An official statement from Take 2 has pointed out that an alternative course to the company’s sale has yet to be found, meaning that a potential gold rush will possibly be occurring over Take 2’s assets, namely GTA developer, Rockstar Games. An alternative seems unlikely at this point, with the statement going on to reveal that the board of directors believe that it is unlikely to present an alternative (to the sale) before the next general board meeting occurring March 29th, though discussions are ongoing. Time for Microsoft to open up that wallet, though the company has stated in the past it has no desire to purchase Take 2, I can see a healthy bidding war for the rights to Grand Theft Auto.

EDIT: I promise I’ll be brushing up on my native language (English) shortly ;)

Read more: Take 2 board has no alternative (yet) but sale

Take-Two announced recently that it is evaluating new strategies, including the possible sale of the company, as an investor group continues it’s power grab of the Rockstar Games publisher. The announcement, which comes after TTWO postponed it’s annual board meeting is causing a little jump in the company’s stock price, causing investors around the world to hover their finger over that little “Sell” button.

Read more: Take-Two considering alternative strategies

I swear this isn’t a JoWooD financed blog (they couldn’t afford me, har har!), but I just had to throw this one out. In a surprise twist of credibility which can no doubt be attributed to JoWooD’s recent acquisition of Dreamcatcher, JoWooD and Dreamcatcher’s The Adventure Company, have announced they will be partnerting with Telltale Games in publishing Sam and Max Season 1 worldwide. Telltale has been pushing episodic content for awhile now and have only recently been distributed online directly through Telltale’s store and through Gametap. Good for Telltale? We’ll have to see how that goes, I’d have expected a larger partner for an IP with as much credibility behind it as Sam and Max, and JoWooD doesn’t quite have a reputation for developer friendliness, so by means of association I assume that aura spreads off onto The Adventure Company / Dreamcatcher.

Read more: Sam and Max Episodes published by The Adventure Company / JoWooD

Proving yet again that JoWooD is at it’s core a feline and it has a handful of lives left, the Austrian-based publisher has announced that Gothic 3 has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. In another in a long line of uncomfortably-written press releases, execs from JoWooD state they are pleased with the Gothic 3’s status as a “long-seller” and that their “expectations are still outnumbered”, whatever that means. What this means for the Gothic series is you can expect lots of expansions and sequels for many years to come, if JoWooD is able to keep things together for another 3 years.

Read more: Gothic 3 sells over half a mil

Austrian publisher JoWooD recently announced their relaunch and the announcement of the “JoWooD Group”, which will cover all of the brands currently owned by JoWooD, such as G-Stars, SilverLine Software, JoWooD and Dreamcatcher. The relaunch started with an updated web presence for the company as well as a very sterile rehash of their logo and identity, which has stuck with them for years.

“With the re-launch of our web appearance, we are able to show the structure of the JoWooD Productions Software AG clear and transparent,” explains Johannes Natterer, Senior Marketing Manager JoWooD Productions. “All of our target groups, gamers, investors and shareholders get their own information platform. The logo re-launch is the visualization and external communication of our brand reorientation.”

Read more: JoWooD

Eagle-eyed gaming fans have scrounged up some SEC filings pertaining to the recent assignment of John Riccitiello as Chief Executive Officer of EA, after former CEO Larry Probst stepped down after 16 long years. The offer letter paints quite a nice deal, offering Riccitiello $62,000 a month and a healthy stock options and benefits package. Funny to see the CEO having to attend a “Get in the Game” orientation meeting but depressing to know this gent is clearing more a month than I’ll see in oh, 10 years or so.

Copy of the letter after the jump..

Read more of “$62,500 a month for Riccitiello. Not bad…not bad…“

According to French-language news channel Canoe, Eidos / SCi Entertainment have chosen Montreal as the location for a new Canadian development studio. The rumor, learned through job postings, is saying that Eidos will announce a decision on the studio formation next week, followed by a round of hirings which will no doubt displease Ubisoft, EA and A2M who are also located in Montreal. Eidos spokespeople have gone on record as being unable to confirm or deny the rumor.

Horrible Babelfish French to English translation after the jump..

Read more of “Rumor: Eidos opening development studio in Montreal“

Europe’s game industry trade outfit, the ELSPA, have announced a program aimed at reorganizing the body, resulting in some job losses, mostly in the body’s software forensics division. The outfit, funded by games publishers based in Europe, is seeking a greater role for London in the games industry and culture, though why London would be a good choice is beyond me, considering the extremely high costs of living, the large number of European developers and publishers through ought mainland Europe, the relative dreariness of the environment and the hyper-inflated British Pound insuring costs would stay quite high. The group’s 5 year plan focuses on piracy, as well as emerging technologies.

Read more: ELSPA wants London to be ‘global games capital’

7 months after the closure of Rockstar Vienna by Take-two, former founders Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber have announced the formation of their new company, Games That Matter. Working together with Jürgen Goeldner, founder of Funsoft, later acquired by THQ and mobile developer Mobile Scope, later acquired by IN-FUSIO, their team will present a “visionary game production business model” to the industry. What that visionary model will be or why exactly it’s visionary in the first place hasn’t been announced yet, but founder Hannes Seifert has held talks in Vienna discussing the shift towards “movie industry style” production methods in the past. One would assume that would involve a small core team focusing on production and design aspects, while outsourcing whenever and wherever possible for content, development and testing. The official press conference for Games That Matter takes place on the 25th of January where more information will be presented to the gaming press, possibly including information on their first title.

Read more: Games That Matter | Rockstar Vienna entry @ Wikipedia

JoWooD has announced a new distribution agreement with Eidos Interactive, which we all know is one of the world’s leading developers/publishers. The agreement is for Eidos to cover the distribution of JoWooD’s titles in Southern Europe, territories which include Spain, France and Benelux., starting with the upcoming action-FPS “The Mark”.

Read more: JoWood | Eidos Interactive