Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:
According to several "analysts" last week, the successful launch of Grand Theft Auto IV threatened to sink the box office returns for Iron Man. The thinking went that since the game and the movie both target primarily the same demographic (males 18-29), that demographic would stay home and play the game instead of going to see the movie. While it's impossible to declare with complete certainty, as Variety did, that GTA IV had absolutely no effect on Iron Man's opening (with $104.2M in domestic receipts, $201M worldwide, and a release date for a sequel already announced), whatever effect it may have had was clearly not enough to significantly impact the movie. But clearly, many had predicted that the game could adversely affect box office receipts. It makes me wonder -- have we ever seen this sort of effect before?

Talk of Grand Theft Auto IV possibly hurting Iron Man's opening was clearly wrong. According to Variety, the movie made $104.2 million during its opening weekend, proving Paramount's Rob Moore right when he said that young males can carve out two hours to see Iron Man.

Variety did explore GTA IV's impact on the home video market recently, which showed no major releases targeted at the young male demo for the week. Probably the best comparison would be to see how the Iron Man video game did in sales when NPD comes out next month, and we know we're going out on a limb on this one, but we're pretty sure GTA IV won that battle.

Sega has kindly informed us that an interactive snippet of gameplay from its upcoming Iron Man game will become available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace sometime tomorrow. Players are invited to become literal cans of whoop-ass, with Marvel's metal-clad superhero aiding them in the destruction of tanks, jets and other things that explode when you punch them a lot.

PlayStation 3 owners will have to make do with our impressions for now, though a PSN demo is scheduled to arrive "soon." Iron Man is out for every console ever on May 2, the same day they release a movie of the same name. What a coincidence!

After watching the above trailer we were thrilled, because we figured a hilarious joke about Iron Man and the Un-can-ny Valley was well within our grasp. You know, because cans are metal and Iron Man, he's ... well, the short version is that we stared at the keyboard for minutes and nothing came. Honestly, looking at it now, we're not all that surprised.

But hey, we figured, we already had it embedded and everything, so we might as well pass it along with our (not as hilarious) response. This old video: Good. This new video: Creepy.

Of course Iron Man is yet another movie cash-in, a title that will sit on the shelf and call to you as you march out the cinema with glitzy, superhero shenanigans still fresh in your memory. But aside from all that, wanting to play as the eponymous, metal-clad cad is a desire that doesn't just come from the foul wells of corporate synergy and marketing. Nigh indestructible and capable of dishing out destruction from the palm of his hand, it's no challenge to see the appeal in controlling Iron Man -- a literal can of whoop-ass.

It does come as a major concern then, when his in-game movements display more than a little clumsiness. It's not entirely Iron Man's fault -- he's a flying tank that performs best when it maintains momentum and moves in a straight line -- but the 3rd-person action shown to us by a Sega representative seemed hampered by the controls and camera. While there's a great sense of speed and freedom conveyed by soaring across a desert, it's only when Iron Man cools his jets and starts punching things that issues arise.

Much to our (elated) surprise, the Iron Man video game is looking good. Adding a few more mega fonzies to our Cool-O-Meter is the addition of a few actors from the film. Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard and Shaun Toub will all lend the voices to the game, according to a Sega press release.

To catch up the few people who live under a rock, Downey plays Tony "Iron Man" Stark, Howard plays Lt. Colonel James Rhodes (who later becomes War Machine). Toub has a more minor role, playing fellow Afghanistan captive Yin Sen. We wonder if he'll fill in the same role as Bruce "Don't call me Ash" Campbell in the Spider-Man games as a tutorial guide. The Iron Man game is expected to arrive just before the film's May 2 release.

[Via Press Release]

Jon Favreau's Iron Man adaptation is looking really good, but its ticket sales may suffer from a proverbial digital drive-by. That's according to Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey (via Next-Gen), who warns that the April 29 release of Grand Theft Auto IV could adversely affect the superhero film's May 2 opening the same week. Said Hickey, ""We anticipate the video game release of GTA IV on April 29 could dampen the potential from Iron Man's theatrical release on May 2."

While you might scoff at the notion, remember that Halo 3 was cited as a primary reason for poor box office sales the week after its release last year.

We know, we know, it's just a video clip. And yes, we know that we've been burned by sexy trailers for mediocre licensed games before. But this new trailer for Iron Man (shown during last night's Spike VGAs) is just so freaking good, we're finding it hard to keep our cynical composure.

How about when Iron Man throws a fighter jet, or when it grabs a missile and redirects it? How about the original gray armor? Awesome. Everything here is. There is one thing that troubles us though: At one point, Tony Stark flies through a ring. If it's a stylish move, all's well, but if Iron Man's going to get into some Superman 64 shenannigans, things are going to get hectic.

The Iron Man video game has two strikes against it, by merit of being (1) a licensed product and (2) poised to be released alongside a movie. However, there are some benefits to the movie connection. Speaking to USA Today, Sega of America Senior Producer Mike McHale revealed that they had received the CG model for Iron Man himself created by Industrial Light & Magic for use in the film.

The game, according to McHale, will extend beyond the movie's storyline and also include classic villains from the comics. Whether or not this game succumbs the fate of most licensed titles remains to be seen. Iron Man, the game, is set for release "just before the film arrives in theaters May 2."