Of course the current EA Sports boss does! Just because he worked for Microsoft doesn't mean he actually hates Sony's game machine. Why would he? Says Moore:

I absolutely love the PlayStation.

You know what: He's a businessman, not some insane fanboy. He'll "love" whoever keeps him employed and "hate" whoever threatens to keep him out of a job. No surprises here.
Peter Moore Talks [PSU via Next-Gen] [Pic]

Activision Says Relax! No Industry Slowdown Coming

The video-game market fundamentals have never been stronger. There's no evidence that this growth will slow... A lot of this growth is coming from consumers who are experiencing video games for the first time.

Formula 1 Gets Greedy, Sony Ditches License

Why There's No GTA IV In India

Japan's Richest Man Is...Yes, Hiroshi Yamauchi

You want a single man's fortunes by which you can gauge the current success of Nintendo? Look no further than former chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi, who in the past three years has gone from being Japan's 11th-richest man, to it's 3rd-richest man, to now it's richest man. That's what happens when you own mountains of Nintendo stock, and said stock goes through the roof. While there's been no reports of Yamauchi smashing any marble tables over the news, he is expected to spend at least some of his winnings on a new leather face.

Japan's 40 Richest [Forbes]

SNK Doesn't "Pride Itself In Customer Service" [Updated]

Internet person Chris Bradshaw, aka Gilgamesh, owner of Kikouken.com and regular contributor to CCAcomics.com, bought The King of Fighters XI and SNK vs Capcom Card Fighter DS at his local Best Buy. The Card Fighter game has a fatal glitch that locks up the game. Chris tried to contact the SNK Playmore USA sales department, but never got a response. He sent emails to every SNK address he could find. Still, no reply. Then! He started dialing SNK's office, entering every imaginable extension. Says Chris: "Eventually I did get I touch with someone who gave me the information I needed, but not before I left a message on SNK USA President Ben Herman's machine. I can't tell you what I said verbatim, however I did tell him about how I have been attempting to contact someone at his office for almost two months now because I need to return a defective game (I didn't specify which game because I didn't think it mattered, a warrenty is a warrenty) and that I was now dialing every number I could find and making myself as big of a pain in the ass as possible (and yes, I did use those words) until someone finally talked to me." Hit the jump for Herman's reply:

Ian Bogost on Advertising in Games

Ok, so a billboard in a driving game may make sense — but what about games where it doesn't make sense? As Ian Bogost points out, "Would an orc order pizza? Does a dystopian planet from the future need a pacer drink?":

This untapped potential of games upsets the very foundation of advertising as we know it. Instead of surrounding us with images that reflect lives unlived, games can allow us to try out hypothetical lives with new products, people and ideas. To realise this potential, advertisers of both goods and viewpoints must stop blindly inserting their billboards into games or creating feeble copies of the cornerstones of videogame pop culture. Instead, they must start simulating the products, public policy positions, charitable interventions and other worldly ideas in new games - games worthy of our attention.

I'm not sure I want to see advergames all over the place, but if we have to put up with in-game advertising, a little more sophistication would be welcomed.

Advertisers have yet to unlock the power of play [The Guardian]

China's Online Gaming Market Up 71%, Hits $1.7 Billion

Just about everything in the Chinese gaming market is on the rise, according to a new report by Niko Partners: with the exception of internet cafés (numbers are down thanks to a ban on issuing new licenses), everything is growing by leaps and bounds. The online market jumped 71% in the past year, which is no great surprise, but the grey market success of consoles may be:

Console game sales were up 75 percent on a per-unit basis to 2.48 million, but Hanson noted that due to a Chinese console ban in place since 2000, the entire segment persists through the gray market ....

"The big boom this year came from the easier availability of the new next-gen consoles ...."

She pointed to PlayStation 2 as being more popular than its successor, on the strength of its affordability, game library, and backwards compatibility, with Wii seeing popularity for similar reasons. Between PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Hanson claimed Xbox 360 is more popular in China for its price point and library.

Other details and explanations can be found in a nice wrap up over at Gamasutra.

Niko's Hanson On Chinese Game Biz Growth [Gamasutra]

Rock Band Sells 3 Million Games, 10 Million Songs

Rock Band Drives Viacom Profits Skyward

Good news! The US economy is going in the toilet, and we may get cheaper game consoles because of it!! Says Activision CEO Bobby "Robert" Kotick:

With the rising costs of fuel and food and housing, it is more difficult to go out and buy a $399 console, and I think it's going to put pressure on the console manufacturers to reduce their prices.

Kotick is a regular ol' quote machine! Opinions? He's got 'em.
Game Console Prices May Be Cut [Reuters]

Atari, Infogrames To Get Merge On

Can't say we didn't see this one coming. Infogrames, already the majority shareholder in the struggling Atari—the company recently delisted from the NASDAQ stock exchange—will soon "acquire the remaining outstanding equity interests of Atari." Atari will then become a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames, something both parties agree (at least in the press release) is good news for the financially underperforming publisher of Dragon Ball Z, Godzilla and Alone in the Dark games.

Infogrames has also agreed to spot Atari $20 million to keep them operationally afloat. You know what that means, Atari employees? Bagel Mondays are back!

Full release after this.

Valve Asked Microsoft To Build Steam (Microsoft Said "No, Thanks")

You know, we went around to Yahoo, Microsoft...and anybody who seemed like a likely candidate to build something like Steam.

Activision Boss Says EA Is The Soul-Stealing Opposite Of Activision

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, confirms in an interview with Portfolio what we've suspected for years—Electronic Arts runs on the power of human souls! Maybe we're reading it wrong, but Kotick definitely said that EA "did a very good job of taking the soul out of a lot of the studios it acquired." Hey, even EA boss John Riccitiello kind of agrees, pointing out at DICE this year that older acquisitions like Bullfrog, Origin and Westwood were examples of the publisher blowing it and that taking away developer autonomy is "a profound mistake."

Kotick says the soul-harvesting machine doesn't fly at Activision, which has "built a model that celebrates entrepreneurial, opportunistic, independent values" and a new Tony Hawk game every fucking year. And they have free bagels on Mondays!

Game Boy [Portfolio via Develop]

PS3 Profitable By August? Who Knows!

Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom Closing, Fans Hysterical

Once upon a time, Disney had this virtual world called (creatively enough) Virtual Magic Kingdom:

As with Habbo Hotel, Virtual Magic Kingdom was developed by Finnish studio Sulake and shared many similarities with the social networking site. Players with registered accounts are able to decorate their personal rooms, earn and spend in-game credits, and participate in a variety of online events and activities with their customized avatars, all in a "safe, non-threatening environment."

Disney Closes Gates To Virtual Magic Kingdom [Worlds In Motion]

EA Extends Take-Two Tender Offer

Following last night's Take-Two shareholder meeting, which Leigh was kind enough to cover, Electronic Arts has announced that they are extending the deadline on their tender offer to May 16th, 2008. The offer was originally extended from its original April 11th deadline to today in response to Take-Two's rescheduling of the annual shareholder meeting.

Also, as a result of Take-Two issuing additional stock following the approval of the company's incentive stock plan, the price per share EA is offering has dropped to $25.74 from $26.

EA reveals that as of 5PM yesterday, 6,423,787 shares of Take-Two common stock had been tendered in and not withdrawn from the offer.

For more on how all this works, be sure to check out Leigh's feature on the takeover.

FTC Issues EA Second Anti-Competition Inquiry

While EA believes that its proposed transaction with Take-Two would not be anti-competitive, the FTC has not yet reached any conclusions regarding the proposed acquisition and has indicated that it needs further information and additional time to conduct its review.