Archive for October 11th, 2007
October 11, 2007
A week jam-packed with Nintendo news was overshadowed today by an announcement that sent shockwaves through the North American game industry. Thursday afternoon, top publisher Electronic Arts announced it will acquire VG Holding Corp., owner of BioWare/Pandemic.
VG Holding Corp. was formed in late 2005 when esteemed Canadian role-playing game studio BioWare formed the aforementioned “superdeveloper” with Californian shop Pandemic Studios. The union was funded by Elevation Partners, a venture capital firm with rock star Bono on its board, and brokered by then-Elevation board member John Riccitiello, who became BioWare/Pandemic’s CEO.
At the time, the deal was seen as a break from the traditional developer-publisher relationship, which sees the former beholden to the latter for funding. However, when Riccitiello returned to his old job as EA CEO, many wondered if the move might presage a takeover bid of BioWare/Pandemic. These suspicions were further raised when EA agree to distribute the Pandemic shooter Mercenaries 2: World in Flames under its EA Partners program.
When the BioWare/Pandemic deal was announced, Elevation made much of the fact the union represented a “combined investment” of more than $300 million, including future funding. Today, the company got a massive return on said investment, with EA paying $620 million in cash to the stockholders of VG Holding Corp. In addition, the publisher will issue an additional $155 million in equity to unidentified VG Holding employees, assume $50 million in outstanding VG stock options, and will lend VG $35 million to fund the transition.
In return for paying a princely sum, EA becomes the owner of both BioWare’s and Pandemic’s original properties. Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age are among BioWare’s original IP, which does not include such licensed hits like the Dungeons and Dragons-based Neverwinter Nights, the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, or the DS Sonic RPG. BioWare is also working on an unnamed massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Pandemic is best known for the Full Spectrum Warrior and Mercenaries series, as well as the THQ-owned Destroy All Humans! and LucasArts-owned Star Wars: Battlefront franchises.
However, EA was relatively cagey about which BioWare/Pandemic games will become EA properties. The announcement only mentioned one BioWare (Mass Effect) and two Pandemic games (Saboteur, Mercenaries) by name. However, it did say the two studios have “10 franchises under development, including six wholly owned games.”
Pending regulatory approval, EA’s takeover of BioWare/Pandemic will be final on January 2008. Both studios will become part of the EA Games division, run by Frank Gibeau, with Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka continuing to run BioWare and Andrew Goldman, Josh Resnick and Greg Borrud staying in charge of Pandemic. The two studios employ 800 people in Los Angeles, Austin, Edmonton, and Brisbane, Australia.
October 11, 2007
Has an NBA player been rumbled for cheating at Halo 3? Stats show that all of his games he gets 1st place in and allegedly joins up with a friend and has another account quit so he comes in first place each and every time.
October 11, 2007
A week jam-packed with Nintendo news was overshadowed today by an announcement that sent shockwaves through the North American game industry. Thursday afternoon, top publisher Electronic Arts announced it will acquire VG Holding Corp., owner of BioWare/Pandemic.
VG Holding Corp. was formed in late 2005 when esteemed Canadian role-playing game studio BioWare formed the aforementioned “superdeveloper” with Californian shop Pandemic Studios. The union was funded by Elevation Partners, a venture capital firm with rock star Bono on its board, and brokered by then-Elevation board member John Riccitiello, who became BioWare/Pandemic’s CEO.
At the time, the deal was seen as a break from the traditional developer-publisher relationship, which sees the former beholden to the latter for funding. However, when Riccitiello returned to his old job as EA CEO, many wondered if the move might presage a takeover bid of BioWare/Pandemic. These suspicions were further raised when EA agree to distribute the Pandemic shooter Mercenaries 2: World in Flames under its EA Partners program.
When the BioWare/Pandemic deal was announced, Elevation made much of the fact the union represented a “combined investment” of more than $300 million, including future funding. Today, the company got a massive return on said investment, with EA paying $620 million in cash to the stockholders of VG Holding Corp. In addition, the publisher will issue an additional $155 million in equity to unidentified VG Holding employees, and will lend VG Holding up to $35 million to fund the transition.
In return for paying a princely sum, EA becomes the owner of both BioWare’s and Pandemic’s original properties. Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age are among BioWare’s original IP, which does not include such licensed hits like the Dungeons and Dragons-based Neverwinter Nights, the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, or the DS Sonic RPG. BioWare is also working on an unnamed massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Pandemic is best known for the Full Spectrum Warrior and Mercenaries series, as well as the THQ-owned Destroy All Humans! and LucasArts-owned Star Wars: Battlefront franchises.
However, EA was relatively cagey about which BioWare/Pandemic games will become EA properties. The announcement only mentioned one BioWare (Mass Effect) and two Pandemic games (Saboteur, Mercenaries) by name. However, it did say the two studios have “10 franchises under development, including six wholly owned games.”
Pending regulatory approval, EA’s takeover of BioWare/Pandemic will be final on January 2008. Both studios will become part of the EA Games division, run by Frank Gibeau, with Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka continuing to run BioWare and Andrew Goldman, Josh Resnick and Greg Borrud staying in charge of Pandemic. The two studios employ 800 people in Los Angeles, Austin, Edmonton, and Brisbane, Australia.
October 11, 2007
Kotaku is reporting that EA has purchased BioWare and Pandemic Studios, having offered some $620 million in cash to the Elevation Partners group to buy up VG Holding Corp. From the press release: “‘We are truly excited by John Riccitiello’s new vision for EA,’ said Ray Muzyka, Co-founder and CEO of BioWare Corp. ‘This vision is consistent with BioWare’s focus on crafting the highest quality story-driven games in the world. It will enable us to further the careers of the passionate, creative and hard working teams at BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin.’”.
October 11, 2007
AP - Electronic Arts Inc., the video game developer known for titles such as “Madden NFL” and “The Sims,” said Thursday it will pay up to $775 million in cash and stock to acquire two software studios from Elevation Partners.
October 11, 2007
On the Xbox 360 and Wii versions of Guitar Hero III all you have to do is turn on the machine, sync the guitar and get to playing. However the PS3 version requires a USB wireless dongle to connect. Red Octane has explained that they have used their own 2.4ghz wireless solution as Sony\’s tools only work for the Sixaxis controller at the moment and in order to make the PS3 version ship on-time Red Octane were essentially forced to create the dongle.
October 11, 2007
Online retailer DengekiOnline has put up the new DualShock 3 available in both black and cermaic white for a price of 5500 YEN (which converts to just under $47 USD at current exchange rates). Read more here.
October 11, 2007
It\’s all becoming a bit too common to see an Xbox 360 title score a perfect or near perfect score and Mass Effect seems to be another one to add to the list of BioShock, PGR 4, Halo 3 and COD 4. Game Informer has awarded Mass Effect an impressive 9.75 and state that the title sets a new benchmark for videogame storytelling with the game boasting a decent amount of longevity up to 30 hours.
October 11, 2007
SEGA has confirmed that Virtua Fighter 5 for the Xbox 360 has gone gold and is definitely on tarck to meets its scheduled release date of October 30th. Many fans of the series will be looking forward to going online version, something of which is not possible on the PS3 build.
October 11, 2007
NFL Street is dead, long live NFL Tour! Okay, so the official word from EA Sports isn’t that the Street football series is dead and buried, but we do know that the publisher is focused firmly on its new arcade pigskin game, one that is reminiscent of the old Street series but not without a few twists of its own. At a recent EA Sports press event, we got our first hands-on look at the game, and managed to score a few touchdowns and blow up a few QBs in the process.
In some ways, NFL Tour will feel familiar to Street vets. It’s still seven-on-seven arcade football, full of spectacular moves, (a bit toned down) wall-running jukes, and exaggerated character models. Consequently, what sets the game apart is the approach. First, from a presentation standpoint, this is an NFL game through and through. (Did you see the San Diego Chargers’ Shawne Merriman on the cover?) In the game’s single-player career mode, you’ll create a character from scratch and then send him across the country to take on all comers in an effort to gain the grandest of grand prizes: an NFL contract. Will you be able to upload your created character to next year’s Madden after you beat the single-player game? Producers said it’s something they are investigating at the moment, so expect more news on that in the coming weeks.
In this game, Drew Brees can actually complete passes.
As the first EA Sports arcade football game on next-generation consoles, NFL Tour will also be a step up visually from the Street series. Though we haven’t