EA Withdraws Bid for Take-Two
August 19, 2008
This next one will come to relief to many, EA has withdrawn its very public battle to take over Grand Theft Auto publisher, Take-Two.
EA was looking to integrate many Take-Two brands into its slate for the holiday season. EA is notorious for its quick releases, and yearly retreads (read: any of the companies sports releases, Madden, NBA etc) with little or no innovation.
EA was looking to buy at $25.74 per share. Take-Two believes EA grossly undervalued the company, and his unfortunately still open for negotiations.
Buying Take-Two would also eliminate EA Sports’ biggest competitor, the oldest trick in the book, if you can’t keep up, just buy the competition.
id Software Talks ‘Return to Castle Wolfenstein’
August 6, 2008
id Software head Todd Hollenshead has been vocal about film adaptations of his video game properties this week. He confirms that Roger Avary (The Rules of Attraction) is currently working on the script for a film version of ‘Return to Castle Wolfenstein’ Read more
[Video] Weird Moments in Gaming History
August 4, 2008
It’s Monday, why not start it off with a video? Masters of Hyrule have put together a video of some strange moments in Video Game history, I’m sure there are plenty more of this, some are a bit funny, some are downright immature, but hey, what else was Youtube made for?
‘Gears of War’ Moves to Legendary Pictures
July 25, 2008
It’ll come as no surprise that I’ll open this article with the following words, here is another one for Justin to groan about.
Legendary Pictures has come on board to co-finance and co-produce Epic Games’ ‘Gears of War.’ The hit video game published by Microsoft has been at New Line since last year. Read more
Xbox Xclusive: ‘Masters of Horror Take On Comedy’
July 23, 2008
Every week something new and awesome comes from the Microsoft Xbox 360 camp. This week, they’ve announced that short comedy films from Horror directors will be coming to an Xbox near you. Read more
Trouble with Bungie and Microsoft
July 17, 2008
Apparently, there is trouble in paradise. Bungie, the studio behind “Halo,” was all about making a major announcement during E3. But a last minute intervention from their publisher, Microsoft, caused them to change plans.
A Microsoft insider said Bungie’s announcement was premature, and Microsoft was not consulted. Bungie/Halo products were noticeably absent from Microsoft’s press conference, and the upcoming Halo Wars (coming from a new developer), barely was mentioned.
Bungie, once part of Microsoft, split from the company following the release of ‘Halo 3′ but kept the company as the publisher. Microsoft, though no longer the parent company still owns minority stake in the company. Seriously, writing this article reminded me of talking about a couple who broke up, but still wished to remain friends.
Kiefer Sutherland Joins ‘Call of Duty’ Cast
July 16, 2008
Kiefer Sutherland is the man. Anything he does, I will see. Treyarch, makers of Call of Duty 3 (the sub-par follow up to Infinity Ward’s far superior Call of Duty 2), have signed him on to join the cast of their new game, Call of Duty: World at War.
The new shooter, taking place in the Pacific theater, is being called the “grittiest Call of Duty ever,” according to Treyarch head Mark Lamia. The trailer featured a Japanese soldier stabbing an American with his Katana.
I wasn’t impressed with Call of Duty 3, and Infinity Ward redefined the standard with Call of Duty 4, so this new entry into the series has as lot to live up to, but, then again, Kiefer Sutherland will make anything 10x better.
More Max Payne News
July 15, 2008
I’m all about the video game news today! There’s ton’s to report on the new Max Payne film starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines, Flight of the Phoenix). The film is based on the amazing video game of the same name. Some promo shots have emerged on firstshowing.net some of which you can find in this article. Read more
‘Lost Planet’ to be Adapted by WB
July 15, 2008
Hit video game from Capcom, ‘Lost Planet,’ will be adapted by Warner Bros. David Hayter who just completed ‘Watchmen,’ for Zack Snyder will be writing the screenplay. Hayter is best known for his work on ‘X-Men,’ and ‘X-2.’
The video game revolves around an expedition to an ice planet that has a energy source that could save mandkind.
Other Capcom properties include ‘Resident Evil,’ and the upcoming new ‘Street Fighter,’ film.
Apogee Software Brand Revival Announced
July 15, 2008
All the exciting video game news is emerging this week, this one comes in the form of an oldie Read more
Rock Band 2 Set List Announced
July 15, 2008
A big announcement came at Microsoft’s E3 press conference yesterday in the form of the set list for Rock Band 2. Rock Band is the incredibly successful music game that allowed players to not only play guitar along with some famous songs, but drums, and vocals too.
Besides the set list, they also announced that most songs from the first Rock Band can also be transferred over for a small fee that will be under five dollars. The new set list is awesome and includes a song from Bob Dylan, and the debut of a new Guns N’ Roses song.
Here is the full set list:
Vivendi and Activision Merge
July 11, 2008
It was only a few years ago where Vivendi was trying to pull itself out of the videogame biz, yesterday, they closed the deal with Activision, creating a publisher valued at $20 billion.
Prior to its merger with Activision, Vivendi’s most profitable video game subsidiary was Blizzard, whose “World of Warcraft,” brings it money by the boat loads. Activision approached Vivendi prior to the merger with talks of acquiring Blizzard.
Now that the companies have merged, some of the biggest video game franchises fall under one roof, “Warcraft,” “Guitar Hero,” and “Call of Duty,” to name a few.
Though, have no fear, Blizzard will continue to operate independently, where they are hard at work with “Diablo III,” and the much anticipated “Starcraft II” on the horizon. As well as a yet to be detailed new MMO.
