MTV says EA will struggle with casual gaming market

Either MTV is polishing their fragile ego or just trying to feel big. In anycase, speaking with Casualgaming.biz, MTV’s Salmi took some shots at other companies for being relatively new to casual & ad-propelled gaming market:

“EA, Take Two, Activision; our history gives us an absolute advantage on these guys in this space. These guys never sold [in-game] ads. For them to set up advertising connections is a huge challenge, and even if they manage to get past that struggle, we have a huge advantage that we sell across platforms.

Read the full interview here.

Ben Cousins: “Web is the future of gaming”

Ben Cousins, DICE’s executive producer and the senior developer of upcoming Battlefield: Heroes game was interviewed by GamesIndusty.biz. Cousins says the web will be the dominant gaming platform of the future. This statement holds plenty of ground when you look at the crazy popularity of “casual” web based video games. Ofcourse, let’s not forget Battlefield: Heroes is also browser based and is catergorised as a “casual” game.

“People talk about which of the two, PlayStation or Xbox, is going to be the big platform of the future,” Cousins said.

“I think the web is going to be the big platform of the future, whether it’s running on an iPhone or a Mac or on the PC.”

Ubisoft Preparing Tom Clancy MMO

After acquiring everything but Tom Clancy’s soul, Ubisoft is now cooking up a Tom Clancy branded MMO.

During a call regarding the IP acquisition, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, “On MMOs, the investment is really high. So we need to maximize the revenue. With the royalties we had [to pay], it was another barrier to creating a [Tom Clancy MMO], because the original investment was diminished by that.

“Having no fees, it’s going to give us a full return, [so] we’ve really decided now to go for an MMO on the Clancy name, which is big.”

by Next-Gen.biz

Another MMO for the already excruciatingly crowded MMO market. lovely.

THQ to Purchase Elephant Entertainment?

According to GameDaily BIZ, THQ is preparing to buy-out the Minneapolis based games publisher, Elephant Entertainment. A company that was started by ex-ATARI executive Wim Stocks. Here’s the full quote:

GameDaily BIZ has learned from an industry source that THQ is preparing to acquire Minneapolis-based game publisher startup Elephant Entertainment, a company founded by former longtime Atari executive Wim Stocks. THQ would neither confirm, nor deny the news, simply telling us it’s their policy not to comment on rumor. We’ve been hearing that the deal will be done by Friday. 

Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who covers THQ stock, said the deal, if it happens, “makes a lot of sense.”

 Full news after the jump. Read more

Atari Getting Serious About The Infogrames Proposal

After Infogrames offered to buy Atari, Atari has now hired a financial advisor evaluate the buy-out proposal. According to GamesIndustry.biz :

Atari Inc. has informed parent company Infogrames that it will not be in a position to respond to the buyout offer by the original deadline.

The company announced the hiring of a financial advisor, Duff & Phelps LLC, to help it evaluate the offer and is seeking an extension.

by GamesIndustry.biz