CCP, the makers of the sci-fi MMO EVE Online have announced that they will be merging with White Wolf Publishing, one of the leading creators of traditional RPG franchises in the world. The companies will operate autonomously, but with White Wolf owning some impressively rich worlds such as World of Darkness, it looks as if CCP is positioning themselves to release some interesting new MMOs in the coming future.

Read the full press release after the jump..

Read more of “CCP, makers of EVE Online, merges with White Wolf“

Oops! Take-Two seem to be having trouble again with NASDAQ as they’ve recently received a Staff Determination letter informing them that they are once again not in compliance with the filing requirements for listing on the NASDAQ Stock Market. I understand it’s difficult when you’re swimming in so much money, but come on folks.

Though the rumor mill lives off of Take-Two’s notoriously bad treatment of any employee not above middle management, is it really that hard to hire a team capable of actually keeping your finances inline? I guess so. But worry not, Take-Two are meeting with NASDAQ soon to clear everything up and present their plan for achieving compliance. Whew, it’s good to know TTWO management won’t have to give up their party penthouses anytime soon and can continue their poker game of life off of TTWO’s troubled dime.

Official press release from Take-Two after the jump..

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Ex-Gizmondo con-man Bo Stefan Eriksson’s embezzlement trial has ended in a mistrial a few days ago in Los Angeles county. The jury was hung, voting 10 to 2 for conviction, which leads me to question, who were the 2 who could possibly acquit a member of the Swedish mafia who admittedly brought two Ferrari’s to the U.S. after he stopped paying for both after the breakup of his scam? The LA DA’s office have already stated they will re-try and Eriksson is still being held in LA County jail on immigration orders from the federal government. For those unfamiliar with the story of the Gizmondo console and how big of a monster fraud it was, checkout Wired Magazine’s brilliant and in-depth look into the Gizmondo scam and it’s subsequent breakup.

Read more: Eriksson process ends in mistrial

JoWooD today announced the acquisition of Canada’s DreamCatcher Games, a publisher and big player in North America’s action-adventure games market. The acquisition helps JoWooD to gain access to the tricky PC market in North America, where titles such as Gothic 3 and Spellforce have yet to find an audience comparable to that in Europe. The deal is rumored to be all stock and is subject to anti-trust approvals before it can go through.

Official press release after the jump..

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Microsoft announced their quarterly results recently, with some very good news for their Interactive Gaming division (Xbox, Xbox 360). Their gaming division were happy to see their results more than double thanks to the Xbox 360 momentum, inferring that Microsoft’s head start this generation is helping them create a solid customer base in anticipation of the PS3.

Some finer of the finer points from Microsoft’s Gamerscore blog after the jump..

· Xbox 360 will be available in 36 countries for the holiday and our installed base through September is 6 million consoles worldwide (3.6 million in North America, 1.7 million in Europe and approximately 700,000 in the rest of the world.)

· As such, Xbox 360 is in an excellent position for the second quarter. By holiday 2006, we expect to have sold more than 10 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide and have a catalog of 160 high-definition games. Our yearly guidance still implies that by the end of the fiscal year we expect to have sold 13 to 15 million Xbox 360 consoles since launch.

· Key profit drivers for the platform include Xbox 360 software and accessory attach rates, which remain very strong relative to previous console launches. The Xbox 360 accessory attach rate remains the highest ever for the first ten months after a console launch in the US, holding at 2.9 accessory units sold per console (Source: NPD). Software attach rates rose to a record 5.1 units per console (Source: NPD).

· With the impending releases of the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player, the Xbox 360 Wireless Headset, and the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing wheel accessory attach rates are expected to continue their momentum into the second quarter and beyond.

· Xbox Live now boasts a community of more than 4 million members worldwide, with more than 6 million expected by June 2007. Xbox Live Marketplace, the one-stop digital download center, has seen more than 70 million downloads since launch including Xbox Live Arcade games, content packs, demos, and other media. To date, there have been a staggering 12 million Xbox Live Arcade downloads. All told, more than 2 billion Microsoft points have been sold to date.

Read more: Microsoft results at Gamerscore blog

Green Monster Games, a new startup game developer from famous Everquest player and Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, comic icon Todd McFarlane and best-selling author R.A. Salvatore are currently hiring a lead programmer with Gamebryo experience to join in developing a massive multiplayer title. With a powerhouse art and creative team like Salvatore and Todd McFarlane as directors this is kind of exciting, with both having vast experience in creating extremely stylish, in-depth worlds. More information as it becomes available.

Official quote from Green Monster Games after the jump..

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Wow. My distaste for Sony has hit an all-time high with the announcement that Lik-Sang, the best one stop nerd shop for all things games importing, are shutting their doors due to Sony’s multiple lawsuits “protecting” European consumers from the dangers of importing. My poor Wii pre-order, why Sony, WHY!!!???!?!

Official statement from Lik-Sang below..

Hong Kong, October 24th of 2006 – Lik-Sang.com, the popular gaming retailer from Hong Kong, has today announced that it is forced to close down due to multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony claimed that Lik-Sang infringed its trade marks, copyright and registered design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers, and have recently obtained a judgment in the High Court of London (England) rendering Lik-Sang’s sales of PSP consoles unlawful.

As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.

A Sony spokesperson declined to comment directly on the lawsuit against Lik-Sang, but recently went on to tell Gamesindustry.biz that “ultimately, we’re trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences et cetera; is not – in PS3′s case – backwards compatible with either PS1 or PS2 software; will not play European Blu-Ray movies or DVDs; and will not be covered by warranty”.

Lik Sang strongly disagrees with Sony’s opinion that their customers need this kind of protection and pointed out that PSP consoles shipped from Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters that carry CE and other safety marks and are compatible world wide. All PSP consoles were in conformity with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations.

Furthermore, Sony have failed to disclose to the London High Court that not only the world wide gaming community in more than 100 countries relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs, but also Sony Europe’s very own top directors repeatedly got their Sony PSP hard or software imports in nicely packed Lik-Sang parcels with free Lik-Sang Mugs or Lik-Sang Badge Holders, starting just two days after Japan’s official release, as early as 14th of December 2004 (more than nine months earlier than the legal action). The list of PSP related Sony Europe orders reads like the who’s who of the videogames industry, and includes Ray Maguire (Managing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Alan Duncan (UK Marketing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Chris Sorrell (Creative Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Rob Parkin (Development Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited), just to name a few.

“Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe’s ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they don’t see fit. It’s the beginning of the end… of the World as we know it”, stated Pascal Clarysse, formerly known as the Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com.

“Blame it on Sony. That’s the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally ‘won’, few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today.”

“Major” electronics retailers, PC World, Currys and Dixons are refusing to stock Rockstar’s latest masterpiece, Bully or Can-whatever whatever edit as it’s known outside of Americonia. All of the retailers are owned by one conglomerate who states that Edit doesn’t fit with their family-friendly image, but they will continue to enjoy a good relationship with Take Two and Rockstar Games. Which is evident since all 3 stores are advertising pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP, a title which apparently DOES fit in with what may be one of the most twisted definitions of “family-friendly’ I’ve ever heard. And yes, this is another Rockstar-related story, sheesh, you’d think I used to work for them or something…

Read more: Major UK Retailers refuse to stock Bully

Wall Street was buzzing yesterday with rumours that Intel would be announcing a takeover shortly, which led many to believe that Nvidia was in the sights of big blue. Since AMD’s takeover of ATI, speculation has been ripe that Intel would need to follow suit, with many investors thinking that Nvidia be the natural victim, with more than twice the normal volume of Nvidia stocks being traded yesterday over normal. The graphics war is still going strong, but, the question must be asked, what happens if this acquisition turns out to be true and I want an Intel CPU with an ATI graphics card? Hmmmmmm?!

Read more: Intel acquiring Nvidia!?

Good news for European space-mmo fans! With the launch of the recent German localisation of the Eve Online client, CCP have started shifting more resources onto the European marketing of their online massive-multiplayer, Eve Online. In a recent interview with CMO (?) Magnus Bergsson, he admitted that during the past 12 months, CCP’s focus was focused primarily on America (“80%” of their marketing efforts), with only 20% being split between Europe and presumably China). This is set to change, as CCP plans more localizations for the Eve client, new payment options (a real problem in Europe) as well as hotfixes and patches to address some of the numerous bugs that have popped up in the recent patch changes.

Read more: Eve Online returns marketing focus back onto Europe