Stagueve sent us this super cool tribute to GTA which shows flyovers of most of the GTA:SA scenery. I’m not sure the Who music is quite right, but it is sufficiently martial to make me stiffen up a little, especially in anticipation of GTAIV and the promise of Russian mobsters Hot Coffee-ing gazelle-like ladies from the Ukraine. → Read More
Image ganked from Kotaku. EA has extended their offer to May 16, but they’ve dropped their offer to $25.74 per share. That’s it for now. → Read More
Rather than delving into all the financial aspects the WSJ article has on the current state of EA’s potential takeover of Take-Two, I’ll paraphrase and dish out what’s important. Take-Two currently has no other bids than the $2 billion EA is offering them. That puts Take-Two’s shares at about $26/share, which is up roughly 50 percent since EA publicly announced their intentions to take over the software company. But without any other suitors, Take-Two is holding out until after the launch of GTA IV to boost their worth, which has been their main arguing point over EA’s offer. They’ve lambasted EA because GTA IV is expected to sell roughly $400 million in the first week. Take-Two is adamanetly telling shareholders to wait it out. EA’s tender offer expires tomorrow at midnight. If EA is unable to sway the shareholders to sell then they have the option to extend the offer and possibly raise their offer. I’d say it’s in TT’s shareholder’s best interest to wait it out. → Read More
We’ve known for awhile now that GTA IV, when it hits, will have the ability to program the in-game radio with music purchased online. But now Amazon’s getting in on the action, allowing those who’ve bought in-game songs to transfer them to their iTunes, iPods, etc. What’s really great is the MP3s are DRM-free, meaning switching them to your device and desktops and steampunk mp3 players should be a snap. → Read More
EA is absolutely going apesh*t over Take-Two. In retaliation over Take-Two’s public rejection of EA, the software giant from Redwood Shores is fighting back. This whole scenario reminds me of your typical boy meets girl, boy comes on too strong, girl loses interest, boy plays with himself scenario. When boy, EA in this case, just needs to chill and act like a dick to girl, Take-Two, to keep her interested. instead of being the jackass who wants to hang out all the time and shower her with pleasantries. That just doesn’t work. EVER. “The actions of the Take-Two Board may increase the risk for their stockholders by delaying a potential transaction,” said Owen Mahoney, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at EA. “We continue to believe that our $26.00 per share offer price is full and fair, and that a transaction between Take-Two and EA is the most compelling combination financially, strategically and operationally for all parties.” The following amendments were made to the initial offer. → Read More
http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=32309 So here’s the last trailer for Rockstar Game’s GTA IV. Let’s hope they work out all the bugs because they need to get this into production by the 10th to meet the launch date. → Read More
Games like Civilization and BioShock might get some MMO treatment if developer Take-Two sees fit to chase some “potential untapped opportunities.” You’ll also notice that it’s pondering a BioShock movie, which would be wonderful and creepy and probably directed by Tim Burton, if I may take the liberty of throwing some wild speculation into the mix. The above image was taken from a document issued to Take-Two shareholders explaining why the company declined EA’s recent wooing. via Kotaku → Read More
Wedbush Morgan, an analyst firm that likes to analyze and comment on things, says that Take-Two is making a mistake in spurning EA’s advances. $26 per share is a good deal, they say, and the company isn’t going to be any more valuable after the release of GTA IV, which they assume was the reason behind Take-Two’s unwillingness to sell. EA is getting serious now and trying the hostile route and offering to buy up outstanding shares, and analysts are divided on whether Take-Two made the right move. Personally I’d rather not see EA swallow any more game development houses, lest we be stuck with even more yearly sequels like GTA:Extreme Sports Edition II. → Read More
Flickr’d Oh burn, EA. Take-Two’s board of directors have advised shareholders that they’re worth way more than the $26/share EA is willing to pony up. The press release is mostly a bunch of legal jargon, but it reveals the obvious that others are willing to compete with EA. There could also be a merger between Take-Two and EA or a third party. A few reasons why the BoD is rejecting EA’s offer includes: EA’s Offer price is inadequate and substantially undervalues the Company. The Company’s financial advisors, Bear Stearns (you’re joking, right? -PH) and Lehman Brothers, have each delivered an opinion stating that, as of the date of such opinion, the EA Offer price was inadequate, from a financial point of view, to the stockholders of the Company. The EA Offer is opportunistic and has been timed to take advantage of the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV, one of the most valuable and durable franchises in the interactive entertainment software industry and the Company’s biggest selling and most profitable franchise. Oh gosh, the list goes on and on. The Chairman of the Board, Strauss Zelnick, pretty much summed everything up with this, → Read More
Click on the image for the high-res version Yeah, that would have been the proper headline, but it’s not. I thought it’d be fun to simulate this year’s NCAA tournament by way of 2K Sports’ College Hoops NCAA 2K8 except the regions aren’t lined up the right way. In it the East plays the West and the South plays the Midwest. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t the East region play the Midwest region and the South region plays the West region every year. Or does it change? Such a bummer and waste of two hours. Thanks, 2K Sports, thanks a lot. Ok, fine, I should have noticed this last night, but the regions should still have been lined up correctly, right? → Read More
EA just tendered an offer for Take-Two stock at $26 a share. This is basically a hostile take-over — rather than hashing out a deal, they’re convincing shareholders to dump their stock for a bit over official asking price (the shares closed at $24.91 last night). This is a bold move by EA and most probably Take-Two will be in enemy hands by sundown. Offer to Purchase for Cash All Outstanding Shares of Common Stock of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. at $26.00 Net Per Share by EA08 Acquisition Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Electronic Arts Inc. THE OFFER AND WITHDRAWAL RIGHTS EXPIRE AT 12:00 MIDNIGHT,NEW YORK CITY TIME, ON FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008, UNLESS THE OFFER IS EXTENDED. Notice the offer is on eatake2.com. Looks like somebody visited GoDaddy! Offer Page → Read More
Ok, maybe I’m not that excited but Take-Two/Rockstar is planning to release Bioshock 2 and another “major” sequel in 2009. Folks are postulating it will be Max Payne, which I kind of dug back in the day. How about the The Legend of Kage 2, guys. I love the trees! Massive sequel planned after GTA IV [CaVG] → Read More
Take-Two announced today that 2k Marin is slated to release the sequel to BioShock, which has sold 2 million copies since August, in time for the holidays in 2009. That is all. Press Release → Read More
IF and WHEN EA buys Take-Two, the makers of such classics as GTA and the rest of the GTA series will be well taken care of. In an SEC filing, Take-Two executives who are flopped out on their flabby white butts will get 1.5 times their salary and bonus for up to 18 months if they are fired without cause. Now it’s up to EA to get all Michael Clayton on Chairman Strauss Zelnick and CEO Ben Feder and fire them with cause. Presumably the grunts pushing polygons will receive the same deal. Note to EA: These are not guys you kill. These are guys you pay off. Take-Two forms severance plan in case of takeover [Reuters] → Read More
Earlier this month, EA offered to buy out Take-Two for $25 a share which was rejected and then resulted in an offer of $26 a share earlier this week, which was also rejected. Today, they offered to take over the mid-sized publisher for $2 billion. EA is the number one publisher on the planet, but they’ve been losing a little steam since last year and they’re looking to absorb Take-Two before GTA IV is released which is a smart move considering it’s one of the hottest anticipated titles aside from last year’s Halo 3 and this fall’s Gears of War 2. Take-Two isn’t looking to negotiate any such takeover until April 30, the day after GTA IV comes out. Now you might think that TT is solely relying on the GTA series to be worth a damn, but they’re slowly building a rock solid foundation that’s being solidified by titles such as BioShock and 2K sports titles. Besides slumping game ratings based on what metacritic.org has shown about EA, what other reason does EA have to purchase Take-Two? → Read More
[photopress:gtaiv1.jpg,full,center] It’s not as big as Microsoft and Yahoo!, but EA’s bid to acquire fellow game maker Take-Two is news. After being refused a sale at $25 a share, EA is trying again at $26 a share, 64% more than Take-Two’s price per share at market closing on Friday. EA is counting on strong share holder sentiment to make the sale go through, but Take-Two is mulling it all over. Take-Two is known for Grand Theft Auto, and with GTAIV coming out in just a few weeks, we know why EA wants it. ELECTRONIC ARTS AUDACIOUS BID TO BUY TAKE-TWO [Next Generation] → Read More
[photopress:SG100264.jpg,full,center] So I had to wait an extra day for some reason, but last night I got my Take Two upgrade for my Apple TV up and running. I rented an HD movie (The Simpsons, for those who’re curious) and it looked and sounded great. The 5.1 Dolby Surround was flawless and the video looked just amazing, far better than what I get with Comcast HD. The update itself took just 7 minutes from start to finish. My Apple TV itself now works great. But then I ran into a problem that took me hours to fix. → Read More
[photopress:purpleappletv.jpg,full,center] There are reports of people getting a “purplish” screen after installing the “Take Two” update for the Apple TV. Don’t worry, it’s just your Apple TV reverting to it’s default video output mode. It’s sending YPrBr to your TVs RGB input. Go into the settings, change it to RGB, you should be all set. → Read More
Last we heard of Manhunt 2, the game was effectively banned for sale in the UK and given an AO rating here. But did anyone expect Take Two, the game’s publisher, to throw in the towel so easily, and so quickly? IGN noticed that the game has completely fallen off Take Two’s release schedule, all the way into fiscal 2008. Extrapolating a little, we can assume that Take Two has shelved the game for the time being, perhaps until people forget about it or until all this bad press goes away. What happened to Take Two? It used to be the bad boy on the block, publishing whatever it damn well pleased. Now it’s genuflecting to special interests. While I’m not “into” violent games, I was kinda hoping Take Two would make a bigger case for free speech or somesuch. Manhunt 2 Falls off Take 2′s Radar [IGN] → Read More
