News just got out about a serious management transition over at Take-Two Interactive Software, the major US-based publisher, developer, and distributor of video games and video game peripherals.
Chief exec Ben Feder has decided to step down, effective January 1, 2011, in order to pursue plans to travel in Asia with his family for an extended period. Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two’s Executive… → Read More
Isn’t that a shame? Take-Two has announced that they’ve shifted the launch date for BioShock 2 to fiscal year 2010. Citing “several factors”, the publisher felt it necessary to push out BS2 so that it can get additional development time. While the original launch date of November 3 falls under Take-Two’s fiscal year of 2010, it’s being pushed back even further to an undetermined date. → Read More
During Take-Two’s quarterly call today, CEO Ben Feder announced that BioShock 2 will ship on November 3 for the US and on October 30 in Europe. Yay! Press Release → Read More
Take-Two Interactive has sued Apogee Software Ltd., also known as 3D Realms, for breach of contract. Of course, that breach was closing up shop before it finished Duke Nukem Forever, which had been in development since 1997. Oh, yeah! → Read More
This never-ending tango is finally over. Take-Two will be a lone wolf for the foreseeable future. “Take-Two’s Board of Directors and management have a clear mandate from stockholders to maximize value,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of the Board of Take-Two. “We are strongly positioned creatively, financially and competitively to benefit from the opportunities we see in the fastest… → Read More
Electronic Arts has “moved on,” and is no longer interested in buying Take Two Interactive, the publisher of, among of games, Grand Theft Auto IV. EA made it official sometime Sunday evening, ending the months-long back-and-forth between the two companies. Ask any gamer, and they’d tell you Electronic Arts was simply looking to buy the Grand Theft Auto brand, which, at least in the U.S. → Read More
That’s right, folks. 2K just announced that you, PS3 owners, will get Bioshock on the 21st of October. Headlining the list of new features is the inclusion of the Survivor difficulty mode, Trophy support and the addition of all-new Add-On Game Content. Created exclusively for the PLAYSTATION 3 system version of BioShock, the Challenge Rooms will test the mettle of new and seasoned gamers by… → Read More
EA has been after Take-Two since late last year. The process went public in February with Take Two letting EA’s offer expire five times. Now, EA has finally given up on its attempts to acquire Take Two at around $25-26 per share. The deal would have been worth around $2 billion, however Take Two has held fast that the offer was too low. It looks like EA is finally going to listen and take a… → Read More
I feel for the poor publishers, really I do. How to make the big bucks when so many games A: suck and B: cost millions to produce? Some have taken refuge on the rock of microtransactions. From a penny to a couple bucks, publishers and developers have found that sometimes people will shell out a little cash for a little something extra in-game. Nobody’s really nailed it down, yet — most… → Read More
That’s right, I’m starting the rumor here. Why not? Why not 8? If such an unique game and story can survive a trilogy, why not an octilogy? Seriously, though, Bioshock 3 was confirmed yesterday by Take-Two as being in the works. Wasn’t so long ago we heard that number two was coming out, not to mention the movie and iPhone versions. Ah, the birth of a franchise — and the… → Read More
Looks like EA’s takeover of Take-Two is on ice for the time being while the FTC does a little digging around after an information request was given to EA. But if it takes longer than 45 days for the FTC to conclude their probing then EA can go ahead with their attempted acquisition of the GTA publisher. The drama continues. → Read More
Now it’s official, folks. PS3 fanboys will have to wait until October, though. Full release after the break. → Read More
There aren’t exactly any details at the moment to back up this claim, but the UK’s Playstation magazine, PSM3, is promising an in-depth preview along with screenshots according to CVG. No word on when the popular Take-Two title will be available for the Sony platform, but, as usual, we’ll keep a lookout for you PS3 fanboys. → Read More
Flickr’d Like Microsoft with Yahoo!, EA refuses to concede defeat in its pursuit of GTA publisher Take-Two. The Redwood City, Calif.-based corp said today that it has extended its self-imposed deadline to acquire Take-Two by one month. So now we have till June 16 to read all sorts of fun stories like: “T2: You’re undervaluing our company” and “EA: No we’re… → Read More
Japan, often considered the last country with a passion for the arcade experience, is starting to lose interest in coin operated entertainment. Two of the biggest arcade chains in the region have already closed the doors at over 20% of their locations, and earnings continue to plummet. Some in the industry are blaming the latest generation of consoles for sending the 6.9 billion dollar industry… → Read More
Flickr’d EA’s self-imposed deadline vis-à-vis its proposed acquisition of Take-Two expired Friday with nary a peep from either company. EA, fond of money, offered to buy Take-Two, the publisher of GTA, back in February, with the two companies going back and forth like little children ever since. Well, mainly EA; Take Two has been fairly quiet throughout, telling AFP that any further… → Read More
The ongoing tango between EA and Take-Two may come to an end on Monday according to Lazard Capital analyst Colin Sebastian. The current bid is set to expire tomorrow and T2 is citing that $25.74/share is far too low. T2′s stock closed at $26.97 yesterday and has been hovering above $26/share since mid-April. “Expect update on TTWO bid by Monday morning,” he said. “We continue to… → Read More
Basically, I’m just glad that Uwe Boll didn’t get it. The director of Pirates of the Caribbean, among other films, has been signed on to direct the Bioshock movie, and will be working with John Logan, who wrote “Gladiator” and adapted “Sweeney Todd.” These are good choices because the director is familiar with spectacle and effects and likely has people in place… → Read More
Soon after GTA IV launched it was rather apparent that all the bugs weren’t squashed for the PS3 and the only solution Rockstar could muster up was to re-install. Sometime today, if it hasn’t already happened, Sony and Rockstar will release a patch to help alleviate the stress being put on the servers. “reducing the loads on the servers at GameSpy and hopefully the completely… → Read More
EA’s current offer for Take-Two is set to expire on May 16 and it’s highly unlikely that EA will up the bid like T2 thinks it should. Yes, GTA IV sold more than $500 million globally making it one of the most profitable ‘entertainment’ events. If you recall, Halo 3 sold $400 million in the first week. Take-Two’s stock closed yesterday at $26.35, which is 61 cents higher than EA’s… → Read More
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… → 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… → 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… → 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… → 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… → 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… → 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… → Read More
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
