meh... wouldn't be surprising considering all the other mergers and takeovers

big jock knew

well they both suck onlything Midway has going for them is Epic

It would be good for Eidos. Midway is going to do just fine. They seem like they are trying to move toward a niche of extreme games of some sort, what with UT3 and all and whatever else they have lined up. When DeusEx3 bombs hopefully Midway could step in and make DX4 awesome...

Eidos for the most part would benefit the most out of the merger I think.

I say just do it

psn id: gingo.. i think this would be an excellent merger both come out with their fair share of great games and if they put their minds together i'm sure they could make a classic

Both developers are awesome,so either way,we'll be getting a hallelajah of a gaming experience.

Hmmm.. It's dangerous to merge things... Hmmm.. A coming Eiway? Hmm..

It is very likely to go through as most of the other publishers are not interested in buying Eidos.

Midway is loosing money and has little property. Eidos is fading fast - two crap companies will merge to make one crap company. Think of  the confusion, and internal politics and staff that are nervous & looking for jobs elsewhere.... So why do this? - Viacom owner Sumner Redstone (and Midways largest shareholder ) who is sick to death of the little pain in the assets has kicked the CEO out and sent in his daughter Sharon Redstone to pull the two companies together and make them work else shut em down. At the end of 2008 we should know the plan... Remember Sumner is the face of National Amusements which owns MTV Games and spent $500 million building it up. This has nothing to do with crappy Midway or diseased Eidos - its to do with some aim of National Amusements....

Meanwhile Activision & Vivendi are merging. Both had the good sense to back the PC platform over 2005, 6 & 7 and both have hit the jackpot as a result. The merged entity is valued at $18 Billion and is being promoted as the worlds most profitable software company. In software revenues the big guy is some four time larger than Sony and more than a match for EA. First purchase after the mariage will be Recoil games...

Meanwhile another $5 million credit was extended to Infograms' Atari business as the Atari US NASDAQ listing colapses and the company becomes desperate to stay alive with only it's Dragonball license in hand... Atari Inc is scheduled to impact at T-Minus 76 days and counting as they delist on March 20. Odds are that the EU and Australian distribution operations of Atari (seperate ownership structures) will be picked up at the crash site by London based BlueBay (who increased its shareholding in Infogrames to 25% two days ago) These small but tasty assets will be folded into the Infogrames business in return for control of the company. Rumor is BluBay is packaging SW Entertainment publishing assets to be sold to a mystery  movie studio interested in moving into the video games industry. The studio  that is "Dreaming"  of having games in the "works" ASAP and would sell its left "Spleen-burg" for a cheap entry price...is quietly trying to build a presence. Wonder who it might be???

Meanwhile the worlds 5th biggest publisher Ubisoft is aiming for #1 position by going forward with the planed $300 million expansion of dev staff numbers rather than acquire new studio's. The company's CEO has moved to expand their PC first then Xbox 360 ports over 2008/2009 and throw 50% of all new funding resources behind Nintendo Wii & DS development as its plan for profit growth over the next three years. Ubisoft is profitable and can handle the growth out of profit. Its only thorn is the shareholding EA has built up. Hopefuly when their very chummy good freinds at Microsoft buys EA they can buy the stake back...

Meanwhile Take2 (the 6th largest video game business) releases figures showing a wopping 10.9% fall in revenue over 2007 calander year so its no surprise there could be some negative sentiment for their share price. Their shares have been subject to rather heavy put and call activity. This activity has added 77% to its share price since its June 2006 low of $10.10 meaning it has become a risky bet for shareholders as GTA 4 has been well & truly factored in (probably over sold) and the recent results show there's little else in the tank... Remember Take 2 Interactive made headlines in 2007 when shareholders overthrew the company's board of directors. Former BMG Entertainment CEO Strauss Zelnick, who now services temporarily as Take Two's chairman, denies it, but analysts are betting Take 2 is now a lame duck and gets eaten by either EA or THQ before the year is out...

Meanwhile...speaking of THQ anyone imagine that THQ could have sold 35 million copies of games based on Pixar (now Disney) films?  Well Disney sure does and thinks that THQ is a great way to build their software business - once THQ gets around the royalty headache being persued in the courts by World Wrestling Entertainment, the company is regarded by most as a safe acquisition by the Disney company. No one knows this better that THQ themselves with 32% growth last year in an industry averaging less than 5%, THQ is a great target for Disney and in negotiating Disney wants to beat down THQ asking price by playing hardball over licenses (eg: ToyStory 3). Remember 80% of THQ revenue comes from such licenses so to help their negotiating power the company quietly hired acquisition specialist and forme Koch Media exec Mr Marko Hein as of two weeks ago. Way to go THQ !!! My guess is a few Euro developers and choice licenses are in their sites (my bet is Codemasters & nDreams).  Let's all keep an eye on the share register and see what names pop up over the coming months...

Meanwhile the biggest rumor in gaming is.....Google. Yes a few well known names walked into offices leased by Google and started working. They are actively hunting for programers with considerable gaming experience. At the same time a well known and very rich & talented CEO of a successful dev & publisher has been visiting Google with his lawyers & accountants... Oh who would have guessed Google was moving into online gaming... Yes with so much "steam" building in their business who could put a Valve in that one? The other developer getting cheques is in Osaka, Japan and the famous names have made games such as Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil & Okami - No its not Capcom - but it sounds like a "Platinum" idea to me!

Now that just leaves the ooh so nice rumor about Konami... That ones for next week....