Duke Nukem Forever has gone gold!

Source: 2K Games PR

Vaporware no more! Gaming’s most legendary hero makes his triumphant return this June

Windsor, UK – May 24, 2011 – 2K Games and Gearbox Software are proud to announce that Duke Nukem Forever®, one of the most anticipated entertainment properties of all time, has “gone gold” and will be available at retailers on June 10, 2011 internationally and on June 14, 2011 in North America. The road to gold was paved over the course of 15 years and its legendary path climaxes on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. Gamers who pre-order the title from select outlets will ensure that they are among the first to experience this legendary piece of gaming history when the demo* launches on June 3, 2011 for all platforms, exclusively for Duke Nukem First Access Club Members.

“Duke Nukem Forever is the game that was once thought to be unshippable, and yet here we are, on the precipice of history,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Today marks an amazing day in the annals of gaming lore, the day where the legend of Duke Nukem Forever is finally complete and it takes that final step towards becoming a reality.”

Created over the span of 15 years, Duke Nukem Forever was first developed with the intense passion and commitment from an inspired group of dedicated designers, artists and programmers at 3D Realms under the direction of game industry icon, George Broussard.

“Duke Nukem Forever and its journey to store shelves is legendary,” said George Broussard, creative director at 3D Realms. “It’s an epic tale of four game development studios that banded together and did the unthinkable and shipped the unshippable. When you play this game you will be reminded of that epic journey at every turn and in every small detail of the game. The character, attitude, interactivity, gameplay and political incorrectness combine to make a Duke Nukem game a unique gaming experience. In the timeless words of Duke Nukem it’s finally time to ‘Come Get Some’. Come be a part of gaming history.”

In 2009, after many believed that Duke Nukem Forever would never be completed, a small team of intrepid developers, known as Triptych Studios, resurrected the dream. Through their inspiring and steadfast commitment to the game and their exemplary talent and skill, they finally assembled the pieces to create an incredible, epic and cohesive gameplay experience. Under the production of Gearbox Software, Triptych Studios, Piranha Games and many other contributors joined together in a heroic effort to complete the long awaited game as a polished, full-featured triple-A title.

“Always bet on Duke, I did,” said Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software. “I bet on all of the developers who have ever been a part of this legendary project and I bet that none of us want to live in a world without the Duke. I’ve played the final game and it is an incredible experience – a once-in-a-lifetime opus of interactive entertainment that reminds me once again why Duke Nukem is our King. The developers of Duke Nukem Forever at 3D Realms, Triptych, Piranha and finally at Gearbox deserve our thanks and respect for never giving up and have truly shown us that they have balls of steel!”

Strictly for the biggest Duke Nukem fans, the First Access Club grants members exclusive access to the pre-release demo on June 3, 2011 so that they are amongst the first to experience gaming history in the making. There are multiple ways fans can join the exclusive First Access Club, by pre-ordering the game from select retailers or by purchasing the Borderlands Game of the Year Edition on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and Windows PC.

True Duke Nukem die-hards will want to get their hands on the Duke Nukem Forever Balls of Steel Edition. This package is spilling over-the-brim with legendary content that is not to be missed by those who want the ultimate experience of this historic arrival. Premium items, such as a Duke Nukem Bust and an art book that chronicles the development of Duke Nukem Forever, flank a package that is overflowing with content. Check out http://www.dukenukemforever.com/preorder/ to see exactly how much stuff could be crammed into one box.

Apologising to no one, Duke Nukem Forever is the high-octane video game equivalent of a Hollywood summer blockbuster. Starring the legendary lady killer and alien slayer, Duke Nukem Forever brings gamers back to a blastastic time when games were filled with head-popping, bone-rattling action, brazenly crude humor, impossibly statuesque women dying for affection, and catchy one-liners meant to make you laugh out loud.

Duke Nukem Forever is rated 18 by BBFC. For more information on the game, including where to pre-order, please visit http://www.dukenukemforever.com.

*Xbox LIVE, PSN or Steam, Duke First Access Club token and Internet connection required to access demo.

2K Games is a division of 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

EA takes out a loan…

Where as this could be read as “so what?”, but this is a BILLION dollar loan..

According to [Kotaku], EA has borrowed 1 billion (put your pinky to your mouth when you say that) in order to buy out Take-two.  EA has bee quoted to have said:

 

“There’s no news here,” said EA VP of communications Jeff Brown. “This is just a process point on something we announced in February.”

 

*sigh*  EA in charge of GTA?  Looks like GTA4 will be the last of the good GTA games.

EA wants to buy Take-Two…

 

With Take-Two Executive Chairman Strauss Zelnick having thoroughly rejected EA’s initial buyout offer, the Madden and Burnout publisher has redirected its corporate Katamari at Take-Two shareholders. EA has announced the commencement of a tender offer for all of the currently outstanding shares of common stock of Take-Two Interactive Software at $26 per share. Valued at approximately $2 billion, the offer reportedly represents a 64% premium over Take-Two’s closing stock price on February 15, the company’s last trading day before EA began its increasingly aggressive financial courtship. Compared to Wednesday’s stock price, it constitutes a 4.4% premium.

Barring extension, the tender offer is good until midnight EST on Friday, April 11, 2008. EA CEO John Riccitiello described the offer as “a great opportunity for Take-Two shareholders” and as a a way to “maximize the value” of their investment. “For EA shareholders, the combination would add additional intellectual properties to our already strong portfolio and welcome Take-Two’s talented creative teams to the great development organization we’ve built at EA,” he concluded.

Will shareholders deem this offer welcomed financial assistance or unwanted financial insistence? We’ll have to wait and see.

Via [Joystiq]

==========================================

God, I hope not.  People complain about Microsoft being a monopoly but it’s ok for EA?  Now, whereas EA has released a few good games they have also released a metric butt ton of crap.  They have always tended to buy out a company for one or two titles and just kill off the rest of the games.  (Anyone remember Bullfrog?  How about Westwood?) When EA DOES come out with a new version of the game series they bought, it’s either massively funked up or just crap to begin with.     C&C is a good example of that, they are getting better with the series, but that first version after the WestWood buy out sucked.
 
I also don’t understand why the shareholders of Take-Two would even WANT anyone to be looking over their shoulder asking if they want to sell.  Granted, most of their line up right now pretty much dead; however, Bioshock just walked with a ton of awards. (it was good.. but it wasn’t THAT good) Also note that GTA4 is coming, and there are rumors of a GTA MMO in planning, and Bioshock 2 has been confirmed for development.  Of Course, so long as Take2 doesn’t release anymore games like ‘Bully’ and ‘Manhunt’ and force more games like Bioshock though the pipes, the company is good to go there’s no reason to sell.
 
Though I would like to run a few of the comments from EA’s CEO John Riccitiello though the bull shit translator:
1) The offer is  “a great opportunity for Take-Two shareholders”.. 
    Translation
    It’s a great opportunity for you to make some quick cash and re-invest it into EA, because we.. not you… now own BioShock, and the GTA series.
    na na nana na.  (Ok, that doesn’t work well in blog text.. but you get the idea)

2) the offer is  a way to “maximize the value” of their investment. “For EA shareholders, the combination would add additional intellectual properties to our
    already strong portfolio and welcome Take-Two’s talented creative teams to the great development organization we’ve built at EA,”
    How can you maximize the value of something when you put a cap on the maximum value you would accrue??   Who knows how the sales of
    Bioshock 2, and GTA 4 would ‘maximize the value’ of the current stakes holders with out needing EA to be involved in the first place?
 
3) “combination would add additional intellectual properties ” 
    Translation:
    Yeah!  I got mail..  errr.. Games. 

    “welcome Take-Two’s talented creative teams “
    Translation (To the tune of “Welcome to the jungle”):
 
    Welcome to the sweat shop
    We’ve got your fun and games.
    We got everything you owned,
    baby you know their names.
    We are the people that can buy
    any game we need
    You know we’ve got the money, honey
    and we know you won’t come for free

   
    In the sweat shop
    Welcome to the sweat shop
    Watch it bring you to your
    knees, please..
    I wanna watch you bleed

 

    

  

   

Bioshock 2

We got this information from yesterday’s Take Two earnings call, but we wanted to break it out just to make sure you BioShock fans out there could get some sleep tonight. Chairman Strauss Zelnick stated during the call that series creator Ken Levine “will be working on BioShock 2.”

Now, it remains to be seen whether he’ll be working on the game or just sending encouraging email forwards about angels and pictures of cats hanging on branches to the 2K Marin team doing the bulk of the work. As gigantic, total, militant fans of BioShock, we certainly hope it’s the former. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

[Via Joystiq]

 

BioShock 2 has become official and is set to be released next year before the 2009 holidays; right around the same time that the original was released in 2007.  BioShock 2 is not really a sequel, it’s a prequel, taking place before all the events in BioShock.

Kotaku reports BioShock 2 will give us a look at Rapture in its heyday before it went down the toilet.  As to what’s actually in-store for the game, that’s not been released to us mere mortals. 

[via blorge.com]

var sc_project=2633782; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_partition=25; var sc_security=”804a9f57″;

==================================

  Ok.. Great.. now where is the announcement of the BioShock MMO?!

Electronic Arts Offers $2B for Take-Two

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writer

(AP) — Electronic Arts Inc. is pushing ahead with a bid to take over upstart gaming rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., despite rebuffs from the smaller company.

EA said in a statement Sunday that it was making an all-cash bid of $26 per share, or about $2 billion, for New York-based Take-Two, known for its “Grand Theft Auto” franchise.

 

EA, the world’s largest independent video game publisher, said it was releasing details of the proposal to get the attention of Take-Two shareholders after Take-Two’s board turned down its second bid in two weeks.

The offer represents a 64 percent premium over Take-Two’s closing stock price of $15.83 on Feb. 15, the last trading day before Redwood City-based EA made its proposal. Take-Two shares closed at $17.36 Friday.

“There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the same high premium we are offering today,” EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello wrote in a letter to Take-Two released Sunday.

Riccitiello added that Take-Two’s quick acceptance of the offer would mean EA could put its marketing muscle behind the eagerly awaited release of “Grand Theft Auto IV,” set for April 29.

In its response, Take-Two called the EA offer a “highly opportunistic” attempt to take advantage of the game’s upcoming release.

“Electronic Arts’ proposal provides insufficient value to our shareholders and comes at absolutely the wrong time,” Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said in a statement Sunday.

Zelnick said EA rejected Take-Two’s offer to resume discussions of the takeover bid the day after “Grand Theft Auto IV” hit store shelves.

EA said it offered $26 per share Tuesday after Take-Two rejected a $25-per-share bid earlier this month.

The offer comes as Take-Two works to regroup following a rocky year. Shareholders threw out most of the company’s top leadership last spring over poor results as well as accounting troubles and controversy surrounding violent and sexual content in the company’s games.

Several former Take-Two executives, including Chairman and CEO Ryan A. Brant, pleaded guilty in 2007 to falsifying business records in connection with a probe into backdated stock options.

Also last year, the British Board of Film Classification refused to certify “Manhunt 2,” a gory game which received an Adults-Only rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the U.S.

EA, which publishes the “Madden NFL” and “FIFA Soccer” series among its popular sports franchises, has been working recently to beef up its product lineup with a wider variety of titles.

In January, the company closed its acquisitions of BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios, known for their action, adventure and role-playing games, in an $860 million deal, the largest in EA’s history.

Earlier this month, the company announced that “Spore,” the highly anticipated game from “Sims” creator Will Wright, will go on sale on the weekend of Sept. 7 amid likely stiffer competition in the $18 billion video game market.

In a deal expected to close in the first half of this year, French media and telecom giant Vivendi SA plans to combine EA’s chief rival, Activision Inc., with its own games unit to form Activision Blizzard. The merged company will own the wildly popular online game “World of Warcraft” and the “Guitar Hero” franchise.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Take-Two: EA Bid Wrong Price, Wrong Time (update)

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Business Writer

Two popular Electronic Arts games are seen on display at Best Buy in Mountain View, Calif. in this Oct. 15, 2007 file photo. Electronic Arts Inc. on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008 said it was pushing ahead with a bid to take over upstart gaming rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., despite rebuffs from the smaller company. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

(AP) — The company behind the hugely popular video game “Grand Theft Auto” says it is not going to jump at a $2 billion buyout offer from Electronic Arts Inc.

The offer is “the wrong price at the wrong time,” Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. chief executive Ben Feder said Monday after the news of the $26-per-share bid sent Take-Two’s shares up 55 percent to a $26.89 close.

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Electronic Arts is undervaluing Take-Two and not factoring in the benefits of its recent turnaround efforts, Feder said in an interview. Take-Two said it is open to discussions with EA, but wants to wait until April 30, the day after the latest version of Grand Theft Auto hits store shelves.

But analysts said Take-Two may not have the luxury of time. While Take-Two wants a higher price, EA could make this bid hostile, or walk away and come back with a lower offer, they said.

“There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the premium we are proposing today,” EA’s CEO John Riccitiello said during a conference call.

“We believe our proposal is fully priced,” he said. Since “Grand Theft Auto IV” should by now be essentially complete, he added, the buyout bid “would not jeopardize the development of this incredibly important title.”

GTA has sold more than 65 million copies in the decade since the first game in the series, where players complete gritty crime missions to rise to the top.

Take-Two called the timing of EA’s unsolicited offer “opportunistic” because it is so close to the launch date of the new version of GTA. Redwood City, Calif.-based EA says it wants to act now so that it can get its marketing muscle behind GTA before the holiday season, when video game companies make most of their money.

EA’s offer represents a 64 percent premium over Take-Two’s closing stock price of $15.83 on Feb. 15, the last trading day before the company made its latest proposal, privately, to Take-Two. EA, which said it has been in talks with Take-Two on and off for about a year, offered $26 per share on Tuesday, Feb. 19, after Take-Two rejected a $25-per-share bid on Feb. 15. EA went public with the higher bid on Sunday.

Citi Investment Research analyst Brent Thill said EA “may be willing to pay slightly, but not materially, higher than its current offer.”

 

While much of Wall Street’s and gamers’ focus Monday was on Grand Theft Auto, Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, said it’s Take-Two’s sports business that’s the most lucrative for EA.

“The whole world seems to think this is GTA and nothing else,” he said, adding that the franchise “is the best asset for everybody except EA.”

“For EA, the best asset is sports,” he said. “And that’s why there won’t be a higher offer (from another company). No one else will value sports higher.”

EA, which owns the Madden NFL and FIFA Soccer franchises, would round out its holdings with Take-Two’s baseball, basketball and hockey titles to dominate the sports game arena.

Even if EA wins Take-Two, it isn’t clear whether the brothers who helped create “Grand Theft Auto” will stay on. Sam and Dan Houser, who lead Take-Two’s Rockstar Games label, are under contract with the company only until next year. Sam Houser could not be reached for comment Monday and Take-Two would not comment on what it said was a confidential matter.

Thill said, however, he thinks there is “considerable value” for a development studio to tap into EA’s financial, marketing and distribution resources.

Josh Resnick the co-founder and general manager of Pandemic Studios, which EA recently acquired along with BioWare Corp. for $860 million, agreed. He said Riccitiello quickly allayed concerns about the studio being able to maintain creative control and independence.

“John is one of those rare executives in the games industry who really gets it” he said.

Since taking EA’s helm a year ago, Riccitiello has reorganized the company into a “city-state model,” with four divisions and distinct, independent studios. His vision, Resnick said, has allowed studios like Pandemic to “have the freedom and flexibility to do what they need to do to make great products.”

In an interesting twist, Take-Two amended its management contract with ZelnickMedia Corp. on Feb. 14, a day before it privately rejected EA’s first offer. Feder and Chairman Strauss Zelnick are ZelnickMedia’s founding partners.

The changes, which Take-Two disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, increase the monthly management fee paid to ZelnickMedia to $208,333 from $62,500 and raise the maximum annual bonus ZelnickMedia can receive to $2.5 million from $750,000.

Take-Two’s board also granted 600,000 in restricted shares to ZelnickMedia that will vest in equal installments over three years. But if the management contract is terminated or if there is a “change in control” of the company, that is, if Take-Two is bought out, the stock awards vest “in full immediately” before such a change takes place, Take-Two said in the regulatory filing dated Feb. 14.

Feder and Zelnick took Take-Two’s helm last year after a March shareholder coup ousted most of the company’s top executives and board members over poor results, accounting troubles and controversy surrounding violent and sexual content in the company’s games.

Several former Take-Two executives, including Chairman and CEO Ryan A. Brant, pleaded guilty in 2007 to falsifying business records in connection with a probe into backdated stock options.

Shares of Electronic Arts fell $2.60, or 5.2 percent, to close at $47.14.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.