"We are thrilled to be joining forces with SouthPeak to continue to bring great original titles from independent developers to market with a stronger sales and distribution reach,” said Mike Wilson, CEO of Gamecock. “We have followed each other's progress closely over the last two years, and combining our team with theirs results in a very strong and well-rounded force in the market."

The feverish coupling should have no effect on Gamecock's upcoming titles, with Legendary and Mushroom men still slated for release this quarter. Phew, I need a cigarette.

SouthPeak Interactive Corporation Acquires Gamecock Media Group

MIDLOTHIAN, Va.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—SouthPeak Interactive Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: SOPK; SOPKU; SOPKW; SOPKZ), one of the fastest growing videogame publishers, today announced the acquisition of Austin-based Gamecock Media Group.

Commenting on the acquisition, Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak, stated, “Gamecock brings us a solid slate of upcoming titles, including Legendary, Mushroom Men and Velvet Assassin and supports our strategy of working with independent developers. We are excited to give the Gamecock titles a bigger platform to succeed.”

"We are thrilled to be joining forces with SouthPeak to continue to bring great original titles from independent developers to market with a stronger sales and distribution reach,” said Mike Wilson, CEO of Gamecock. “We have followed each other's progress closely over the last two years, and combining our team with theirs results in a very strong and well-rounded force in the market."

SouthPeak expects to ship Legendary and Mushroom Men in the current quarter.

"From the moment I started working with Donald Mustard and his team at Chair, I knew that these were the guys I wanted to do the first Ender's Game video game," said Card. "It's not enough to slap the Ender's Game name on just any game - it has to be exciting, memorable, and endlessly replayable. Chair shares my understanding of this and I am looking forward to working with them to ensure the game is as authentically Enderish as possible."

For those of you not familiar with the book, Ender's Game is the story of a young boy named Ender Wiggin, recruited along with other children as potential military commanders in the third and possibly final invasion of Earth by the insectoid 'buggers'. It is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in science fiction, but for those of you who have no plans to ever raise the book to your eyes, I will tell you how the engaging novel ends:

SPOILER ALERT!

Read the damn book already.

Chair plans on releasing titles across all viable platforms, with the earliest games being downloadable titles for an as-of-yet unannounced platform. As with all things Chair, the game will be crafted using Unreal Engine 3. It's also worth noting that the games will not be tied to the upcoming film, currently in production at Paramount, instead focusing on the 'virtual' Battle Room sequences from the novel where the meat of the action takes place.

Having interviewed both Donald and Geremy back in November for their Xbox Live Arcade title Undertow, I can safely say that there is no other team I could see working on an Ender's Game title. Commence geeking out completely in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... now.

Sci Fi Classic 'Ender's Game' To Be Powered by Unreal Engine 3 [WRAL.com]

Intel To Acquire Havok

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 14, 2007 Intel Corporation today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Havok Inc., the leading provider of interactive software and services used by digital media creators in the game and movie industries. Havok will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel.

The acquisition will enable developers in the digital animation and game communities to take advantage of Intel's innovation and technology leadership in the creation of digital media.

"Havok is a proven leader in physics technology for gaming and digital content, and will become a key element of Intel's visual computing and graphics efforts," said Renee J. James, vice president and general manager of Intel's Software and Solutions Group. "Havok will operate its business as usual, which will allow them to continue developing products that are offered across all platforms in the industry."

Havok's modular suite of software development tools is used by game and digital animation creators to build realistic video games for all types of hardware and digitally animated movies. The company's combination of superior technology and dedication to customers has led to its technology being used in more than 150 of the world's best-known game titles, including "BioShock," "Stranglehold," "Halo 2," "Half Life 2," "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion," "Crackdown," "Lost Planet: Extreme Condition," "MotorStorm" and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." In addition, Havok products have been used to create special effects in movies such as "Poseidon," "The Matrix," "Troy," "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

"This is a great fit for Havok products, customers and employees," said Havok CEO David O'Meara. "Intel's scale of technology investment and customer reach enable Havok with opportunities to grow more quickly into new market segments with new products than we could have done organically. We believe the winning combination is Havok's technology and customer know-how with Intel's scale. I am excited to be part of this next phase of Havok's growth."

Havok was founded in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland, and has offices in San Francisco, San Antonio, Stockholm, Calcutta, Munich and Tokyo. The company will be a wholly owned Intel subsidiary and continue to operate as an independent business working with its customers in developing digital media content. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.