Sad to hear...but then again, a buncha games like Kayne and lynch and GTA4 have made it a point to recreate the famous bank shoot-out (done pretty well at that). Better to do it right or don't do it at all.

I don't really buy what Gearbox is saying about the status of Heat. In the interview he says he hasn't spoken to Mann for a year and further he says that: "It's possible that he is, and he might be even pursuing that with somebody else. I don't know."

Gearbox isn't doing Heat because they are too busy or somebody else is pursing it and Gearbox is in the dark.

I think that more than likely this is just an option that Gearbox has to do the game. However, Mann is the one that is holding all the cards.

The whole thing about being busy is just smoke. This is not a hot property anymore and Gearbox isn't al that interested probably because there isn't much money in it for them and doing movie games is no longer profitable for them.

The interview ultimately comes off as that Gearbox doesn't want to do somebody else's game. But he doesn't want to insult Michael Mann. (I wouldn't either of course).

Honestly it sounds bogus. "Yeah, we got busy" Well they announced it 3 years ago. What have they been doing all that time?
I know they're working on other projects, but most devs will ramp up their people to meet a challenge - especially when there is so much talent out there right now.
My sense is that they couldn't work out a way to make it profitable for them and for Mann.