Square Enix announced that large stakeholder Time Warner will conditionally support the Japanese publisher’s bid to buy U.K. publisher Eidos.
Last week, Square Enix surprised many by making an offer for Eidos estimated at approximately U.S. $120 million. Time Warner owns 20 percent of Eidos shares and would have to place a higher bid to take over the company itself. Square Enix said Time Warner can still change its position if another bid is made or if Time Warner decides to make its own bid.
Eidos shareholders will formally vote on the deal in March.
Eidos was founded in 1990, getting involved in videogames in 1995. Its stable of IP includes Tomb Raider, Hitman, Kane & Lynch, Thief, Commandos and the Legacy of Kain. It owns development studios in Canada, Denmark, Hungary and China as well as Crystal Dynamics in the U.S. and Beautiful Game Studios in the U.K.
Last Friday, representatives from Namco Bandai showed up in a U-Haul truck to remove all of their assets from the offices of independent developer BottleRocket Entertainment, which had been working on a new Splatterhouse game for the publisher. BottleRocket management was informed that Namco Bandai had decided to transfer development of Splatterhouse to an in-house team.
Gamasutra reports confirmation of the story from a BottleRocket representative. A Namco Bandai spokesperson also confirmed the company and BottleRocket are no longer working together. On the same day Namco Bandai sent the U-Haul, BottleRocket employees were featured at a panel at the New York Comic Convention to discuss Splatterhouse’s development and show a new trailer.
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Electronic Arts will give Wii players another chance to throw balls and knock down blocks in a sequel to last year’s Boom Blox, a press release announced today.
Boom Blox Bash Party will be released this spring. The game will focus more on multiplayer options and offer more than 400 new levels, including some that take place in space and underwater. Bash Party will bring new block types and shapes like cylinders and wedges, new tools like a paintball gun and slingshot and will allow players to interact directly with the Boom Blox characters by stacking or throwing them.
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Nintendo games made up almost half of U.S. console software sales in 2008.
Gamasutra reports Wii and DS games accounted for 49 percent of the console software sold in the U.S.
Using analysis of figures provided by market research firm NPD Group, Nintendo sold approximately 268 million games in 2008, which equals about 8.5 games per second.
Games for the PlayStation 3 and PSP accounted for 32 percent of console software sold with Xbox 360 software at 19 percent, according to Gamasutra.
For more NPD analysis, check out The Farmer Report.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot revealed some of Ubisoft’s future plans in a financial report given yesterday, including confirmation that sequels to Assassin’s Creed and Red Steel are in development.
Guillemot also said more sequels in the Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon and Anno series are on the way. In addition, Ubisoft plans to release three games based on new IP, including I Am Alive, a disaster survival game Guillemot said has been delayed until the 2009-2010 fiscal year because it “will require further development time.”
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