EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: warner

The media colossus known as Warner Bros. has confirmed its support of a Square Enix acquisition of publisher Eidos - a publisher in which Warner holds a 20 percent stake.

Warner will vote in favour of a Square Enix acquisition when the decision is held at the end of March. This means that approximately 35 percent of Eidos’ stock holders, including Warner, are behind the proposed bid for Eidos, as other stock holders have already pledged their support in the form of letters of intent.

The bid could still fall through if another 3rd party puts in a higher bid, or if the stock holders change their decision come vote time, but with such momentum behind Square Enix’s bid, it looks like Eidos will have a new owner in the coming weeks.

The acquisition would make sense for both Square Enix and Eidos, as the former look to improve their Western appeal and portfolio of games, while the latter has been looking for a suitable buyer for some time now. With a bid of £84 million, a 129 percent premium over Eidos’s current value, stock holders would be foolish not to approve.

TT Games and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have announced a new LEGO title that will be making its way to the DS later this year, LEGO Battles.

LEGO Battles will include three of the themes that the physical LEGO building blocks have become known for, namely LEGO Castle, LEGO Pirates and LEGO Space. LEGO Battles will allow players to customise and build their own LEGO sets, while battling through six storylines and 70 levels.

At the same time, LEGO Battles allows all of the three themes to intermingle with one another – pirates VS knights VS ninjas VS dragons VS space ships. The ultimate combination! TT Games publishing Managing Director, Tom Stone enthused:

“Lego Battles offers players the action-packed and humor-filled gameplay that make Lego games great, along with the added bonus of linked multiplayer battles on DS.

“We are excited to introduce a new LEGO videogame experience to fans and young gamers and look forward to expanding upon the beloved toy lines.”

LEGO Battles is expected to release in the UK this summer.

Publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced their acquisition of game developer Snowblind Studios.

Founded in 1997, Snowblind studios, a Washington-based development studio, has created a string of RPG and action-RPG games, such as Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath, Justice League: Heroes and Champions: Return to Arms, as well as a couple of vehicle-based games, such as Top Gear: Overdrive on the N64 and the still-in-development Death Tank for Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Snowblind will join Monolith Productions (FEAR) and Traveller’s Tales (LEGO series of games) to become Warner’s third internal studio. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president Martin Tremblay said of the deal:

“The acquisition of Snowblind is an important milestone for our games business, allowing us to expand our development capabilities even further. We are proud to be associated with such a talented team that is focused on executing innovative and captivating game designs.”

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, in association with developer Virtual Heroes, Inc. and a larger partnership with the US government, have announced the launch of an AIDS awareness game in youth centres around Nairobi, Kenya entitled “Pamoja Mtaani” (“Together in the Hood”).

The five person, free-to-play multiplayer PC game aims to change HIV risk perception, attitude and behaviour. From Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment:

“The “Pamoja Mtaani” game, developed by noted serious games developer, Virtual Heroes, Inc., follows five strangers who are brought together through unforeseen circumstances, losing what is most precious to each of them. Working their way through various East African neighborhoods, players must recover the stolen items and help an injured woman on their quest. Along the way, they will experience barriers and facilitators to behavior change through a variety of missions and mini-games.”

The game forms part of the Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation.

It’s being widely reported that Eidos has been receiving acquisition bids from Electronic Arts and Ubisoft, as well as new bids from Square Enix and Warner Bros.

Earlier this week, SCi, parent company of Eidos, finalised its renaming to Eidos, a move made to re-brand all franchises associated with the companies under one name, as the most popular franchises are associated with the Eidos brand. Analysts pointed out that this move was also an attempt on SCi/Eidos’ part to advertise the joint companies’ strengths in the marketplace, flagging potential acquisition suitors in the process.

This news came on the back of reports that EA and Ubisoft were approaching Eidos for early stage acquisition talks, while further revelations show that Square Enix and Warner Bros. have entered the bidding war. Analysts have already tapped Warner Bros. as the likely winner as it already owns 20 percent of Eidos, meaning its bid wouldn’t need to be as high as the other three suitors- $30 million would secure Warner a controlling interest while $80 million would put them in total control of Eidos.

Post continues, click to read more…

In an earning’s call, president and CEO of Time Warner, Jeffrey L. Bewkes, related to investors the firm’s movements into the realms of video games, revealing that they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as a $250 million investment from Abu Dhabi, on the development of 75 games over the next 7 years.

Bewkes also noted Time Warner and Warner Bros. current assets and partnerships, speaking about their distribution rights for Codemasters, investments in Eidos and British Entertainment, their own investment from their strategic partner in Abu Dhabi as well as the acquisition of TellTale Games, which gave them the highest selling game in June with Lego Indiana Jones, with high hopes for Lego Batman in the near future. He also claimed that Warner could attract the necessary talent away from rival developers and publishers, after the question arose whether or not they had the resources they needed within the company.

With this kind of commitment, it seems there may be a new player in town.

Movie studio Universal has announced it’s to start producing games internally, beginning with their movie, Wanted. Other film and TV properties are said to be in the early stages of development, while they will continue to license out a majority of their titles.

“We’re now running a hybrid model where we can license titles where that makes sense or kick off development earlier to put ourselves in a better position for success,” said Bill Kispert, Universal’s Digital Platforms Group vice-president.

Wanted is in development at Grin (also developing Capcom’s Bionic Commando remake) in Sweden and it is said that the game won’t come out until it’s ready, as they are looking to create a quality experience. The game will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, however, as Universal does not yet have the capacity to distribute and market games.

Universal, if you’ll remember, already had a video game division, Universal Interactive, but this was merged with Vivendi Games when Universal was acquired by Vivendi.

Source: Variety

Warner Bros. will be publishing Watchmen, an episodic downloadable game based on the upcoming DC Comics inspired Warner film, for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The game is scheduled to be available in 2009.

The film is being directed by Zack Snyder (of 300 fame) and is set in an alternate 1985 America where superheroes have been outlawed. The story sees a former hero searching for the truth behind another superhero’s murder and stumbling across a conspiracy in the process.

Described as a mature action-brawler, players will go beyond the film and delve into characters, rivalries and challenges as urban vigilantes Rorschach and Nite Owl.

“We’re bringing the Watchmen universe to gamers in a distinct episodic game revealing action and combat for a great overall experience for fans,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

“The filmmakers have been extremely helpful in developing the high-quality game story and we are working to match the outstanding visual style of the film.”