This couldn't be better news. This means I can continue to purchase Take 2 games. I don't support EA and it would make me very sad to not play T2 games anymore.

doodleschmidt

I think Luke accidentally uploaded from his alone time picture folder.

Morpork

good, EA needs to calm down and stop buying everything

KingDavid73

They are going alone and choosed to choose no one? Perhabs that is what relates? Don't know exactly.

fELIXADER

Well, the title sounds very much like something Bridget Jones would say.

Herodito

I can't get the correlation to the pic, I'm usually spot on.

sh0tgunn0strils

I wonder how long it'll take for the shareholders to give the boot to Zelnick?

TheHeeyyy

@Vetterli:
Yeah, I can't puzzle this one out...

captaindirtnap

Of all the pictures in the world you chose a picture of Reene Zellweger!

Vetterli

Overall this is better for us consumers. The last thing we want to see is EA and Blivendivision being the lone publishers, duking it out until the end of time.

Though I'm sure some shareholders aren't too happy...

CoyoteGamer

Don't talk about the merger Ned!
Don't think about the merger Ned!
Don't even mention the word merger Ned!

Rampage

@reekon: There really shouldn't be any debate over Hot Coffee. Developers all the time eliminate content not by deleting it but by simply locking it out. It's the standard procedure in programming because if they do delete the code there is a good possibility it will cause bugs in the game, which in turn could end up delaying the title. It's safer and better to just lock it out.

CoyoteGamer

to add to my excitement, now we won't be playing versions of 2K games where you are a mercenary and get piles of gold...

->

Army of Two - You are mercenaries and get piles of money.

Mercenaries 2 - You are mercenaries and get piles of money.

Battlefield Bad Company - You are soldiers who fight mercenaries who have piles of money... which you steal, giving you piles of money.

... and all of these games came out within less than a year of each other.

I can imagine it now... Bioshock - pimp out your own Big Daddy... gold rimmed helmet?

Gold plated horses in Oblivion... Mercenary race in Civilization where gold production is doubled always or something, I don't know, it's not good stuff. It's kind of funny that a huge rich company like EA is so obsessed with money, that it makes it major themes in it's games... sigh. Moneyaholics Anonymous anyone?

KingDavid73

@sh0tgunn0strils: Ha! It's merely a commentary on contemporary mores. It's a slice of life.

elementary

Nice try of t2 to save their "face" =)
my more realistic approach on this is that no other company wants to buy or merge with them..

Because if the worlds leading publisher, EA , quickly back away after getting to see T2's internal files and sku plan it must be something not that good about it, and that probaly scares other companies away also.

cmd

Following detailed discussions with various interested parties over the last five months, Take-Two's Board of Directors has determined that it is in the best interests of stockholders to conclude its review of strategic alternatives and to continue operating and building Take-Two as an independent company.

or

Now that EA have looked at our books and know we ain't got shit worth buying, they've bolted like a whippet, taking everyone else who was even pretending to be interested with them. Please don't fire my ass for losing you 10 bucks per share in economically difficult times.

ThursdayNext

WOOHOO !

Sweet victory fr the gamers

Take that EA !

im pretty damn sure, if the T2 continues working like this, They are going to be the one who offer to buy EA, not to get bought by them

that was a great news, Go Take two !

Insane

Is it good-news-day? It must be good-news-day.

lumpi

I guess Luke's referring to the single Friday nights alone therefore ==> Bridget Jones.

Plus if you think about it that 2 men were viciously fighting over her in the 2 movies, then maybe that relates to how other companies were trying to fight over Take-Two.

And Bridget was imprisoned wrongly in the 2nd film for something she hid in her bag.

Take-Two was criticized "wrongly" (debatable) for something they hid (Hot Coffee).

So all-in-all, Bridget Jones, lonely, illegal stuff hidden, 2 men, 2 movies, ==> Take-Two. Woah! =D

reekon

Another win for the independant gaming industry, I just hope that T2 will be an example to other major devs, a shining light! a beacon of hope! that there are people out there opposing the likes of EA.

+2 for Take 2!

Sarinity

@Insane: I have a pretty good feeling they won't ever be able to match EA. Didn't shares drop down about ten dollars when EA said they would no longer try to buy Take Two? Also, it seems like Take Two is always in th red in terms of profits, and their whole strategy seems to be to desperately crank out GTAs to keep the losses down.

Avonej

@elementary: Wahlstein?

badasscat

@Insane: "im pretty damn sure, if the T2 continues working like this, They are going to be the one who offer to buy EA, not to get bought by them"

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

no.

ThursdayNext

@CoyoteGamer: Wait, I'm not saying "debatable" to mean that I think they deserve what they got.

I mean "debatable" to say that it's an issue that is plainly still debatable.

I'm with you that they shouldn't have been blamed too much on the issue since they locked it already.

But we have to accept the fact that on the other side, they shouldn't have created the Hot Coffee mini-game in the first place.

reekon

Hooray!

Gray665

Take 2 are a bunch of idiots, Only people that oppose the merger aren't the game makers, it's the lawyers who know that their jobs are on the line because EA has enough monkeys in those positions.

Game Developers, as in the creative ones stand only to gain in a merger, results in better games, and more time to make them because of less overhead, oh and the #1 distribution channels for video games in North America.

I don't work at EA, nor Take 2, but hello, wake up and smell Business 101 people! QA, Middle Management, Lawyers, HR, QA, and all the non-creatives at Take 2, why not just apply at EA now and save yourself the hassle of applying for unemployment. idiots.

Android8675

@ThursdayNext: Nice name by the way. Sweet series.

Avonej

How do any of you people think EA or anybody else not buying out T2 is good news? They have like one good game series and thats GTA. As awesome as Bioshock was it didn't exactly generate sales and was unjustly overlooked by a few too many people. T2 need EA if for nothing else to market their games better. I think I only saw a Bioshock commercial once. ONCE! I saw the GTA IV commercial fucking everywhere. Besides, EA has changed quite a bit and for the better.

And to whatever MORON said that T2 might buy out EA someday........ YOUR A FUCKING MORON!!!

SolidLatino83

@Android8675: you obviously dont know EA then and what happens when a merger happens. Business 101 tells us that when a merger happens usually a good percent of the workers gets laid off. so while it may be good for all the fat cats it might not be good for say the rest of the company. Back to the EA issue, EA is notoriously known for screwing gamers and devs alike. i really dont want to go into detail but you can do some research and inform yourself on the type of company EA is, as well as the difference in quality that both EA and T2 put into their games.

Milkzhakes

With the bubble popping high in the sky, it's best to see what's around the corner before jumping in with both feet to make some shareholders a little richer. I see a change in the law coming which won't be particularly helpful to the larger corporations :)

vincevl

@SolidLatino83:

Actually I was hoping EA would buyout T2 I saw alot of good things come out of that whole ordeal

face0324

@ThursdayNext: B! I choose B!

skrame ☆

@Vetterli: Someone had to do the dirty work, so I took one for the team and looked up Renee Zellweger movies on IMDB. It would help if I knew what movie that image was from, but here's a few titles that may or may not make sense here:

My Own Love Song (2009)
My One and Only (2009)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994)

Ok. The last one doesn't make sense, but it's the only one I've seen.

skrame ☆

Hell .. With ea they'd only do better.

ikiddo

@SolidLatino83: Bioshock? Not generating sales?

you must be living under a rock my friend!

interstate78

@vincevl: and whats that?

testmunky

@interstate78:
Did it break any records? Did it set any records? When a masterpiece such as Bioshock comes out you expect it to shatter records. While it sold well, it didn't help save T2 the same way GTAIV did. Do you get it now.

SolidLatino83

This seems to be good for the gamers, and that's all that matters to me.

PlatformJunkie

yes. Good! No more gigantic corporate conglomerates! I like take two as it's own entity. Down with consolidation and monopolies!

gloveofpower

@skrame ☆: It's from bridget jones. It's a reference to her being fought over by two different men, and how she usually spends her time alone. Don't ask me how I know this.

Dragon_Warrior

Awesome leave my NBA 2k, GTA, and Bioshock alone.

mcx

You go, girl!

hagridore

@Dragon_Warrior: hahahahha someone give this man a star next to his name

invictus13

@Dragon_Warrior: Gold star

Luke Plunkett

@Android8675:

That's not entirely true. What happens if EA buys out your publisher, Take-Two, but EA already has a game similar to yours in their production pipeline? Uh oh! You, as a game developer, are screwed, because why would EA continue spending money to fund two similar titles when they could give yours the axe?

Zaikman