Archives: February 2008

EA-Take-Two -- Our Take

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 25, Categories: Electronic Arts

It's all about the games. Electronic Arts' (ERTS) $2.1 billion gambit to acquire Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO) is a bid to further expand its portfolio of lucrative games by taking...

Playing Guitar Hero With The Sound Off

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 20, Categories: Activision-Blizzard

Ok, so that headline has very little (nothing?) to do with the subject of this post. However, the visual of silently rocking out in front of the television with only...

US Games Market: Nearly $300 Million A Week Last Month

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 15, Categories: Sales

NPD Group's monthly numbers have an interesting if not earth shattering mix of information. PS3 is doing well. The Xbox 360, not quite. Call of Duty 4, Wii Play, Guitar...

PlayTest: Spore

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 13, Categories: Electronic Arts

Yes, I got my grubby hands on the long-awaited Will Wright masterpiece this afternoon and it is, indeed, mind-blowingly good. We'll be running a story plus slideshow tomorrow, though my...

Is This The First Indie Indian-Made Game?

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 13, Categories: Emerging Markets

Unlike China, India’s gaming market is still nascent. For instance, a meager 5% of the country’s 42 million Internet users are active gamers, according to a 2007 report by market...

Spore Specifics Finally Emerge

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 12, Categories: Electronic Arts

Like sweet, sentient life from primordial goo, firm details about Electronic Art’s (ERTS) to-be blockbuster Spore by Sims genius Will Wright emerged from Maxis HQ today. The uber-highly anticipated game...

Journeys, The Virtual World As Mashup

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 12, Categories: Virtual Worlds

I’m terribly delinquent, but nearly two weeks ago I met with Guy Bendov and Assaf Priel, co-founders of the Tel-Aviv, Israel-based Journeys, an upcoming virtual world with a lot of...

19 Minutes 45 Seconds Worth Sitting Still For

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 11, Categories: Electronic Arts, MMO

Yes, everyone may be talking up the news and happenings coming out of the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas – I’ve found The Escapist’s coverage particularly good – but some...

Say Hello To B-Dub’s Innovation Index

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 11, Categories: Misc

Last Friday BusinessWeek’s Innovation and Design channel launched a new stock index in cahoots with Standard & Poor’s to track the day-to-day performance of the world’s most innovative companies. According...

Will They? Won’t They? Apparently Not

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 08, Categories: Take Two Interactive

Reuters and Variety are both throwing cold water on rumors that were swirling earlier this week that Viacom (VNV) was considering putting up to $1.5 billion on the table to...

Diversion of the Day: Super Kreml Kart Super Rally

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 08, Categories: Misc

Marketing editor Burt Helm and I have been trading our favorite casual free and flash-based games for a week or so now. Games not so well suited for long goofing...

Codemasters CEO: We’re The Pixar Of Game Design

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 06, Categories: Codemasters

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to sit down and rap with the straight-talking, energetic Rod Cousens, CEO of European game-maker Codemasters. Cousens made some waves a while...

What’s Wrong With Nintendo’s Stock?

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 06, Categories: Microsoft, Nintendo, Sales, Sony

Call it the hard bigotry of high expectations. Nintendo (NTDOY) may be coming off a blockbuster 2007 when Wii units and DS portables blew off store shelves, but that hasn’t...

PlayTest: Metal Gear Solid Mobile

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 04, Categories: PlayTest

Editor's Rating: The Good: Core gameplay is fun; camera phone integration; stellar graphics; makes waiting for MGS4 slightly easier. The Bad: This snack only makes you more hungry. The Bottom...

MapleStory DS, Making The Mobile MMO

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 02, Categories: MMO

Well, not exactly. The announcement last September that the massively popular casual MMO MapleStory by Korean games-maker Nexon Corp. was bound for Nintendo’s (NTDOY) DS handheld system stirred a lot...

Anatomy Of A Merger: Activision-Blizzard

Posted by: Matt Vella on February 01, Categories: Activision-Blizzard

A recent Securities and Exchange Commission report contains juicy details about the run-up to the merger of Activision (ATVI) and Blizzard Entertainment–owner Vivendi Games that will create the world’s biggest...