Sony inks exclusive Rockstar Games deal for Playstation 3

Its no secret that famous games drive console sales and, naturally, exclusive titles often turbocharge sales. And because of this, there is great curiosity in the Playstation comunity about the new deal between Sony and Rockstar Games.

According to reports, Rockstar Games, the brains behind the Grand Theft Auto Series, has inked a deal with Sony as per which Sony will have an exclusive to the "next great franchise" from the hit-making studios of Rockstar Games.

Sony has officially confirmed the news on its official Playstation blog on Friday. "Everyone knows to have success in this business you need to look ahead, identifying the talent and titles that are going to give consumers new kinds of gaming experiences that help set the bar for the rest of the industry. Rockstar has a heritage for doing just that," Michael Shorrock from Sony said.

With the deal, Sony expects to emphasize the uniqueness of its Playstation console. Both the companies refused to reveal further details about the arrangement. Although there were initial reports that Rockstar Games' upcoming title LA Noire would be the first combination from the duo, the companies have confirmed that the title being developed is not the same. LA Noire is a 1940 crime thriller and is expected to blend cinema and gaming. The game is expected to release some time in 2008.

Michael Shorrock said, "Rockstar really wanted to make a game that you can truly only do on PS3, harnessing the power of Cell and Blu-ray disc. This deal will do that."

It is also not clear whether the game would be a downloaded PSN game or a full-featured title, but industry experts believe that the game would come on a Blu-ray disk.

The comments from the Playstation community are more than exciting. Everyone is happy Sony inked the deal with Rockstar as the company has not developed any bad games. It is also believed that the current deal with Rockstar Games will help Sony rise from its third-place position among current-generation game consoles.

Reports suggest that as of now there are more Wii-exclusive games in development than for any other console. The Wii has 113 exclusives, the Xbox 360 has 96, and the PS3 -- before this Rockstar deal -- only 47.