Archive for February 26th, 2008
February 26, 2008
Not too long ago, an aspiring designer created the ultimate deathtraps for ninjas. These traps were not merely cunning mazes or enemy-filled rooms, but also a free downloadable game for the PC. The game was known as N, a stylishly short abbreviation for Ninja. SilverBirch Studios decided to bring the popular PC game to the Xbox 360 in the form of N+.
Each episode has five component levels.
In the game, you must guide a bell-bottom-clad ninja across chasms and through increasingly challenging mazes to activate a switch–or series of switches–to open an exit. By making use of the full repertoire of moves from just about every platformer known to humankind, you can find the little guy a way out of more than 250 encounters. Available moves include a wall jump, a wall slide, the ability to sprint up and down inclines, and even to bound off of walls and marshmallowy blocks suspended in the air. You don’t have a sword or a double-jump ability, but you do have plenty of control over your in-flight movement. This will help you land on narrow ledges, slip through tight passages, and reverse your momentum to avoid any number of diabolical devices. The creator of the various levels cunningly embedded deadly red mines, electrified blue orbs, and stationary units that shoot either homing missiles or lethally accurate projectiles.
As if the enemies and level designs were not challenging enough, you’ll also be playing against the clock. At the top of the screen is a gold bar that represents your remaining time to successfully navigate the treacherous levels. You can increase the time by picking up yellow blocks peppered around the playing field. Although these units of golden measure extend your play time, they may also shorten your life because they’re available only in hard-to-reach or danger-soaked areas. The time you accumulate carries over from map to map, in five-map sets.
This version updates the graphics to make the imagery cleaner, sharper, and more colorful, and it includes offline and online co-op modes, a trance-style soundtrack, and levels originally created by the N community. The good news is that the level-creation opportunities haven’t ended now that the game has made the move to a console. Within the downloaded package is a simple level maker. Aspiring Ninja challengers can craft subtle jumping puzzles, mine-filled mazes, and areas of overt enemy encounters. The only limit to your ability to create vexing arenas is your imagination. The tool is simple enough that even amateur ninja slayers will be able to compose the most demanding gauntlets for other players to download.
Unfortunately, the game suffers from a few drawbacks. Though the online play is enjoyable, the rockets that follow you tend to make an inexplicable jump either to where you are or back to the launcher. You’re sometimes blown up or otherwise terminated when you get near (but don’t actually touch) electrified mines. Similarly, when you’re playing online, the other players’ actions frequently seem to trip explosives that they in fact avoided. It’s a distraction when you’re intently focused on completing your portion of the challenge.
For those of you who are interested, N+ makes great use of the achievements system. Each achievement is sanely connected to your progress through each of the 50 episodes, as well as challenging online races and online survival modes. The one “secret” achievement even provides a satisfyingly amusing payoff once you unlock it, making the road to a full 200 points an enjoyable and challenging ride.
Whether or not you believe these environments are real pains or really great will depend upon your dedication to mastering the art of thumbstick ninjitsu.
If you haven’t already downloaded the free version on the PC, or if you have 800 Microsoft points burning a hole in your console, you owe it to yourself to download this game. Regardless of your jumping skill, platforming history, or dodging prowess, N+ is sure to leave you equally nonplussed and wanting more.
February 26, 2008
While the gaming industry is generally focused on the next big thing, there will always be a market for older games and nostalgia-laden trips down memory lane if the Wii Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade offerings like Discs of Tron and Tempest are any indication. The online store of retailer GameStop might be offering a heads up on the next big retro gaming releases, as the Web site is hosting product pages for Arkanoid on the DS and Space Invaders Extreme on the PlayStation Portable and DS.
Originally released in Japan last year, Arkanoid on the DS stays true to the block-breaking gameplay of its predecessors, but with several tweaks to the action. Players could control the game using the system’s D pad, touch screen, or a special paddle attachment that plugged into the DS’s Game Boy Advance cartridge port. The GameStop listing doesn’t mention whether or not the paddle attachment would be included with a US release of the game, but the $19.99 price would be unusually cheap for a software-and-hardware combo.
Already released in Japan, Space Invaders Extreme remixes the arcade classic shooter with boss battles, a new score multiplayer mechanic, and presentation elements reminiscent of recently popular rhythm games. The game was developed to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original 1978 arcade game’s release, and the Japanese DS version was compatible with the aforementioned Arkanoid paddle controller attachment.
Both games are listed on GameStop’s site as being published by Square Enix. A representative with the company had not returned If Its Games’s request for comment as of press time.
Please note, while retailer listings frequently jump the gun on publishers’ product announcements, they should not be taken as final confirmation of a game’s release date or existence; nor should the absence of a listing be considered as proof that a game isn’t coming to a given platform.
February 26, 2008
Wipeout Pulse is the follow-up to Wipeout Pure, an original PlayStation Portable launch game when the console arrived in 2005. Back then, Pure was one of the best reasons to pick up the handheld thanks to its superb graphics and excellent handling, and the game was amply supported post-release with a number of downloadable content packs. The sequel ups the ante with online multiplayer, a deeper and more varied career mode, and custom soundtracks. Although the gameplay remains mostly unchanged, and reflects a similar racing style as Pure and Wipeout 2097 (Wipeout XL in the US), the wealth of content make this a must-buy for fans of the series.
The initial races aren’t very difficult, but the later races present quite a challenge.
The main focus for the single-player game is the race campaign, which has 16 grids to complete, each with 8-16 individual challenges. These can vary between single races, tournaments, time trials, and zone challenges, all of which were featured in Pure. You progress by winning medals that open up new tracks, racing classes, and challenges, and you’ll eventually unlock new race types in the form of speed lap, head-to-head, and eliminator. With so many races, the career mode offers almost too much of a challenge, and it will probably take most players between 10 to 15 hours to play through everything. You don’t need to win the gold medal in every race to proceed, and you can even skip some events completely, but completing everything is a daunting task.
There are 12 new tracks, and the addition of magnetic strips has led to more extravagant track design, including loops and sheer drops. When it comes to the racing itself, Pulse is pretty much identical to Wipeout Pure and 2097 before it. The difficulty level is initially pitched perfectly, and after winning the first few medals, most players will find that it can take a couple of attempts to get on the podium for each event. Success can sometimes be a bit hit-and-miss; you might get lucky with weapons, and at other times the artificial-intelligence opponents will focus on taking each other out instead of you. But as you begin to learn the intricacies of each of the tracks, you soon find yourself adjusting your racing line to pick up the weapons, and even discovering some of the shortcuts. Whatever the level, Wipeout Pulse is an addictively punishing game that rewards those who really get into the zone while playing it, especially as the difficulty ramps up toward the end.
The soundtrack boasts the usual mix of electronic dance from established artists such as Aphex Twin and Mason. It’s all licensed and of a high quality, although as a whole it’s not quite as iconic a soundtrack as those featured in Wipeout 2097 and Pure. If anything, the game is a victim of timing, arriving long after the golden age of electronica ended. Thank goodness, then, that you can now select your own soundtrack using MP3 files that you have stored on the memory stick. Given that you can also take snapshots of the in-game action as JPEGs on the memory stick, Wipeout Pulse takes advantage of the majority of multimedia functionality that the PSP has to offer.
On the multiplayer side, you can race with up to seven other people locally as long as they also own the game, setting up single races or tournaments in any of the game’s racing classes. But the biggest selling point for Pulse is the online mode, and the PSP’s wireless-infrastructure connection lets you connect to a router and play with seven people across the globe. At the time of review, the lobbies were well populated and it was easy to get into a game within a few minutes. The performance was also fairly solid and suffered no slowdown, although ships would occasionally vanish from one position and appear in another. Furthermore, the game can connect directly to the Wipeout Pulse Web site to download new content (some of it free, such as custom-designed vehicle skins). There’s a feature to send a demo of the game wirelessly to other PSP owners if you want to give them a sample of the game, although all players must own a copy of the game to play competitively.
Pure was well supported by Sony, with new skins, tracks, and music being released on a frequent basis well after release. It looks as if Wipeout Pulse will see similar releases, the only downside being that it’s likely to be sold instead of given away for free. The first content pack is already available on the UK PlayStation Store (though not on its US counterpart) and features a new team and two new tracks plus their zone variants. It currently costs £3.49 (around $7), which isn’t expensive, but we certainly hope to see at least one free bonus pack for fans in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, if you want to create custom decals for your ships then the official wipeout-game.com site features an uncomplicated online paint program. It’s basic stuff, but working at a low resolution means that you can create designs relatively quickly and easily share them with other users. The site gives you five save slots per PlayStation Network account, and there’s already a burgeoning community of online modders responsible for over a thousand skins at the time of review.
Pulse lets you take your own screenshots mid-race.
More than just an enjoyable racing game, Wipeout Pulse is on the forefront of what the PSP has to offer technologically. With an online mode, custom soundtracks, and even a photo mode, there isn’t much else on the console that the developers have failed to take advantage of. True, the game itself isn’t a revolutionary change from the previous entry in the series, but if you’ve enjoyed Wipeout games in the past and have yet to play them in handheld form, then Wipeout Pulse is definitely worth checking out.
February 26, 2008
In a conference call today with investors, Electronic Arts’ senior management team made it abundantly clear that they thought that not only was their offer for Take-Two full and fair–despite the latter publisher’s protestations–but that now was the best time for both companies’ developers, shareholders, and customers.
Regarding the impending GTA IV release, EA CEO John Riccitiello said that he felt that at this stage the only things left to do in the release process for GTA IV were “mechanical,” given the nature of the run-up to such a big title. Advertising, retail space, and manufacturing across both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 would need to have been locked down already, according to Riccitiello, and as such he felt now was the perfect time to go public with EA’s offer.
“We delayed until we were certain we weren’t screwing with GTA,” Riccitiello explained in light of the back-and-forth between the two firms yesterday.
Timing was a recurring theme throughout the call as EA stressed that the total value of the acquisition, which formed the basis for its $26-a-share offer, was predicated on a rapid completion of the deal. Take 2’s directors, and Strauss Zelnick in particular, were urged to come to the table promptly in order to maximise value for their own shareholders.
EA was not slow to point out the problems it perceived in Take-Two’s management structure, and cast doubt on its long-term viability as a publisher due to “financial, legal, and operational issues,” making the point that in the current gaming market only the biggest fish would survive. Pointing out repeatedly that Take-Two lacked the resources to maximise the potential of its intellectual property, Riccitiello said that EA would provide the best possible home for Take-Two’s studios, suggesting his firm would do “a better job for them than anyone else.”
When asked about how development of recent titles at Take-Two might have differed had EA been in charge, and pressed on the subject of BioShock in particular, Riccitiello said: “I wouldn’t change a line of code; nor would I in GTA or Max Payne. What we’d do is sell more of it–very cost-efficiently.” EA also made it clear that it would try to make more money off Take-Two’s franchises by not only pushing them harder in smaller markets where Take-Two might not have been able to operate efficiently by itself–South America and Eastern Europe, for example–but also by providing the resources to bring titles to more platforms than would be possible given Take-Two’s comparatively limited resources.
EA also shrugged off talk of corporate culture issues hampering the effectiveness of the potential combined company going forward. The megapublisher’s label model was “in some way inspired by Rockstar,” according to Riccitiello, who went on to say that the cultural differences between EA and Take-Two were no greater than those among EA’s existing studios.
Concerns about the 2K Sports brands, and the damage that the acquisition might do to competition were generally skirted. When the matter was pressed EA made it clear that it felt there was still lots of competition in the sports space, with the likes of Wii Sports, the Tony Hawk Franchise, Virtua Tennis and Hot Shots Golf likely to keep EA Sports on its toes for some time.
February 26, 2008
It hasn’t even been released in Japan yet, but Sega has decided that Valkyrie of the Battlefield: Gallian Chronicles should get a shot at the European and American markets too.
Due for release in Japan on April 28, the PlayStation 3 game promises to combine real-time strategy elements with more traditional role-playing gameplay.
The game will get a name change for the west and become Valkyria Chronicles. The game is set in a fictitious continent that resembles a kind of 1930s Europe, which is divided into parts: one ruled by the Federation, and one ruled by the Empire. Now the Empire wants to expand its influence, and decides to invade neutral country Gallia.
Players step into the shoes of a character called Welkin from the Federation’s seventh platoon as they fight a series of battles in an attempt to quell the coming invasion.
Valkyria Chronicles will feature real-time controls, as players strategically move around the environment to attack enemies. The game will be released in both Europe and America this autumn.
February 26, 2008
We’re three weeks into season four of Lost on channel 7, and Ubisoft is on the verge of releasing Lost: Via Domus, which when translated into English loosely means “Lost: The Way Home.” Aside from all the characters in the TV show, the game introduces a new character, Elliot, to the nightmarish situation. Elliot inconveniently has amnesia and has forgotten who he is. Unfortunately for Elliot, none of the other survivors of the crash remember who he is, except for one, who wants to kill him. Elliot must set out to discover who he is and get his memories back. Lost: Via Domus comes out around Australia this Thursday.
This week sees the return of the SOCOM franchise with the release of SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike for the PlayStation Portable. Unlike previous games in the series, which have been third-person shooters, Tactical Strike takes you back a step and puts you in indirect control of the squad–think Full Spectrum Warrior. The single-player portion of the game is set in Panama, where you and your team are tasked with rescuing the kidnapped ambassador. Contrary to the name, the game also features a variety of special forces from around the world, including Australia’s 22nd Special Air Service Regiment. If single-player isn’t your thing, Tactical Strike also supports ad hoc and infrastructure multiplayer for up to four people. Armchair generals will be able to pick up SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike on the 28th.
Another big title coming out this week for the PSP is Patapon. The game mixes rhythm-based controls with side-scrolling real-time strategy to create a unique experience. The Patapons are in a spot of bother at the moment. Unfortunately, they’ve been forced out of their homeland by the Zigaton army, and their fate depends on you leading them through their hour of need. On top of that, you’re tasked with leading them to the mystical land of Earthend so that they can see a sacred item with their own eyes. What’s this sacred item called, you ask? Nothing other than “IT.” The unique control scheme sees you command your tribesmen by hitting specific button combinations in time to the drum beat. As you progress through the game, you unlock more unit types and abilities. Be sure to check out this quirky hybrid game when it comes out later this week.
This week’s new releases are listed below (list taken from retailer and publisher information–actual dates may vary).
February 28, 2008
FIFA Street 3 (PS3, 360, DS)
Lost: Via Domus (PS3, 360, PC)
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike (PSP)
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (PS3)
Patapon (PSP)
Need for Speed ProStreet (PSP)
Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition (PSP)
Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition (PSP)
The Sims 2: FreeTime (PC)
International Cue Club (PC)
Casper Scare School (PS2)
I SPY Fun House (DS)
International Tennis Pro (PC)
Iridium Runners (PS2)
They Came from the Skies (PC)
Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific U-Boat Missions (PC)
WWII: Battle Over The Pacific (PC)
Showtime Championship Boxing (DS)
Arctic Tale (Wii)
Godzilla Unleashed (PSP, Wii, DS)
Jumper: Griffin’s Story (PS2)
Asterix at the Olympic Games (PC, PS2, Wii, DS)
February 26, 2008
Ford and subsidiary Land Rover have a rich history when it comes to building off-road vehicles, which in Land Rover’s case dates back to 1948, when it unveiled its first commercial four-wheel-drive automobile. Over the years, both brands have developed numerous models for luxury, mass-market, and military use.
You’ll encounter a number of different terrain types that include desert, woodland, and snow.
Off Road (known as Ford Off Road in the US) is a midpriced, unabashed arcade racer developed by Razorworks, which is also responsible for the Ford Racing series. Eighteen vehicles will make an in-game appearance, with old and new favourites from both being the Ford and Land Rover marques.
The cars on offer fall into three categories that Razorworks has dubbed landmark, aspirational, and concept vehicles, including, among others, Land Rover’s Defender, the Range Rover Sport, the Ford F-Series, and concept vehicles that never made it to the production line, such as the SVX Concept and Range Stormer.
The game offers the usual array of modes, including split-screen. The career mode, which most gamers will take seven or so hours to complete, will offer 30 stages that are unlocked as you progress.
As you’d expect, off-road vehicles and terrain conditions aren’t conducive to the smoothest, fastest driving experience. Despite this, the cars handle reasonably, and though they’re not as responsive as supercars, they were definitely a step up from the shopping trolleys at your local supermarket. Given that this is an arcade racer, there weren’t radical differences in the handling of each car, but you will unlock cars with better acceleration, top speed, and handling as you progress, which will make a difference when trying to turn on a dime while hurtling through soft sand at 100mph.
Razorworks claims Off Road is the first licensed racing game to feature car damage that affects performance. Although you can’t completely total your car, the performance drop from damage could well become the difference between winning and losing. You’ll need to pick up repair pods–found at various places around the track–to get back on track, so to speak. In addition to standard races, Off Road encourages free exploring, and the expedition mode requires you to find a range of objects scattered throughout an open course rather than participate in races.
Off Road’s car models are accurate–as you’d expect from such a licensed title–and terrain that spans arid desert, damp forests, and snow-covered tundra looks fairly convincing. The game sounds OK at this stage, too. In addition to in-car sound, there are course-specific effects; for example, much to our amusement, one track we raced on had a coyote howling on cue each time we passed one part of the course.
Off Road features 18 licensed vehicles including the Range Stormer concept vehicle.
Due out on the PlayStation 2, PC, and PlayStation Portable in March and on Nintendo’s Wii in July, Off Road should appeal to Ford and Land Rover owners, off-road enthusiasts, and racing fans in general. However, its midrange price point means it might not have the mass appeal of some of the game’s own pricier vehicles.
-If Its Games
February 26, 2008
If Its Games’s Best Role-Playing Game of 2007, Persona 3, will be getting an extra 30 hours of content at the end of April. The extended game will be called Persona 3 FES, which, according to the game’s director, Katsura Hashino, comes from the word “festival.”
The Persona 3 FES disc will contain an “enhanced” version of the original game, plus a 30-hour episode where gamers play as Aigis. Aigis is described as “a humanoid weapon whose personality matrix allows her to use a Persona. She is no longer bound by her programming, but still has strong ties to her companions.” The new episode will feature an original story and 17 new music tracks.
The Atlus RPG sees a group of students studying in a Japanese high school during the day, where their actions count towards building up their “personas.” At night, they explore the tower Tartarus and use their personas to battle the sinister shadows that lurk within. The new game will continue on past the final battle that ended the original, and it will show “the aftermath of the final battle and the students’ struggle to find meaning in their new lives.”
The original Persona 3 game will get new personas and cutscenes, extra quests and events, a weapon synthesis system, a hard difficulty mode, and new outfits for the main characters.
Persona 3 FES will be released on the PlayStation 2 in the US on April 22, with a recommended retail price of $29.99 and a rating of M for Mature. It will be a stand-alone game, and it won’t require the original Persona 3 to play, although some parts of saved games can be carried over.
February 26, 2008
Between God of War: Chains of Olympus, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Army of Two, and Rainbow Six: Vegas, there are an unusual number of top-tier releases set for March this year. This last week of February is no slouch either, given that it sees the birth of multiple new franchises, including Frontlines: Fuel of War, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, and Patapon (Lack of Subtitle).
Though THQ canned the PlayStation 3 version of Frontlines, players can step into the near-future open-world shooter and fight for control of the world’s diminishing natural resources on the PC and the Xbox 360 this week. For shooter fans who like their fiction but not the near-futuristic setting of Frontlines, Spark Unlimited’s Turning Point: Fall of Liberty arrives on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Published by Codemasters, Turning Point is set in an alternate-history 1950s in which the Allies lost World War II and Nazis have invaded America.
The final notable new intellectual property of the week is Patapon for the PlayStation Portable. With a visual style reminiscent of LocoRoco, the game combines real-time strategy and rhythm-game conventions with a budget price tag of $19.99.
Beyond franchise-starters, this week sees a number of spin-offs as well. THQ brings its Destroy All Humans! franchise to the Wii with Big Willy Unleashed. A PlayStation 2 version had been planned, but the publisher announced its cancellation at the same time it killed the PS3 Frontlines. Meanwhile, TV megahit Lost gets an interactive spin-off, Lost: Via Domus, for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. On a similar titular note, Capcom’s Lost Planet: Extreme Condition finds its way to the PS3 this week, over a year after the game originally arrived on the Xbox 360.
For gamers who don’t feel like making the trek out to the store, Nintendo is bringing the Nintendo 64 game Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards as well as the TurboGrafx-16 shooter Psychosis to the Wii’s Virtual Console. Kirby will sell for the standard Nintendo 64 game rate of 1,000 Wii points ($10), whereas Psychosis will hit the usual TG-16 price point of 600 Wii points ($6). Meanwhile, Microsoft is releasing the Japanese arcade and Dreamcast top-down shooter Trigger Heart Exelica on the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft points ($10) this Wednesday.
This week’s new releases are listed below (list taken from retailer information–actual dates may vary).
FEBRUARY 25, 2008
Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed (Wii)
Frontlines: Fuel of War (Xbox 360, PC)
Bratz: Super Babyz (DS)
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None (Wii)
The Sims 2: FreeTime (PC)
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Wii VC)
Psychosis (Wii VC)
FEBRUARY 26, 2008
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (Xbox 360, PS3)
Patapon (PSP)
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (PS3)
Lost: Via Domus (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Bubble Bobble Double Shot (DS)
Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship (PSP)
Naruto: Ninja Destiny (DS)
Farm Vet (PC)
Bass Fishing (Wii)
Brain Assist (DS)
Disney Friends (DS)
Petz Wild Animals: Tigerz (DS)
Fantasy Aquarium (DS)
FEBRUARY 27, 2008
Triggerheart Exelica (Xbox 360)
Spitfire Heroes: Tales of the Royal Air Force (DS)
Stand-alone Guitar Hero controller (Wii, PS3)
FEBRUARY 28, 2008
Rhem 3: The Secret Library (PC)
FEBRUARY 29, 2008
Powerboat GT (PC)
February 26, 2008
Yesterday, EA decided to put the screws on Take-Two management by making public its erstwhile private $2 billion acquisition offer that would yield an at-the-time princely 64 percent premium to shareholders. Take-Two formerly rejected the proposal on February 19, saying the offer “substantially undervalues” its franchises, creative talent, and consumer loyalty. The publisher also called the proposal’s timing opportunistic due to the impending release of surefire hit Grand Theft Auto IV, reasons which have all been formally rebuffed by EA kingpin John Riccitiello. EA has also set up an official Web site to provide a FAQ and other updates on the deal.
Today, industry analysts continue to scratch their heads over why Take-Two’s board would turn the offer down, as well as question EA’s willingness to drop so much cash on the transitioning publisher. In a company update today, Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Wienkes said that despite popular belief that EA will soon enact a hostile takeover of Take-Two by buying up a majority of outstanding stocks, the publisher will at least raise its bid once more.
“Given all of the moving parts with respect to the assets that may or may not be included in any potential transaction, the relatively small impact to the aggregate offer for each $1 increment to the bid, we think it’s rational to expect a higher bid,” said Wienkes. EA’s initial offer, made in a private letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick on February 6 and formally rejected on February 15, offered shareholders a buyout offer of $25 per share. However, Wienkes also cautioned Take-Two with a carpe diem warning, saying “the more protracted this process becomes…the less desirable the target would become, in our view.”
In a note titled “Take-Two Declines EA’s Offer to Overpay,” Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson believes that even though EA isn’t afraid to reach deep into its pockets, the publisher is squandering its cash by offering so much for Take-Two. “Given that Take-Two’s business overlaps EA’s in many areas, the uncertainty in the future of the GTA developers, and Take-Two’s ongoing legal issues, we believe that EA is willing to pay too high of a price.”
To justify the purchase price, Wilson notes that GTAIV must live up to expectations. “For the acquisition to make any financial sense, it needs to be closed in time for EA to realize GTA profits. Without GTA, Take-Two is certainly not worth $2 billion and there is no certainty that the talent behind GTA will stay for the next installment.” Wilson also notes that knocking Take-Two out of the sports market would certainly be a boon for the Madden NFL publisher, but “eliminating a competitor in sports brings only a modest benefit.”
On the other side of the table, Wilson says that Take-Two shareholders should get behind EA’s takeover bid. “EA’s $26 offer is more than fair, in our view. [Earnings] of 19x in a GTA year is a significant premium to the historical trading range of second-tier publishers, especially given its struggle to achieve profitability. Given lackluster success outside of GTA, even under current management, the offer exceeds our expectations for TTWO over the next year.” Wilson also notes that there are few other publishers in a position to capitalize on what Take-Two can offer, and by dallying, Take-Two’s stock outlook has “turned negative since the potential for EA to walk away from its bid is far more significant than the potential upside from a higher bid.”
While Wilson feels Take-Two’s lack of action is cause for a stock downgrade from “Outperform” to “Sector Perform,” Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter upgraded his stock advisement from “Sell” to “Hold” in a research note this morning. Pachter, who last year outright dismissed speculation of EA offering to buyout Take-Two due to a perceived conflict in corporate culture, unreservedly redressed prior guidance.
“We were shocked and awed by the offer, and our Sell recommendation was wrong,” Pachter remarked. “After numerous rumors over the past several years surrounding an acquisition of Take-Two that have been dispelled, a bona fide serious offer has been made. We believe EA fully intends to complete this acquisition, and believe that Take-Two’s investors will decide that a sale is the best option for them.”
While Pachter laid out the bulk of his reaction to If Its Games yesterday, the verbose analyst lent further insight into the buyout offer today. Rationalizing the deal from Take-Two’s perspective, Pachter notes that the deal EA has extended is far better than they’d get from any other media company.
“In our view, the offer is more than adequate,” said Pachter. “We agree that Take-Two has several game franchises that have great potential, and acknowledge that its creative talent is as good as any in the industry. However, the company has failed to make a profit for over two years, and although its turnaround efforts are sincere, they have as yet to yield significant results. We believe that EA’s offer is significantly higher than the amount that would be paid by a major media company, and think that the company is uniquely positioned to derive synergies from a combination with Take-Two. Other prospective bidders are simply not in the same position to value Take-Two as is EA.”
Addressing the likelihood of overlapping products and redundancies created by the merger, Pachter believes some franchises will benefit, while others will invariably follow a more spaced-out release schedule. While Take-Two titles such as Civilization, BioShock, Max Payne, Bully, Manhunt, and Red Dead Revolver will see a bump from the superior marketing and distribution capabilities of EA, titles such as Burnout, Need for Speed, and Midnight Club would necessitate “a more leisurely release of all three franchises.”
Pachter also once again addressed the possibility of change-of-control clauses in top developers’ contracts. “We found it interesting that EA’s offer was not predicated on successfully retaining the Rockstar North studio personnel, nor upon renewing the contracts of Rockstar’s founders, Sam and Dan Houser. We believe that this negotiation will necessarily fall outside the terms of the acquisition, as it will likely entail either a significant increase in the compensation paid to the Housers and to Rockstar North, or will entail a separation agreement.”
Echoing the sentiments of other analysts, Pachter reiterates that EA is unlikely to tarry in its buyout bid. “We envision this deal playing out over the next few weeks. Although we think that Take-Two management will posture and seek to delay a deal, we think that EA management will make a ‘take it or leave it’ offer, and expect EA to lose patience in a month or so. Ultimately, we think that Take-Two shareholders will embrace a deal, as virtually all of them will profit immensely and immediately.”
As of the end of trading hours on Monday, Electronic Arts was trading down on the New York Stock Exchange by 5.2 percent to $47.14. Take-Two stockholders, on the other hand, have cause to rejoice, as the publisher’s stock has spiked an astounding 54.9 percent to close out the day at $26.89.
February 26, 2008
PC World - The video game maker wants to buy out one of its rivals, maker of the Grand Theft Auto titles.
February 26, 2008
Macworld.com - Take-Two Interactive Software, publishers of the popular Grand Theft Auto series of games, has received and rejected a $2 billion acquisition bid from Electronic Arts but left the door open to a possible acquisition later.
February 26, 2008
Reuters - Japan’s Sony Corp said on Monday Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, the game software development arm of Sony’s videogame division, will resign on February 29.
February 26, 2008
AP - Wall Street bolted higher Monday after Standard & Poor’s affirmed its ratings for Ambac Financial Group Inc. and MBIA Inc., raising hopes that troubled bond insurers will emerge from the credit market crisis on solid footing. The Dow Jones industrials rallied nearly 190 points.
February 26, 2008
Macworld.com - Microsoft will stop making external HD DVD drives for its Xbox 360 game console, but won’t say whether it will offer a Blu-ray Disc drive instead.