Five Publishers Drop Out of E3 This Year, Some Blame ESA President

By: Brian Crecente and Leigh Alexander

Rumored developer displeasure with Entertainment Software Association president Mike Gallagher may be partially to blame for nearly half a dozen member publishers dropping out of this year's E3 conference, Kotaku has learned.

This morning we broke the news that not only are Vivendi and Activision not attending this year's E3 they've both decided to drop out of the association all together. We've since learned that NCSoft, Her Interactive and id Software have all decided not to attend this year's show, though they are all remaining members of the association.

Only NCSoft had returned calls about the decision as of press time, saying that their decision to not attend E3 this year, the first time they won't in the company's history, was due to the development cycle of their games and in no way reflects on the ESA or it's leadership.

But several industry sources who wish to remain anonymous say Gallagher is in part to blame for issues surrounding this year's E3.

EA CCO Bing Gordon Departs For "All-New Round Of Invention"

Ten-year Electronic Arts chief creative officer William "Bing" Gordon is leaving the company to join California venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer, the firm announced today.

Newsweek's N'Gai Croal conducted an extensive interview about Gordon's decision to leave EA for the position of partner at Kleiner, beginning in June. In addition to being on comfortable terms with the partners at Kleiner, Gordon explained to Croal that the gaming youth and emerging trends helped inspire his decision:

"Being on campus with young people in videogame classes; seeing what they're interested in; seeing what's going on with the Internet turning into new kinds of platforms, from iPhone to Facebook and Amazon Web Services—I've gotten fired up about an all-new ride, an all-new round of invention that's coming," he says. "Kind of as part hobby, part work, I started diving into it. I realized that I really, really, really wanted to be in the middle of that.

It's worth noting that Gordon was one of EA's earliest employees, and that Kleiner was one of the first investors in the company during Trip Hawkins' startup days back in 1982. Full announcement from Kleiner follows the jump.

Just the FAQs: Departing EA Chief Creative Officer Tells Level Up 'After Twenty-Five Years at EA, I'm Ready to be a Forty-Year Old' [Level Up]

Take 2 Urges Employee Calm, Promises Cash If EAten

The Take-Two Letters: EA Rejected

EA CEO/ Take-Two Chairman Talk Take Over Bid

I just got off the phone with Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello who called to talk about the back-and-forth going on right now between Take-Two and EA over Riccitiello's multi-billion dollar offer for the company.

I also, coincidentally, received Take-Two's comments on the whole, now-public, affair while on the phone with Riccitello. While the two seem to match up on the basic facts, their final analysis don't.

EA Makes Offer to Buy Take 2

Electronic Arts just called me to let me know that they are making a bid to acquire Take-Two Interactive in an all-cash merger of about $2 billion.

The offer set Take-Two's stock at $26 per a share, about 64 percent over the company's closing stock price prior to the company's Feb. 15 offer.

Take-Two's board rejected the offer, leading Electronic Arts to make their offer public to the company's shareholders.

In the letter, attached in the jump, EA CEO John Riccitiello tells Take-Two's Stauss Zelnick that the buy-out would help both the company and its stock holders:

Our all-cash proposal is a unique opportunity for Take-Two shareholders to realize immediate value at a substantial premium, while creating long-term value for EA shareholders. Take-Two's game designers would also benefit from EA's financial resources, stable, game-focused management team, and strong global publishing capabilities. ... There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the same high premium we are offering today.

Specifically, the letter mentions that EA could really help out with the launch of GTA IV. Hit the jump for the full letter and check back later to read our interview with Riccitiello.

Updates:
EA CEO/ Take-Two Chairman Talk Take Over Bid
The Take-Two Letters: EA Rejected
EA or Not EA: The Take Two Question

Microsoft Cuts Indie Royalties in Half

News of Microsoft's democratization of indie game development was overshadowed this week by an increasing discontent among established indie developers that the company was halving the royalties paid to them for future Xbox Live Arcade projects, several well-informed sources told Kotaku.

Several developers directly affected by the cut told Kotaku that the once generous royalty share of 70 percent given to them by the company was within the past few months cut down to 35 percent.

The move, some believe, may be tied to Microsoft's future reliance on the recently announced initiative to deliver games created using the company's XNA software package to Xbox Live users for a still undisclosed price.

At least one developer I spoke with said they were considering moving over to Sony and its Playstation Network in light of the cuts.

Microsoft has been contacted for comment, but has not yet replied. We'll make sure to update as soon as we hear word.

Update: Microsoft has responded, and you can see what they have to say here.

LucasArts president Jim Ward surprised the developer on Monday with news that he was leaving the company he's been with for nearly ten years.

In a prepared statement sent to Kotaku shortly after we broke the news of his departure, Ward sang the praises of a game development company he says he's helped reboot.

"I am so proud of all people and the work we've done together at LucasArts over the last four years," he wrote. "It's been an incredible experience. Together we've rebooted the company and set LucasArts on a path to even greater success. This is a fantastic team and they are positioned for their best year ever."

Gamecock Head Tears Into John Romero, It's Getting Ugly

It would seem that the ghost of Ion Storm hasn't quite faded into the night, as two of its more prominent employees, John "Suck It Down" Romero, also formerly of id, and Mike Wilson, now at Gamecock, are engaged in a nasty war of words. Romero posted on his personal blog this week that Wilson was up to his usual "jackass stunts" and recalled his former co-worker's time at Gathering of Developers/GodGames "where he pretty much just partied all the time and after the whole thing got reined in by Take 2 he went underground for a while, waiting for his next victim/investor so he could go hogwild all over again."

In the same post, Romero also placed part of the blame on Wilson for the laughable "John Romero's About To Make You His Bitch" print ads that ran prior to the release of the ill-fated shooter Daikatana.

Wilson responds in an open letter to Romero, sent to Kotaku, that he will "not allow you to rewrite the history of it all, more to your liking and to my public detriment, and I will in no way take the rap for what you did (or didn't do) with your dream company", going on to defend his character and refute certain claims.

It gets particularly nasty near the end of the letter, when Wilson says to Romero "your unparalleled work ethic and strong character has [...] left only a bloody trail of ex-wives, fatherless kids, and ill advised breast implants strewn across this fair nation." Insert stunned silence here, then continue for the full "Dear John" letter.

Nintendo of America seems to be getting their new Bay Area office up to staff. Today the company announced that they appointed two sales and marketing execs to their Redwood City offices.

Denise Kaigler will be Nintendo of America's new vice president of marketing and corporate affairs, a position formerly held by Perrin Kaplan, while Bill Van Zyll will be the new director and general manager of Latin America.

"Denise and Bill bring a wealth of branding and marketing experience to our team," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Their expertise will help us keep Nintendo's momentum going strong throughout 2008 and beyond."

Hit the jump for the run down of Kaigler and Van Zyll's background.

Take-Two: College Hoops Canceled

Responding to rumors we broke earlier today that College Hoops 2K9 has been canceled due to a breakdown in negotiations with the license holders for collegiate basketball, 2K Sports parent company Take-Two had this to say to Kotaku:

2K Sports has decided not to continue negotiations with the CLC for the license for its top-rated College Hoops franchise, which would have been released next in November 2008. We are committed to providing fans with high-quality, critically-acclaimed sports games, but given our disciplined approach to the business, we do not believe the current discussions would result in an acceptable outcome.

I followed up with Take-Two to try and get more details and while the declined to talk about any roll EA might have had in the break-down, they did confirm that College Hoops 2K9 has indeed been canceled.

No word still from The Collegiate Licensing Company or Electronic Arts, but we'll keep you posted.

Rumor: 2K9 College Hoops Canned, EA Seeks NCAA Deal [Kotaku]

The Santa Monica E3 is dead, long live the Los Angeles E3... again? Not quite.

The Entertainment Software Association today announced that the E3 Media & Business Summit will be returning to the spacious digs of the Los Angeles Convention Center for next year's event which will run from July 15 through July 17. But that doesn't mean that the new E3 is returning to its old ways.

'We are very much not going back to the old E3," Rich Taylor, senior vice president of communications and research for the ESA, told me in an interview. "I think we are all on the same page for the industry on what we want those days in July to be about."

"This is the new E3, new and improved."

In many ways, many, many ways eBay is an albatross around the necks' of gamers. This is most evident around the holidays when the demand for consoles and games goes through the roof.

Over the weekend there appeared to be another sell out of Wii consoles. On Friday, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime announced that seven retailers-Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us and Circuit City- would be throwing a lot of Wii consoles out on their shelves over the weekend to try and sate the appetite of games and their families.

But judging by the obvious spike in eBay listings of Wii consoles, I think it's fair to say the only thing sated was greed. From 9 a.m. Eastern Sunday to 9 p.m. Eastern Sunday alone more than 13,500 Wii consoles were listed for sale in the U.S. on eBay. Coincidence? I can't imagine.

Note: These numbers might deviate a little from 100% complete authentic scientific goodness, but the trend is still relevant.

Being Brian Crecente, a Tale of One Kotaku Editor's Unintentional Appearance at GDC

When you're Kotaku Editor Brian Crecente, everyone wants to be you. Men. Women. Vidal Sassoon models. Everyone.

Now, attendees of the upcoming GDC Serious Games Summit will have the chance to learn just how he does it. In the presentation "Being Brian Crecente: Using an Off-The-Shelf Role Playing Game to Teach Journalism," by University of Minnesota's Nora Paul, you too can learn the secrets of Brian's bird shirt, his blinding smile and most importantly, his hidden obsession with writing talent Mark Wilson.

So what's weird about this presentation? Brian didn't even know it was happening. As in, Brian was checking out the GDC presentation website and spotted it. And then he ran to tell us all but was stopped short, his head too big to fit through the door of his office.

Serious Games Summit [gdc]