The Game Druid

It’s official: Activision Inc. and Vivendi Games are now defunct nomenclature. After shareholders handily signed off on the merger at a meeting yesterday, French megacorp Vivendi SA and Activision said today that they had completed the transaction to create Activision Blizzard. The newly formed company will retain Activision’s current headquarters in Santa Monica, California.

“We have created the world leader in online and console games with this transaction, and the combined strengths of the two businesses offer immense growth potential,” gushed Vivendi SA CEO Jean-Bernard Levy. “I am also very confident that, with the new leadership team in place, the new entity is perfectly positioned to take advantage of these rapidly developing markets across the globe.”

Former top Activision man and newly installed Activision Blizzard president and CEO Robert Kotick issued an equally glowing statement, vaunting the publisher’s prime position in the console and online PC space. “With more than 10.7 million subscribers on World of Warcraft, and with tens of millions of people playing Guitar Hero, Activision Blizzard’s games are transcending the traditional stereotypes and are more popular as a form of entertainment than ever before,” he said. “We look forward to building upon our brands to create value for our shareholders, customers, and consumers.”

With the merger now closed, Activision Blizzard is expected to surpass publishing kingpin Electronic Arts as the world’s most lucrative third-party game-software publisher. As per today’s announcement, the business combination brings together a number of top-selling franchises under one roof. Considering statistics from a variety of global stat-tracking organizations, those number-one ranked brands include Guitar Hero for family entertainment and music-based gaming, World of Warcraft in subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing games, Spider-Man in superhero games, Tony Hawk in the action sports genre, Cabela’s in sports hunting, and Call of Duty in first-person action.

As per the original terms of the deal first announced in December, Vivendi SA has contributed the entirety of its Vivendi Games subdivision–worth $8.1 billion–as well as $1.7 billion to acquire a 52 percent controlling stake in Activision Blizzard. The French megacorp will in the next few days attempt to expand its hold to a possible 68 percent through a $4 billion all-cash tender offer, made to current Activision shareholders at the agreed-upon price of $27.50 per share.

Although that buyout offer was a handsome premium on Activision’s approximately $21-per-share sticker price in December, it is unlikely that Vivendi will find many takers in the present. Activision’s stock has maintained a steady climb since the merger was initially announced, and as of press time today, the publisher’s stock was trading in excess of $32 on the NASDAQ exchange. Activision Blizzard will continue to operate as a publicly traded company on NASDAQ under the ATVI ticker symbol after the merger.

Surprised anyone? Not really I would say, becuase the game is SO FRIGGIN awesome!! It’s actually the feeling of being mmmm.. God like? that makes it so cool. Sure, you had tons of other games like black and white and civilization and stuff, but yeah, this gives you so much MORE!

Anyway, according to Voodoo Extreme, here’s the top ten list of games:

• 1. Spore Creature Creator - Electronic Arts
• 2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
• 3. Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures - Funcom/Eidos
• 4. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Blizzard
• 5. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard
• 6. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard
• 7. The Sims 2 FreeTime - Electronic Arts
• 8. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff - Electronic Arts
• 9. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision
• 10. Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures - LucasArts

Enjoi

The Game Druid

Rats - that reminds me to upload the Spore videos and finish the Sims 2 review

I’ve said this a million times, Wii IS next gen! Recently a Reuters report came out saying that the Wii out sould the PS3 despite its 700% increase in sales, in Japan though. In a piece headlined “Sony PS3 catching up to Wii in Japanese sales,” Reuters’ Tokyo branch covers the horse race, writing that the Wii “once again outsold Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 in Japan in June, but its lead is fading.” While technically accurate if referring to monthly sales – the Wii only outsold the PS3 by a margin of 1.7 to 1 last month, a dip from the 6 to 1 margin of the previous month – the bigger picture isn’t so clear.

so this is totally turning out to be 2 console race (sorry 360 ), anyway, i wonder whats gonna happen next, cuz I don’t see any game on the PS3 coming soon which will create a boom like MGS 4.. and no GT5 doesn’t count.

Well we have just downloaded the new firmware update 2.40 for the Sony PlayStation 3, and here are a few thoughts:

1) The friend’s category has been redesigned and has now been upped to support 100 (yes..big deal)

2) The long awaited “Trophy” feature has now been added, depending if the game supports this feature you can now “Collect Trophies” for that game. If you wish to see your friend’s trophies, go to their profile and to view your own go to “Game” the “Trophy Collection”.

3) In game chat has been given a major boost, by being able to exchange messages with friends and family during gameplay. This is achieved by pressing the “PS” button and using the functions from the “XMB” (XrossMediaBar), you can also search the Internet from the XMB screen via a google bar which is now incorporated. Although the search results take a little time to show up, but that is also due to the internet problems I’ve been having over the last 2 days.

Anyway to cap it off, here’s some more dope…The following first-party games are also slated to offer Trophy support:

• BUZZ! Quiz TV
• LittleBigPlanet
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift
• NBA 09 - PS3
• PAIN*
• PixelJunk Eden
• Resistance 2
• SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation
• Warhawk*

*Requires a game update to be downloaded and installed.

Cheers

The Game Druid

To the surprise of no one, Google is now offering software that streams video, photos, and music from your PC to your television.

“In the old days, we used to watch a simple device called a television. Nowadays, all the stuff worth watching and listening to tends to be stored on or accessed through a computer,” writes software engineer David Garcia on the Google Desktop blog. “To help remedy this, we are pleased to release the Google Media Server.”

The Google Media Server is a free Windows app that sends media files to your TV via the Playstation 3 and other Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) devices. It works in tandem with Google Desktop, the desktop search tool that also runs various and sundry software widgets known as Google Gadgets.

With help from the Google Media Server, your TV can access videos, music, and photos stored on your PC, and naturally, it can tap straight into YouTube, the video-sharing site where Google hopes to serve an enormous number of advertisements.

Google is already streaming YouTube videos into living room via third-party devices like Apple TV and HP’s Media Smart TV. And now it’s reaching out for the Playstation 3 crowd.

But this is just a Google beta. And it may go nowhere. Judging from the Google Media Server discussion forums, the new app is hardly ready for prime time.

Deal means Havok Physics will be used to bring realistic motion to several Wii™ titles from 2K

Havok, has agreed to a licensing agreement with California based game developer 2K Games. Under the terms of the deal, 2K Games will use Havok’s pioneering physics engines to develop several upcoming titles which will be available on the Wii home video game system from Nintendo.

2K will initially use the industry leading Havok Physics engine to support its standards of realism and interactivity in Carnival Games: Mini-Golf™, the sequel to the popular Wii title Carnival Games™, which has sold over 1.5 million units worldwide since its release last year. Havok technology will also be used in other yet-to-be-named titles for the Wii from 2K. David O’Meara, Managing Director of Havok, explains how Havok’s physic engines will improve interactivity in the hotly anticipated Carnival Games: Mini-Golf title. “Havok physics engines allow game developers to realistically depict motion and the effects the game character has on their environment. Havok technology communicates with physical elements in the game and loads them with intelligence, allowing them to react to the players’ actions in a realistic way. Of course, anyone who has used the Wii will recognise how important accurate movement is for the players’ enjoyment of the game. Fans of Carnival Games: Mini-Golf won’t be disappointed with the final results!”

Havok’s physics software is featured in over 200 triple A games available on store shelves today. With well over 90 games currently in development for release this year, use of Havok’s ubiquitous software is up 100% for the same period last year. Best-selling titles featuring Havok physics include Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed, Guitar Hero III, BioShock, World in Conflict, Half Life 2: The Orange Box and Heavenly Sword.

Blockbuster movies which have employed Havok technology to drive special effects include Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 10000 BC, X-Men: The Last Stand, Poseidon, The Matrix, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

At a glittering ceremony in Las Vegas earlier this year, Havok was honored with an award from the National Academy of Television, Arts & Sciences for their work on their pioneering physics engines which makes games more realistic than ever before. The company uses a combination of next generation physics, animation and tools to reach new standards of realism and interactivity in gaming technology and essentially turn their customers’ creative aspirations into technical realities.

Big-ticket professional gaming might soon be a reality in India like in the rest of the world. Vixture, the biggest gaming event to be ever held in India, was announced today at a press briefing in Mumbai.

Vixture is being brought forth by Zero Friction and Electronic Arts (EA), and is also supported by MTV. It will be a PC and multi-console gaming championship with prize money totaling Rs 50 lakhs, which is by far the biggest prize money in a gaming championship. The three-day finals will be held in Mumbai from June 13-15, 2008. Sixty-four teams will participate in the finals after elimination rounds spanning the entire country. Preliminaries will be held in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune from May 15-30, 2008. Crysis (PC), NFS Pro Street (Xbox 360), Cricket 07 (PS2), Fifa 08 (Xbox 360), and Fight Night Round 3 (PS3) will be the games featured in the competition. Crysis alone will be five-on-five while the rest will be single-player games.

The top team will romp home with a cash prize of Rs 20 lakhs while the runners-up team will get Rs 10 lakhs. The top individuals in each of the five games on offer will win Rs 4 lakhs each. www.vixture.com is still under construction but gamers may register there May 1st onwards, or get in touch with the organizers at 022 64515076. The entry fee for the competition is Rs 250 per person.

This has to be the most jaw-dropping NES mod ever … putting a whole system-on-a-chip NES console clone into an original game cartridge. Talk about how to demonstrate the advances in shrinking electronics over the years! Modder Kotomi took an original Super Mario Brothers cartridge, gutted it and somehow squeezed in all the circuitry, chips, power switches, twin joystick ports and composite video and stereo audio sockets. And it even looks pretty neat. If I was wearing a hat, I’d tip it in Kotomi’s direction.