Videogame mega-publisher Electronic Arts plans to make a hostile takeover bid against Grand Theft Auto and BioShock publisher Take-Two Interactive.
According to the Wall Street Journal, EA plans “to make a tender offer to acquire all of rival video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc’s outstanding shares for $26 each.”
Last month EA made an unsolicited bid of $26 a share, or $1.9 billion, for Take-Two, who rejected the bid as inadequate.
Link.
Take-Two games officially announced a sequel to last year’s hit BioShock, slated for a Q3 2009 release.
The publisher has stated its intent to produce a new BioShock game every two years.
The game will be developed at the 2K Marin studio, founded by a group of expatriate developers from the first game.
Comments from the Objectivist community were not available at press time.
Today it was announced that Microsoft and Rockstar Games are teaming up to have a sweepstakes for the up coming blockbuster Grand Theft Auto IV.
To enter the sweepstakes, all you have to do is go here and confirm your gamertag. The winners will be announced “on or about April 23.” The list of prises are:
* Four Grand Prizes: Four winners will score a four-day/three-night trip for two to New York City to attend the Xbox LIVE Gold Grand Theft Auto IV Launch Party.
* One Hundred First Prizes: Custom Xbox 360 Elite console
* Two Thousand Second Prizes: A Rockstar baseball bat
* Five Thousand Third Prizes: 500 Microsoft Points
* Three Thousand Fourth Prizes: 1000 Microsoft Points
* Two Thousand Fifth Prizes: 1600 Microsoft Points
* Five Thousand Sixth Prizes: One-month Xbox LIVE Gold subscription
* Three Thousand Seventh Prizes: Three-month Xbox LIVE Gold subscription
* Two Thousand Eighth Prizes: One-year Xbox LIVE Gold subscription
The best of luck to those of you who enter.
The Chief Operating Officer of Rockstar Games, Gary Dale, has left Rockstar to go on to bigger and better things. He has been promoted to executive vice president of Take-Two and is now in charge of “optimizing the company’s sales and distribution activities, pursuing business development opportunities and serving as corporate liaison with all of Take-Two’s publishing labels.”
In human terms, this means he’s printing more money than before and is moving up to help Take-Two print more money. What does this mean for you? Does it matter?
[Editor’s note: I realized that a picture of virtually any 40-50 year old guy in a suit could be put in this story and blindly accepted as Gary Dale. Guess what I did?]
Check out the full press release below for details. Continued…
Some fantastic news came out recently: Rockstar never actually took the gory Adults Only fatalities out of Manhunt 2 on the PSP, and now some smart hackers have re-enabled that content.
Cue another round of congressional hearings and Jack Thompson publicity. Here we go again.
Meanwhile, in the BatCa — er, damage control land, Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick said:
We hope that consumers will not engage in hacking or download illegally modified copies of our games. We encourage them to enjoy our games as they are meant to be played. We would also like to emphasize that Manhunt 2 is intended for an audience aged 17 and above.
On the other hand, I’m thinking that Rockstar/Take-Two are doing this on purpose to get more publicity. Since it’s a free speech issue, they can’t be censored, but using C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC and (lest I forget) Fox News for free advertising is pure genius.
Embattled videogame censorship advocate Jack Thompson is accusing Rockstar game of threatening his life in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV.
Thompson sent a copy of a letter to Take Two’s Strauss Zelnick to a Florida federal court:
I have this morning read with interest an article on page 80 and 81 of the September 2007 issue of Game Informer magazine which was generated when, according to its author, Rockstar Games “stopped by the Game Informer offices for an impromptu hour-long gameplay session with the Xbox 360 version of the game.”
The showcasing play of the game to Game Informer revealed that the first killing mission of the “hero” of the game, Niko, is to kill a certain lawyer. When Niko comes into this lawyer’s office, having used subterfuge to do so, Niko pulls a gun on the lawyer who says, “that the firm supports the second amendment and that ‘Guns don’t kill people. Video games do.’” Continued…
It’s my contention that gamers love Jack Thompson. No, seriously.
If Thompson were an effective and eloquent censorship advocate, then he would elicit only the mild disdain we reserve for the Tipper Gores and Hilary Clintons (whose efforts may quietly be doing the most to harm videogames). But it’s Thompson’s eccentricities — his rabid dogmatism, inexplicable ineptitude, and bizarre behavior — that bring out in gamers the kind of virulent hatred that masks true love. Like that girl in grade school you punched in the nose because you liked her. Continued…
It has been revealed that the Netherlands won’t ban an uncut version of Manhunt 2, unlike other countries that require the nerfed family-friendly remix, if Rockstar decides to publish the game in Europe. As you may remember, Manhunt 2 was cut down to receive M-rated status in North America and the UK.
Dutch gamers can get the uncut version because there’s no way to ban it under Dutch law. Although the material may be offensive to some, it contains nothing illegal. There’s also no country-wide ratings board in NL to ban the game in the first place. Continued…
As expected, Rockstar and Take-Two have toned down the highly controversial Manhunt 2, securing an M rating and a Halloween release date.
This should bring an end to the maelstrom surrounding the title, which was effectively banned in the U.S. (through Nintendo and Sony’s unwillingness to publish it) and banned outright in the UK. It hits for PlayStation 2, Wii and PSP.
Check this GGL Wire post for the rundown on Manhunt 2’s sordid history.
A bomb has just been set off: Rockstar has announced that Grand Theft Auto IV will not be coming out as planned this October. Instead, the game is now slated to come out in 2008. Halo 3, the holidays are all yours now.
According to a recent investor relations press release just now released, the most anticipated game of the fall is now being pushed to next year. The reason? Take a look:
Take-Two is reducing its fiscal 2007 guidance primarily to reflect the movement of the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 to fiscal 2008, due to additional development time required to complete the title. The title is now planned for release in the Company’s second quarter of fiscal 2008.
Well, now you’ll have more time to play all the other great games coming out this holiday. I’m sure publishers across the board are now branding a huge grin across their collective faces.
It took six weeks, but as expected, Take-Two has appealed the UK Manhunt 2 ban imposed by the British Board of Film Classification.
The appeal will go through the aptly named Video Appeals Committee, but no date has been set.
If the appeal passes, Manhunt 2 will be rated and sent to store shelves. There’s also a possibility that parts of the game will be toned down in order to bring it to rating-worthy status or M-rated status in the North American region. Manhunt 2 received an Adults Only rating from the ESRB, effectively banning it from the Wii and PlayStation 2.
We’ll keep you updated as this story unfolds.
Read:
Related:
| Nintendo, Sony axe Manhunt 2, AO rating blamed |
| Take-Two vows to release Manhunt 2 |
| Manhunt 2 rated Adults Only by ESRB |
| Manhunt 2 suspended, release date unknown |
| No Manhunt 2 in UK |
