahead, we remain committed to our goal of operating profitably on a non-GAAP basis;" CEO Strauss Zelnick said. "However, we do not currently expect to achieve that goal in fiscal 2010. We have an outstanding product portfolio, exceptional creative talent and a solid balance sheet, and are confident that these strengths will provide a sound foundation for improved performance."

In a new financial earnings and projection report, Take-Two has dished out news of Max Payne 3's release. The game's been pushed back -- we like to imagine in incredibly slow and dramatic fashion -- to the company's fiscal Q4 2010. In real time, that translates to a three-month period spanning August–October, 2010. The game was previously pegged for an unlikely Winter 2009 release.

Based on what we've seen of Max Payne 3 so far, we'd say that bumping back its release is a good move. Max is in serious need of some Jazzercise and a decent dry cleaner, so this extra time will hopefully get him into better shape to handle the countless waves of bad guys he'll be indiscriminately shooting in the face.

While announcing a new trailer for upcoming western epic Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar let it slip that the game is slated to arrive in April of next year, according to Videogamer.com. That gives your wallet yet another reason to be terrified of the first third of 2010.

The latest clip of the game, dubbed "My Name is John Marston," will arrive on December 1. Allow us to give you a sneak peek:

John Marston: "I used to be bad, but now I'm good!"

Former bad guy friend: "I wish you were still bad, but you're not, so I'm gonna make you kill me!"

John Marston: "Man, it sure is dusty here!"

[Gunshots]

[Fade to black]

The citizens of BioShock 2's undersea dystopia, Rapture, love them some ADAM -- especially when it's been freshly harvested by a Little Sister. It's with this in mind that Digital Extremes tweaked the tried-and-true Capture the Flag multiplayer contest to place one team in charge of abducting one of these adolescent creepsters while the other must lay their lives on the line to protect her.

As the above first look at the mode explains, the "attacking" side's goal is to return the girl to a Little Sister vent. The defenders -- well they defend, of course ... but one of them gets to be a Big Daddy. We'll have our hands-on impressions of BioShock 2's single and multiplayer modes tomorrow, so look for more details then.