Take-Two Interactive has announced Max Payne 2, its upcoming sequel to the award-winning third-person shooter Max Payne. The new game is in development at Remedy Entertainment and Take-Two's Rockstar Games division, and it is scheduled for release in 2003 for the PC and console platforms.

　　In conjunction with the announcement of the sequel, Take-Two revealed that it has acquired ownership of the Max Payne brand and all intellectual property rights associated with that brand. This includes all the characters, copyrights, trademarks, and proprietary technology associated with Max Payne, including the game's trademark "bullet-time" feature. Take-Two purchased the property from Remedy and Apogee Software for $10 million in cash and nearly 970,000 shares of common stock.

　　Max Payne was released for the PC in July 2001 and for the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox in December 2001. The game lets players assume the role of a renegade undercover cop on a mission to destroy a Mafia network. It received praise for its gritty portrayal of the New York City underworld and its cinematic third-person game mechanics. It also received the GameSpot Reader's Choice full review of the game. We'll post more information about the upcoming sequel as it becomes available.