Take Two Interactive revealed its third quarter FY 2014 financial report, and to the surprise of no one, Grand Theft Auto 5 was named as a huge success. The game has reportedly shipped 35 million units since launching in September 2013 and helped Take Two achieve a net revenue of $1.86 billion, up from $415.8 million in the same quarter for 2013.

Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick stated that the overall success of the publisher was due to “robust demand” for the game. He also named NBA 2K14, WWE 2K14 and growth in digital revenues from GTA Online as major successes. GTA Online, by the way, has been tried once by roughly 70 percent of total players since it launched.

Overall net income for this quarter is $578.4 million, a huge increase from $70.9 million in the same quarter from last year. Cash and cash equivalents total $972.2 million for the company and Take Two is looking to increase its financial predictions, delivering non-GAAP earnings in 2014.

Yukes’ WWE 2K14 may not be a very good step in the series evolution, but it’s entertaining and has done some fairly good business. Thanks to the magic of DLC though, it will also feature one of the larger rosters in recent times and will allow the dev to finally add new Superstars and Divas rather than having to wait till next year.

The first of these DLC packs includes a fair number of popular Superstars and Divas such as Big E Langston, the new Intercontinental Champion and all around hoss of the roster; Brie and Nikki Bella or the Bella Twins; dancing sensation (and all around jerk) Fandango; and his dancing partner Summer Rae. The pack retails for $8 and also includes 30 new moves and taunts for pre-existing characters. Check out their entrance videos below.

Summer Rae is available for free but those who have the Season Pass will be able to receive all the characters and upcoming ones in the coming months including the nWo, various Legends and much more.

For the rest of the year though, the wrestling is often sacrificed for the sake of sports entertainment. Whether you’re a hardcore fan of the series or a relatively new gamer, that inner struggle manifests itself in WWE 2K14 – the first game in the series published by 2K Games and developed by Yuke’s in conjunction with Visual Concepts. It wants to entertain in more ways than one, but there’s still that desire to be a wrestling game; to have its brawling and instant satisfaction, but to also exhibit some technical prowess that’s becoming more watered down as we progress through the series.

The closest thing the franchise has had to a story mode (if you discount the awful Road to Wrestlemania mode in WWE 12) has been the WWE Universe mode. Here, you play out a typical year of taping schedules in the WWE, which covers RAW and Smackdown along with the monthly pay per views. You’ll have your champions and feuds, and can take control of either challenger or champion to decide on the victor going forward. You could also spectate or simulate matches, often jumping ahead months in advance to witness the progress of the company. Which stars have been elevated? Which are the new contenders? Who’s still the champion and who isn’t? Of course, there’s also a new Rivalry system and stat-tracker to keep up with who hates who.

The real appeal of WWE Universe lays in being able to customize just about anything. You can shift rosters and contender lists around, create your own “universe” – including your own shows and PPV events – implement custom themes and even start your own tournaments. It’s a definite step up from the previous game, and thankfully, Yuke’s has given more customization options towards creating your own WWE championship.

Of course, Create-A-Superstar has returned as well. You’ll be able to use existing wrestlers as templates in the mode, thus building off of them if you’re not a fan of blank slates. The customization options are as far-out as ever, and you’ll easily be able to create your fair share of monstrosities given the chance. You can also customize entrances and theme music depending on how you want your superstar to prance to the ring.

Since WWE 13, Yuke’s has been on a history binge. While that game has Attitude Era mode which looked at key moments in the WWE’s most memorable period, WWE 2K14 has 30 Years of Wrestlemania. You’ll experience matches throughout the history of the company’s biggest show of the year, and the atmosphere captured in these is accurate considering the importance of each.

Whether it’s Hulk Hogan’s meteoric rise to fame when he body-slammed Andre the Giant or Shawn Michaels risking it all to defeat the Undertaker and break the Streak at Wrestlemania XXVI, the mode accurately captures the styles and visual treatment of each era perfectly. It distills the mood of Wrestlemania amazingly well while providing a strong set of challenges and matches to go through. As in Attitude Era mode, you’ll have primary objectives and bonus objectives to recreate key moments in the match. Completing these bonus objectives nets you various characters, arenas, championships and much more as unlocks.

Of course, there’s also The Streak mode in which you can either attempt to break the Undertaker’s undefeated streak or play as the Dead Man himself and attempt to defend the Streak against a gauntlet of foes. Both options offer an interesting challenge, as in the former you’ll need to choose only the superstars who have faced the Undertaker in the past (so don’t look at John Cena to save you this time). Of course, Taker is amped up in difficulty and won’t go down without a prolonged fight.

In the latter, Taker’s damage is carried over from one match to another so you’re pretty much running a train of superstars in a desperate attempt to keep the Streak alive. Both modes have their moments, and it’s an awesome little diversion that doesn’t demand as much attention or effort as a campaign mode would while still delivering the emotional highs.

Every WWE game is built on its controls and lives or dies on the same. This is where WWE 2K14 sadly falters. The striking attacks are now faster than before, thus reducing the potential for reversals, and you’ll no longer have rallies of reversals since each counter ends in an offensive grapple. While this sounds like good news for those fed up with the counter system, it de-emphasizes grapples greatly. Why do moves when you can just punch your opponent to the ground and then running grapple them while dazed as in the previous games to build up a finisher?

This is especially problematic when playing against the computer, which is more skilled at reversals but becomes harder to counter, be it in striking exchanges or in grappling contests. It ramps up the difficulty significantly and not in a good way. How many times do you want to lose because the controls are hard to master and not because of any real challenge?

It does encourage a more methodical approach but in the sense of waiting to see what your opponent will do and hopefully having the timing down enough to counter it. Veterans of the series will be thrown off, without a doubt, and attacks just don’t have the same weight behind them as previous game did. If WWE 2K14 is a signal for the series to become more arcade-like and less “wrestling” based like All-Stars, then it would be more or less fine. However, this approach was meant to fix a problem that arose in earlier games and successfully managed to create a whole bunch of new issues in the process. Talk about bad booking.

For those who manage to find their way around the control system, there will be new “OMG” moments to pull off, the ability to launch superstars in the air and catch them with a finisher and much more added to the “holy s**t” repertoire. There are even some “OMG” moments which can take down two enemies at once. It’s just a shame that they’re stuck with such an annoying control scheme.

WWE 2K14 is able to capture the spectacle that defines the wrestling “business”. But it still looks like last year’s release, and you’ll need a side-by-side comparison to properly gauge how much the animations have improved. Don’t even get us started on the crowd animations, which are as repetitive and alien-looking as before. Playing with six players in a TLC match causes the occasional frame rate drop, though on most other occasions, the frame rate remains steady.

However, the usual glitches of phasing through players, teleporting across the ring, objects getting caught in the ropes and being “pushed” to the outside still remain though. If this is the ceiling that Yuke’s has hit on current-generation consoles, is there really any hope that latter releases for the Xbox One and PS4, when they arrive, will look all that better compared to, say, Visual Concepts’ NBA 2K14? Hopefully their influence becomes stronger as Yuke’s partnership with 2K Games continues.

WWE 2K14’s commentary relies on the team of Jerry “The King” Lawler and Michael Cole, and somehow manages to sound less irritating than their actual TV counterparts. We’ll count this as an unintentional plus.

Regardless of how one feels about controls, it’s still a blast to play with friends and outright smash each other with chairs and ladders while trying to grab the title that hangs precariously above the ring. The roster has been significantly expanded to include previously missing superstars like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage along with the New World Order and Ultimate Warrior. So you won’t hunger for variety any time soon, unless you desperately need to play as characters like Virgil (who will be added as DLC later).

WWE 2K14 isn’t the best there is, was or ever will be but it’s not like checking yourself in to the Smackdown Hotel for an extended vacation either. It captures a lot of the manic fun associated with the franchise and expands your ability to craft your own story-lines and characters while still falling prey to a lot of the movement and control snafus even as it attempts to fix earlier issues. And honestly, this series needs a visual overhaul like no other. But if you’ve got the time and patience to tolerate the new wonky mechanics, WWE 2K14 gives you plenty of smack to layeth downeth.

This game was reviewed on Xbox 360.

EA’s Battlefield 4 also had a strong presence, debuting at number two. Given all the negative karma against Ubisoft for Assassin’s Creed III and the hype for Battlefield 4, it’s amazing that Black Flag could score one over DICE’s multiplayer epic like this.

FIFA 14 and Grand Theft Auto V are in third and fourth places respectively, with Batman: Arkham Origins having dropped down to fifth place. Football Manager 2014 is in at sixth and WWE 2K14, the first game in the series to be published by 2K Sports, has debuted at seventh. Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition, Skylanders Swapforce and Pokemon Y round out the remaining top 10. Check out our review for Assassin’s Creed IV here.

WWE 2K 14 is the first wrestling game that is published by 2K Sports. The publishers got the IP rights from the now deceased THQ. The game is developed by Yukes with a little help from Visual Concept, the developers behind the just released and successful NBA 2K14. It is also a sequel to last year’s WWE ’13.

The game released this week for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 but the question is, has 2K done a good job with the franchise? It certainly seems so as the current Metacritic score for this game is 78. For the sake of comparison, last year’s WWE ’13 had a aggregate score of 76. So it seems that the new publishers have kept the core of the game unchanged.

IGN was critical of the AI and commentary in the game but was pleased with the overall quality of the title, whereas Destructoid were extremely happy with the gameplay mechanics. Gamespot was critical in their review stating that that wrestling is not up to the par.

Our very own review of WWE 2K14 will be going live this week.

The first content run will include nWo (New World Order) superstars including Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Syxx, Curt Hennig, Scott Steiner and The Giant as playable characters. It will also allow you to unlock all in-game items and customize attributes. While the nWo Pack retails for £6.99 and the unlock will retail for £1.59, The Giant will be free. While the unlock releases on launch day, the nWo Pack releases in November.

The second content run include Superstars such as Fandango and Big E Langston along with Divas such as Brie Bella, Nikki Bella and Summer Rae. There will also be 30 new moves and taunts including CM Punk’s Koji Clutch and AJ Lee’s Black Widow submission. Both of these will be available for £6.99, with Summer Rae available free. This content will release in December.

The third content group includes Legends such as Bruno Sammartino, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and WWE manager Virgil. A custom parts pack will be available with 15 new Superstar parts for creating the perfect character. The above will cost £6.99, with Virgil available for free. It will release in January 2014.

The Season Pass is expected to retail for £15.99, allowing for up to 25 percent in discounts. It will also feature “The Outsiders” versions of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash along with 10 exclusive online badges to go with all the content packs listed above. WWE 2K14 releases on October 29th for North America and November 1st for Europe on Xbox 360 and PS3.

“Defend the Streak” will see you playing as the Undertaker and taking on an endless number of opponents until you’re defeated. This is again a mode which lets you rank on leaderboards, but be warned that you’ll have no opportunity to recover your health.

WWE 2K14 meanwhile will be releasing on October 29th in North America and November 1st in Europe for PS3 and Xbox 360.

We are treated to a tease at a number of signature moves utilized by some of the most popular names in wrestling throughout the sport’s history.

The reason we get to see such epic, old school wrestlers is due to WWE 2K14’s “30 Years Of WrestleMania Mode”, which will allow gamers to play through three decades of WWE history, including more than 45 classic match ups with classic footage and a ton of Legends and Superstars to play as.

WWE 2K14 is the sequel to WWE ’13, and will act as the first title in the WWE 2K series. It is scheduled to release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 4 on October 29th in North America and November 1st in Europe.

WWE 2K14 will be the latest iteration of the franchise to come developer Yukes. However, it will be published under 2K Sports and developed in association with Visual Concepts. The game will feature the new “30 Years of Wrestlemania” mode which allows players to go through more than 40 famous matches from the history of Wrestlemania. Superstars such as Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, Shawn Michaels and many more will be available to play as.

WWE 2K14 will be releasing on October 29th in North America and on November 1st in Europe for PlayStation 3 and Europe.

WWE 2K14 will be the first entry in the WWE 2K series, and is a sequel to WWE ’13. One of the more looked forward to features of WWE 2K 14 is the 30 Years Of WrestleMania Mode. In 30 Years Of WrestleMania, gamers will have the opportunity to play through three decades worth of classic WrestleMania matches, watch classic WWE footage, and access many favorite WWE characters from through the ages.

On top of WrestleMania mode, we can expect a full revamped system which uses that of WWE ’13 as a base off of which to improve.

WWE 2K14 releases October 29th across Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.