Electronic Arts has announced this morning it has extended the deadline for its acquisition of Take-Two until July 18th, after the previous deadline expired at market close yesterday.

The publisher has not, however, raised its offer above $US 2 billion, or $US 25.74 per share, as the FTC's investigation process continues. Take-Two was recently asked to explain to the U.S. district court of Washington, D.C why it is refusing to fully comply with the commission's information request. Take-Two risks an injunction if it doesn't provide the full scope of info, which has been speculated to pertain to portions of its sports portfolio.

EA senior VP of corporate development Owen Mahoney congratulated Rockstar on Grand Theft Auto IV's successful launch, but maintained that despite the title's success, EA's offer "reflects a full and fair price based on the long-term value of Take-Two's entire operation".

Bust out the fancy hats! Square Enix honcho Yoichi Wada held the opening ceremony for card-based arcade game Lord of Vermilion at Shinjuku Taito Station. The game isn't Square Enix's first entry into card-based arcade games, which are very popular in Japan, as previously the company released a slapped Dragon Quest on a kiddy card game. In LoV and other similar card-based games, players moved cards around on a sensor field, which corresponds to their on-screen movement in real time. These arcade games are a tad on the pricey side, forcing players to not only pay-per-play but also for the actual cards themselves. It goes without saying that the cards are collector's items themselves! Lord of Vermilion Launches [Game Watch Impress]

The Wii just isn't big enough for all the stuff it offers. That's not conjecture, that's fact. So what are Nintendo doing about? Well, when Nintendo's Laurent Fischer isn't pissing you all off by calling you names, he's promising that - snide comments aside - Nintendo know there's something wrong, and are working on it.

You've seen series 1. Both here and, now, in stores. So time for all you toy adult collectible collectors to start psyching yourself for series two of NECA's Gears of War line. Pictured here are the four figures that'll comprise the batch: Dom, Baird and two variants of the Theron Guards, one with helmet, one sans helmet but with his best ANGRY FACE.

While I'm sure they do loads of important meeting-and-paperwork-related stuff in the office, from where we're sitting, the job of a corporate exec is simple: act as a corporate figurehead. Give us an idea of how your company's feeling, and where it's headed, from a bunch of quotes you deliver in an interview. So when new SCE boss Shuhei Yoshida - Phil Harrison's replacement atop Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios - gave his first real interview, it was time to listen! Listen to him talk about getting SCE Japan, America and Europe on the same page, about how developers underestimated the PS3's multi-core architecture.

Not only is pantsu flashing fighter Ikkitousen hitting the PSP, but it's also rolling out the limited edition goods! Ikkitousen is inspired on Chinese epic Romance of Three Kingdoms and is set against a backdrop of warring high school students. The PSP version, called Ikkitousen Eloquent Fist, is getting a figure set that features Hakufu and Hakufu's flirty, booze drinkin' mum Goei. While Westerners will be quick to see the (unintentional?) 2-girls-1-cup joke, the actual Japanese joke is a pun and has quite a different meaning! This is an "oyako donburi figure" set: "Oyakodon" literally means "parent-and-child donburi" and refers to a dish that consists of egg, chicken and rice. And "Donburi" is a "rice bowl dish". Geddit? HILARIOUS.

Hit the jump for another pic of this limited edition oyako don figure set.

It's Kotaku After Dark. Time to set the mood. This should about do it! You may normally know him as Microsoft's Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, but tonight (well, at GDC, but oldies can still be goodies), no. No, tonight, Aaron Greenberg's playing the P.I.M.P. with a couple of Penthouse Pets, discussing the kinda shit he likes to get up to in the hot-tub. Yes, really. Sadly the vid's not embeddable, so you'll have to hit the link.

In Bed With The Pets: Aaron Greenberg, Part II [Das Gamer]

Some movie critics hate video games so hard. They fart in their general direction! But Rolling Stone magazine movie critic Peter Travers? He seems to like them! Disappointed at the recent spate of crap Hollywood summer popcorn movies, Travers writes:

Time to go interactive. That's right, me the movie critic is actually telling you to switch to video games until Hollywood makes more exciting movies... [Grand Theft Auto IV is] a hell of a game (maybe not the Citizen Kane of the form, like many game reviews claim), and in terms of action, thrills, imagination and innovation, GTA IV has it all over the pablum currently passing for ingenuity at the multiplex... And let's keep my game skills out of this as well. This is a review of Grand Theft Auto IV the M-O-V-I-E. And I have to say, it's better than anything I've seen at the multiplex so far this summer, except maybe Iron Man. There's plot development, character depth and moral ambiguity, stuff you don't find in Speed Racer... It's a rare video game that enters territory marked by Scorsese and Tarantino. But writers Dan Houser and Rupert Humphries have created the vid version of film noir with dialogue that crackles even in the film's darkest shadows. And they take every shot they can at social satire.

That's some big time movie critic praise! Nice to see that Travers is open to other (more interactive) forms of story telling.

Is Grand Theft Auto IV Actually the Best Popcorn Movie of the Summer? [Rolling Stone via The Chaos Fold]

Some Enterbrain sales data for Metal Gear Solid 4's been published! How'd it do? Just swimmingly. Seems that during its first four days on release in Japan, the game has sold 476,334 copies spread across the various editions, including those bundled with hardware. And speaking of hardware, looks like the game's also given the PS3 a big (if temporary) sales boost, driving sales of the console to 77,208 for the week (the PS3 can normally be relied to move anywhere from 10-12,000 a week in Japan).

『メタルギア ソリッド 4 ガンズ・オブ・ザ・パトリオット』の国内初週販売本数は47万6334本！[Famitsu]

Hideo Kojima doesn't just make video games like Metal Gear Solid 4. Oh, no. Hideo Kojima also appears in an English test! Above is a national English aptitude test for Korean high school students, which mentions the famed game creator. The text selected is dated and is from circa 2002. Anyway! From the test:

The events of 38-year-old Hideo Kojima's life prepared him to design the amazing video game Metal Gear Solid 2. As a child growing up in Kobe, Japan he played outdoor games like thief-and-detective, peeking around corners in much the same way as Solid Snake, the hero of MGS2, does today. In middle school he wrote five 600-page science-fiction novels. When one of his friends brought a camera to school, Kojima took up filmmaking, using his camera. Then he charged neighbourhood kids 50 yen each to see his own movies. By the time he reached college, he had worked for Nintendo to develop video games using film techniques and became famous as a video game designer.

Wait, wait. So little Kojima stole some other kid's camera to make movies and then charged other children 50 yen to see his movies? That explains a lot!

Hit the jump for the Korean text.

Oh dear. I'm getting reports starting to trickle out of Australia that the latest Wii update (3.3) has done more than block the Twilight Princess save-game exploit. I'm hearing it's killed Datel's Wii Freeloader as well, which if true, will not go down well in Europe and Australia at all. Especially with Smash Bros' imminent - and very late - release in PAL territories in two weeks serving as a poignant reminder of just why so many people own a Freeloader in the first place. I'll update once we get some confirmation either way.

Girly mags in Metal Gear Solid? Nothing new! So in an effort to keep with traditional and not disappoint, Playboy magazine pops up in Metal Gear Solid 4. As in past games, this girly magazine can be used to divert enemy troops' attention by leaving it on the ground, but having Snake read it boosts Snake's psyche. To "read" the mag, switch to FPS mode. Clever in-game joke: The cover says "Hideo Kojima Interviewed". Hit the jump for more images.

Want to take a break from the glut of fantasy MMOs? Maybe a football-themed (the English kind) title is that way to go. That's where developer Interzone has decided to put all its balls. I mean eggs. Egg balls. Anyway, it's put all its somewhat-spherical hopes in Interzone Futebol.

According to the announcement release, Futebol will take your standard football game formula, ala FIFA or Pro Evo, and replace all those daft AI opponents with potentially daft real people. There will be a levelling mechanic, allowing players to access new moves and upgrade their skills.

"Players will also improve their personal rankings and their team's rankings, earn money through salary or sponsorship, and customise their character at creation, during game play, and by buying virtual items from Interzone's online store", the release goes on to say.

A social networking system is to be included, so players can invite friends to matches and organise games. The only bad news is Futebol will debut in Latin America, which I imagine will serve as testing ground for the product.

While Interzone has a base in Western Australia, the developer is most definitely global, with studios in Chicago, Brazil and other locations.

Press release after the jump.

First Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki sues former employer Tecmo, now this. On June 16th, two Tecmo employees filed suit with the Tokyo District Court for unpaid wages, demanding 8.3 million yen ($AU 81,570) in payment. According to the suit, the workers were illegally placed on a "flexible hours" work scheme, starting four years ago. From that point, overtime wasn't paid, apparently. The plaintiffs represent all 300 Tecmo employees and contest that because of this dubious employment structure, overtime for the employees exceeded over 100 hours per month in unpaid overtime.

I was just browsing the various Australian game developer websites - as you do - when I spotted this gem in the recruitment section of Tantalus' website:

We are expanding into an exciting new phase of growth and development, aggressively recruiting for a brand new title. The title is an entirely unique Tantalus-originated IP for Next Generation Platforms, funded by a top tier publisher for worldwide release at Christmas 2008.

I got in contact with CEO Tom Crago, who was able to confirm the statement as accurate. The only addition was that the title has slipped to 2009 (the site's being amended as we speak). Otherwise, he wasn't able to say any more, at least for now.

Tantalus recently made the Develop 100 list for 2007 - the only wholly-Australian company to do so - so I can see why a big publisher would be more than happy to trust the company with an important project.

Tantalus [Official site]

The Nintendo DS truly opened up the gaming to a larger audience. Same for the Nintendo Wii. But are these new gamers actually gamers or are they simply passing through? In short: Is casual gaming a fad time bomb waiting to implode? Analyst Hiroshi Kamide from KBC Securities Japan states:

Casual gaming growth has been the primary driver for the industry over the last three years, the key player being the Nintendo DS. We believe DS hardware demand has now peaked globally. A downturn in software demand is likely to follow, as casual gamers are 'happy with their lot' and do not need to consume more. We feel that the same predicament awaits the Wii console with its similar market expansion angle. Titles such as 'Brain Training' and 'Wii Fit' do not act as 'gateway drugs' to turn non-traditional gamers to core repeat users. We feel this is a structural industry issue that cannot be easily changed.

Whey-hey, new graphics cards. Time to simultaneously drool over performance specs while complaining about the financial outlay required to satisfy said drooling! NVIDIA has debuted its new GTX 200-series line of graphics cards today, with the announcement of the GTX-260 and GTX-280. Here's the technical skinny: The 260 has 192 stream processors and 896MB of memory, while the 280 has 240 stream processors and 1GB of memory. Click through for a benchmark, highlight of which is the fact the god-like 9800 GX2 still has both these cards beat.

I should probably open with the important news first: EB Games Australia has the exclusive on the "official" collector's edition of Bethesda's Fallout 3. So if you haven't put your pre-order down yet, now might be a good time unless you fancy missing out on the bobblehead and tin case.

Now, I've whacked quotes around "official" because Red Ant plans to put together a pre-order bundle for other retailers that may turn out to be very similar to the CE. A few may have noticed that retailer Games Warehouse has posted what it believes the pre-order bundle will contain. The thing is, Red Ant made it clear to me that it hasn't finalised these details.

Hit the jump for a comparison of the two "CEs", as well as specifics on availability.

Friend of Kotaku Jack Thompson was kicking back at his Florida home today when there was a knock at the door. "Whoever could it be?", he probably asked himself as he set his morning coffee down on the table. Opening the door, he was greeted by...a pair of US Marshals. Who had been sent to Jackie Boy's home by Judge Federico Moreno. Why? Oh, probably because Thompson sent a letter to Moreno last week, which ended with: "We find yesterday that enemy combatants at Guantanamo are to get more due process from federal judges than what I am to have. I guess my 'mistake' was not killing 3000 people to make my point...".

You know that crazy energy drink named "Cocaine" that caused such a ruckus overseas? Well, it may soon incite similar controversy in our part of the world. The Christchurch-based Wize Marketing has organised with manufacturer Redux Beverages to distribute Cocaine in Australia and New Zealand.

Cocaine contains 280mg of caffeine - 3.5 times the amount in an average can of Red Bull or cup of coffee. Enough to get you wired, cause heart palpitations or make your eyeballs combust.

While technically the drink is (mostly) harmless, I'm sure an angry parent of some description will ink a letter to their local MP condemning the beverage based on its name. Not that it bothers me - it's not like we don't have enough energy drinks to choose from as it is.

Nearing the end of your tether with the "new" Nintendo? Understandable. In a lot of ways, I am (more F-Zero, less Wii Fit, thanks). The thick layer of dust burying my Wii is testament to that. I'm going to give them one more chance before writing them off for good, though, because Nintendo's Marc Franklin has said that, come E3, the company "will be announcing several new titles that core gamers will be interested in". You make a promise like that, Marc, you best stick to it.
Nintendo to core gamers: 'We will be announcing several new titles' at E3 [GamePro]

Or more importantly, someone thought it'd be smart to make a Jumper movie game? Talk about slipping under the radar! This turd from Australian developer Red Tribe came out in February and managed to sink to the bottom of the retail ocean, escaping the notice of even the most hungry of crap game-eating sperm whales.

I hate to go all ghetto on an Oz studio but, damn, 29/100 on Metacritic? Official Xbox Magazine in the UK even went as far as to say it "makes you want to jump off a cliff". That's not something you can keep a straight face about and be proud of.

Publisher Atari was cursed with distributing the title locally. Seeing as I never received a review copy, or was sent a single press release about it, I think even the company's PR smelt Jumper's fetid odour on the winds of disaster and consigned the title to the depths of bargain bins the nation over.

What is it with local devs and awful games? I mean, fair enough if you have to put out a few average titles to get some revenue in, but there's definitely a depressing trend forming. We're just lucky that when good games do come out of the country, they're bloody fantastic.

[Thanks Jade]

A few months back, hackers exploited a modified save game file in Twilight Princess to get access to the Wii. Cue an increase in stuff like homebrew for the system, leading to things as awesome as someone running Full Throttle on their Wii. Well, no more! Nintendo have quietly updated the Wii's menu (v3.3, which does little else but this), and in doing so have closed the loop on that particular exploit, making a lot of homebrew kids very, very sad. It almost goes without saying, but those affected may just want to hold off on installing this update.

Wii Menu Update 3.3 kills Twilight Hack [Wii Fanboy]

When new Sony Computer Entertainment Studios boss man Shuhei Yoshida brought the axe down on The Getaway and Eight Days, we just assumed it was because they never really existed anyway. Oh sure, they existed in some form as PlayStation 3 titles, but we just assumed they were both cute CG mock ups that helped to pad PS3 "sizzle" trailers.

I know when I first heard about STALKER back in, geez, 2002, I was excited. A first person shooter mixed with survival horror and the world's worst man-made disaster? I couldn't have put a better idea for a game together given the collective powers of Ken Levine, Chris Metzen and Kim Swift. Even when the game appeared a shadow of its former self at E3 2006, I took heart in what was left. When I finally did play it, I enjoyed myself - even if my expectations had to be tempered. But it's the fun that counts, right?

Seems GSC Gameworld was originally just as bubbly about the game's prospects. In a chat with Eurogamer, PR manager Oleg Yavorsky mentions the developer wanted to create a title that had "a mix of pretty much everything - shooter, RPG, survival horror, driving". I think you had a good stab at it Oleg. Let's see how Clear Sky turns out.

First S.T.A.L.K.E.R. hamstrung by over-ambition [Eurogamer]

Hellooooooo Len Wiseman! Wiseman, Variety reports, has signed on to direct the Gears of War movie. You may (or may not) know Wiseman from his previous works Die Hard 4 and...the Underworld series. Hrm. Variety are also reporting that the original screenplay - penned by Stuart Beattie - is going to be reworked by Chris Morgan, who you may (or may not) know from previous works like...Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Hrmmm. Seems the movie's also going to be pushed back, too - originally planned for 2009, Mark Rein is now saying "We want to get it right. There's no timetable for us. We just want to make as good a movie as we can, and we think (Wiseman's) the guy who will do it".

Wiseman suits up for 'Gears of War' [Variety]

When poking fun at the "competition" one has to be careful not to step into "pompous" territory. Generally, a dash of quality humour that results in a few laughs is for the best. We're not quite sure that Battlefield: Bad Company's attempt to glom onto the Metal Gear Solid 4 hype by way of respectful ribbing is even remotely successful, but we'll let you be the judge of that.

According to a Telegraph headline, women who are working up a sweat via Wii Fit are responsible for rampant household destruction to the tune of £20 million (about $AU 42.44 million). That would be pretty damn impressive—not to mention perfect UK Resistance fodder—if it were even remotely true. Despite what you might be Digging right now, the headline doesn't match the article... or common sense for that matter.

With LEGO adding a delicious layer of licensing to properties like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman to generally welcome results, we won't be surprised when LEGO Halo becomes a real project or once proud properties like Tomb Raider resort to the LEGO treatment to win new fans.

The Minus World gang put together a list of five LEGO video games that will never ever happen, though we're not 100% sure that LEGO Juno is completely off the table. Our favourite is above, but heretics may find LEGO The Passion of the Christ more to their liking.

5 LEGO Video Games That Will Never Happen [The Minus-World]