Industry analyst Doug Creutz believes that Red Dead Redemption will hit atleast 4 million units within its first year on the market.

“Red Dead has been perched at the top of the online retailer best seller lists for several weeks now, and we believe it is poised for breakout success,” he stated. “Although this positions Red Dead to be another core franchise for Take-Two, given the time between Rockstar franchise iterations, it is possible we might not see another Red Dead title until the next console cycle.”

Publisher Take-Two Interactive has regularly been criticized for not being profitable in its non-GTA years, so the company is pinning its hopes on Red Dead Redemption. However, Wedbush analyst Micheal Panther isn’t sure Red Dead Redemption qualifies as “blockbuster” material.

“I’m sure that the quality of Red Dead Redemption is extraordinary, and I expect the game to garner review scores of around 90. Whether the game is a blockbuster franchise will depend upon whether the game resonates with a large segment of the market,” Panther stated.

When you think about racing video games, one of the first games that come to mind would be Midnight Club. However, when conducting an investigation of Rockstar San Diego — because of the recent work condition accusations — anonymous sources (within the company, of course) spoke about Midnight Club’s future.

“Jay Panek and Mark Garone, people who were at the company for over 10 years, were fired in 2009 after the completion of Midnight Club: LA … other major people quit, as they lost hope in the company after the handling of MC:LA and didn’t want to work on Red Dead Redemption,” reported one source.

When questioned about the possibility of there being another title, a second source relayed to Joystiq that “there was going to be another”. But, soon after the team got the news, they had been outsourced. However, at the time, a small development team were still developing the title. Then, after a while, nothing happen. So anything could, and would, happen to the Midnight Club series at this point, seeing that Take-Two, its big brother, wants something soon.

Last week, Rockstar narrowed the release target of Red Dead Redemption to April and teased at a new trailer. That said, today, Rockstar San Diego released the new trailer entitled “My Name Is John Marston” for Red Dead Redemption, giving a more pacific release target then April, “April 27, 2010″.

Red Dead Redemption is a Western epic set at the turn of the 20th century when the lawless and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread of the Industrial Age. At the center of all of this maddest is John Marston, a former outlaw caught up in the uncertain times.

For years, Rockstar have been keen on reminding its investors of the money-making potential of its Red Dead Revolver franchise. Back in February, the publisher announced Red Dead Redemption, the sequel to its first western shoot ‘em up. However, since the announcement, Redemption has been pushed into 2010; with no announcement of its new release date. But, that’s all about change.

With a lot of heavy hitters, hitting within the first quarter of 2010, Rockstar has announced that Red Dead Redemption will release on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in April, that’s within the exact same time-frame. However, if that wasn’t enough, the publisher also announced that a new trailer will premiere on December 1 for Red Dead Redemption.

“The team at San Diego have massively exceeded our expectations with the sheer depth of experiences in Red Dead Redemption,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “The seamless combination of breathtaking beauty and intense action, all woven together with strong plotlines in a massive vibrant, rural environment is mind-blowing. We think this game helps to push the limits of what an open-world gaming experience can be.”

It’s a good news/bad news situation, depending on how you view it: if you pre-ordered the game for as a Christmas gift, it’s bad. If it’s one of the many games on your Christmas shopping list, and you’re short on holiday money, it’s good – but not all that good.

Yesterday, Take-Two Interactive announced that BioShock 2 won’t be releasing within the company’s fourth quarter, as previously planned. BioShock 2 has instead been pushed up to the “first half” of 2010.

“The decision to shift a release date is never an easy one, especially with a product as highly anticipated as BioShock 2,” said Take-Two CEO Ben Feder. “We felt that it was essential to invest the additional time to ensure that this title will deliver what its fans expect and deserve.”

However, the move is worst for the company’s current fiscal year, which ends on October 31, but good news for its 2010 fiscal year, said Jesse Divnich, director of analyst services at Electronic Entertainment Design & Research in Carlsbad, Calif.

“I expect them to dominate fiscal 2010,” Divnich said. “BioShock 2, Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, Mafia II, additional Grand Theft Auto Downloadable Content (DLC), and the possible launch of Agent should make fiscal 2010 the year of Take-Two. As far as I am concerned, Take-Two is just moving numbers from one financial year to another.”

[Bioshock 2 delayed; Take-Two's stock takes a hit via LA Times]

Weesnaw. If you love horses and shooting up old school Texan baddies, you’ll love this. Rockstar’s Dan Houser has confirmed with IGN that Red Dead Redemption’s multiplayer mode will feature Horses, Stagecoaches, and Trains.

“Charging around on horses and stagecoaches and trains, shooting each other in a multiplayer world,” said Houser. “It’s pretty epic, but it’s not finalized to talk about in any more detail than that. We’re still learning a lot as we learn how to do multiplayer games successfully.”

He continues to state that their mistakes learned from Grand Theft Auto IV will be applied to its upcoming western.

“We definitely feel there’s something really fun about third-person multiplayer games, just as we feel there’s something really fun with third-person single-player games,” he continued. “Even between GTA IV and the Lost and Damned we made quite a leap forward in how the games were structured and how they played and I think we’re looking to do that again with everything we do going forward.”

When the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series announced that they were doing  a following up to ’04 western shooter Red Dead Revolver, we strapped on our riding boots and pumped bullets into our six-shooters.

Okay, that actually didn’t happen. But, if you watch the trailer below, you may be inclined to do something cowboy-like.

“The team at San Diego have massively exceeded our expectations with the sheer depth of experiences in Red Dead Redemption,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games.

“The seamless combination of breathtaking beauty and intense action, all woven together with strong plotlines in a massive vibrant, rural environment is mind-blowing. We think this game helps to push the limits of what an open-world gaming experience can be.”

After being rumored a thousand times, it seems that Rockstar games has finally announced this morning a sequel to 2004′s Red Dead Revolver.

The game Red Dead Redemption will tell the story of ex-outlaw John Marston at the turn of the 20th century when the “lawless and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread of the Industrial Age.” The uses the power of the RAGE engine, which we have seen the games like Grand Theft Auto IV.

“Along the way, players will experience the heat of gunfights and battles, meet a host of unique characters, struggle against the harshness of one of the world’s last remaining wildernesses, and ultimately pick their own precarious path through an epic story about the death of the Wild West and the gunslingers that inhabited it.”

“The team at San Diego have massively exceeded our expectations with the sheer depth of experiences in Red Dead Redemption,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “The seamless combination of breathtaking beauty and intense action, all woven together with strong plotlines in a massive vibrant, rural environment is mind-blowing. We think this game helps to push the limits of what an open-world gaming experience can be.”