Rumor has it Microsoft has its eyes set on Take-Two' s Rockstar. The details and the events taking place at present are leading us to believe that this may be true to some extent.

Because of the " Hot Coffee" incident, T2 is under scrutiny by both the ESRB and the government. There' s also the news that the company' s being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission because of the stock option grants given to employees starting 1997.

ESRB also gave the company' s game Oblivion an M rating instead of the T they were hoping for because of the player-created nude mod in the PC version of this game. You might also recall the fire that broke out and destroyed T2' s New York Studio, causing them to lose important records, software and hardware.

These events almost pushed the game company to file for bankruptcy. Come to think of it, Rockstar had a big hand in T2' s streak of bad luck. And it' s no wonder T2 will be opting to sell Rockstar.

Events in Rockstar on the other hand, were also indicative of the game company' s own bad (or good) luck. Massive firing of over half of its employees (including the co-founder) implies that Rockstar may be making room for some more people - preferably those that will come from another company that will be buying them out.

Yup, you heard that one right. Expecting a buyout of Rockstar is supported by the facts relayed. Also, take into consideration Peter Moore' s announcement regarding the famous Rockstar game. Microsoft' s Moore proudly announced that GTA IV will be exclusive to the Xbox 360, and that Rockstar were smart businessmen.

He must have been implying something with those statements, right? Sony had admitted to letting go of the GTA franchise even though it' s one of the games that " made" Sony' s consoles.

May I reiterate, these are mere speculation; neither Microsoft Corp. nor Rockstar has addressed this rumor. But it would really be interesting to know what exactly will happen to the controversial game company Rockstar...if only to be ensured that the GTA franchise has a future.