July 16^th, 2003 (12:00am) - According to an IGN Xbox news article, Rockstar will be releasing Grand Theft Auto Vice City on the Microsoft Xbox as early as this holiday season. As many people know, the Grand Theft Auto series is supposed to be PlayStation 2 console exclusive, however sources reveal that Rockstar is circumventing the agreement by stripping the Xbox version of the title Grand Theft Auto, and simply repackaging the game as Vice City.

Back in May, Take Two’s CEO Jeffrey Lapin spoke about a major Rockstar title in development for the Xbox during the company’s quarterly conference call with analysts. "We said that there will be an Xbox SKU from Rockstar in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2004 [Nov. to Jan.]," Lapin said, "but we’re not going to comment on what it is at this point." It now looks like Vice City is that game.

Vice City’s gameplay will be identical to the PC version that recently shipped, and might also include additional features like custom soundtracks and downloadable content.