Ian Livingstone to keynote GC Asia Conference

Ian Livingstone will be a keynote speaker at this year’s GC Asia Conference (GCAC). In his keynote entitled, “The Life of Lara Croft,” Livingstone will give a brief history of video games and use Lara Croft as a case study to demonstrate the value of creating original Intellectual Property. His keynote will also explore how to leverage games through licensing and merchandising to produce additional revenues and brand value.

Ian Livingstone is one of the founding fathers of UK interactive entertainment and fiction. He is the founder of Games Workshop, and together with Steve Jackson, launched Dungeons & Dragons in Europe and the Games Workshop retail chain. Livingstone has written a number of interactive game books including Deathtrap Dungeon. At EIDOS, he helped to secure many of the company’s major franchises including Tomb Raider and Hitman.

GCA and GCAC take place September 17-20, 2009, in Singapore at the Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre Singapore. For more information on the conference visit www.gc-asia.sg.

image credit: this Flickr account

Square Enix Buyout of Eidos Gets More Backing

Just a couple of days removed from news that Warner Bros. was backing the buyout of Eidos by Square Enix, news is coming out that yet another major Eidos investor has agreed to back the proposed deal. According to statements released by both Square Enix and Eidos this morning, the companies have reached an agreement with Pioneer Investment Management Ltd., which currently controls just over 10 percent of Eidos, to back the buyout proposal for the Tomb Raider publisher. This brings the total backing for the proposed to more than 45 percent, over half of the 75 percent required for the deal to go through.

The agreement reached with Pioneer has a few conditions attached, similar to the agreement reached with Warner Bros. As with Warner, Pioneer has the right to back out of the deal if a formal business plan is not posted within 28 days, and Pioneer can also back out if a higher offer for Eidos is tendered by a third party. Unlike the agreement with Warner, though, any new offer for Eidos has to exceed the Square Enix offer by at least 15 percent for Pioneer to exercise its right to step away from the deal.

With 45 percent of Eidos shares now accounted for, Square Enix still needs to secure the support of another 30 percent of shares in the publisher before heading into an investor vote on the deal, currently scheduled for the end of next month. If all goes well for Square Enix, though, it might not be too much longer before the home of Final Fantasy has to add a few new rooms for an archaeologist, a hitman, a few more members of the Eidos extended family. The first time I see Agent 47 line up Cloud Strife in the crosshairs of a sniper scope, though, I think it’ll be safe to say the deal has been done.

Eidos Ripe for Warner Takeover?

It’s no secret these days that video game publisher Eidos is struggling. We’ve already reported on potential buyout talks more than once. Recently, we even reported that Warner Bros. had taken the opportunity to bulk up on its stake in the troubled publisher, increasing its Eidos holdings to a total of about 20 percent. Now, it’s beginning to look more and more like Warner could be positioning itself to take a more active role in the day to day operations at Eidos.

The first sign pointing to a potential Warner takeover of Eidos is actually built on a foundation made of LEGO. Back in 2007, Warner first set things in motion to acquire Traveller’s Tales, the developer behind the hit LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman games. Earlier this week, while addressing investors at a conference in Arizona, Warner’s Chief Financial Officer John Martin called the acquisition “wildly successful”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pages: 1 2

Kym Worthy and the Evils of Video Games

I touched upon this yesterday in The Rundown, but today let’s analyze the particulars. This week Wayne County, Michigan Prosecutor Kym Worthy released her list of Top 10 Violent Video Games Played By Teens. The list, which is actually a rehash of the Mature rated section of games from the National Institute on Media and the Family Video Game Report Card for 2008, feature’s a who’s who of the most popular “M” rated games in North America. The link between “teens wanting to play these particular games” is tenuous at best, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pages: 1 2 3

SCi Clears Warner to Buy More Stock

Could the folks at Warner Bros. soon have Lara Croft as their exclusive spokesperson?

Last week, rumors started to circulate that Warner Bros. was looking to acquire a controlling interest in SCi Entertainment, which owns Tomb Raider publisher Eidos. The rumors began when Warner, who already had a minority stake in SCi, bulked up on its SCi stock, increasing its ownership in the company to about 16 percent.

Read the rest of this entry »