Crispy Gamer News

Back in October, we reported that Warner Bros., looking to increase its stake in video game publisher Eidos, was cleared by Eidos investors to pick up more stoke in the ailing company. Not long after, the rumor mill started grinding hard with talks of different companies eying the home of Tomb Raider for a potential buyout. Today, word coming out of Warner is that it decided to exercise that stock purchase agreement to purchase another 10 million shares in Eidos, bringing its total stake to 52.5 million shares, about 20 percent of the total company.

Back when it first invested in Eidos (then SCi Entertainment), Warner was originally subject to a contract restricting the number of shares it could own until early 2009. SCi then loosened the stock restrictions somewhat, opening things up further for Warner, so long as the total stake in the company remained under 30 percent through 2008.

Warner’s increased stake in Eidos, at least on paper, looks to be a win/win situation for the media giant. With rumors of at least three other publishers vying for control of Eidos, Warner is in prime position to either take control of Eidos at a fraction of the cost as the other suitors, sell off its stake in the company for a profit, or simply sit back and rake in the dividends regardless of where Eidos eventually ends up.

While it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Lara Croft has plenty of suitors, these days it’s getting hard to keep track of ‘em all. Earlier this week, we reported that Eidos (formerly SCi Entertainment, was rumored to be in buyout talks with a couple of potential big publishers. Originally, the word was the EA and Ubisoft were the major players bidding for the company behind the Tomb Raider and Hitman franchises. Now, MCV is reporting that Square Enix has swooped into formation right alongside the other publishers circling Eidos.
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And the rumor mill just keeps on grinding away. This time around it’s video game website CVG, which is reporting that the next big property to get the LEGO treatment will be none other than J.K. Rowlings’ popular boy wizard, Harry Potter.

Traveller’s Tales, the developer behind the hit LEGO series of games, is said to already be hard at work recreating Hogwarts in the stylish little plastic building blocks. Where things get trick though, if the rumor is true, is who would publish the possible game. While Warner Bros. owns the movie rights to the Harry Potter series, and it also owns Traveller’s Tales, at last check Electronic Arts still had the publishing rights to video games based on the Potter franchise. Assuming for a minute that the rumor is true, a betting man would say that all of this has already been worked out behind the scenes, as it’s hard to imagine TT getting hip deep in development of a game that doesn’t have a home.

It should be noted that Warner Bros. is currently planning to release the latest Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in July of 2009. If the rumor of the LEGO Harry Potter games is true, it’s probably safe to assume that Warner would want to have the game released in time with either the film or its later DVD release.

Okay, so it’s pretty much a given that with a big blockbuster action movie, there’s going to be a video game adaptation of some kind. So it should come as no surprise that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, together with Equity Games Production and Halcyon Games, announce today that it’s currently working on a new third-person shooter based on the upcoming flick, Terminator Salvation, which opens nationwide on May 22, 2009.

Terminator Salvation: The Videogame offers players the chance to assume the role of John Connor, a soldier in the resistance, battling for survival against the far superior forces of Skynet. The title will be a third-person action game with concentrated armed combat against all of the Skynet enemies from the film while encountering new enemies specifically designed for the game. The game was developed by GRIN Studios, published by Equity Games, co-published by Evolved Games and distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

“Terminator Salvation: The Videogame allows players to battle for survival against Skynet enemies utilizing an incredibly fluid and realistic control set,” said Cos Lazouras, President of Halcyon Games. “The player will be led through a visceral story with extremely polished production values to create a fully interactive Terminator experience.”

“Building on the incredibly strong franchise, Terminator Salvation: The Videogame will be a cinematic gaming experience that complements the upcoming film,” said John Quinn, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Operations, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Working with Halcyon and Equity Games, we will expand on the Terminator universe on next generation consoles with action packed gameplay and detailed environments.”

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.
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Some good news came out of Burbank this week: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has changed the name of action horror game Project Origin to F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. I am certainly happy that Monolith’s follow-up to the original game now has the proper moniker. The game with the spiffy new name will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive on February 10, 2009 in North America and February 13, 2009 in Europe. Here’s what WBIE had to say about the name change:

“The name addition builds upon the strong game recognition, which we will extend as we move forward reinventing the F.E.A.R. brand,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin will continue the legacy of the original F.E.A.R. game with story and combat while adding new twists, gameplay and graphics to expand the players’ experience.”

Project Origin was to be published under the Sierra label owned by VU Games, which was all but abandoned by Activision Blizzard after the merger. WVIE bought back the rights to the game from the company, who was glad to sell it off and move on. I guess it’s a win-win for everyone.

Check out our coverage of the game before it became F.E.A.R. 2 in our Project Origin Preview.

In case you thought it was never ever coming, Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment want to confirm to you, dear reader, that the video game based on the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released globally in the summer of 2009. The game will be released just as the film hits theaters so you can continue the experience somewhere that doesn’t smell like Urine, popcorn and regret (or is that just the kind of theater I frequent? You decide).

In the new game players journey back to Hogwarts to help Harry survive his sixth year at the venerable Wizards academy, engaging in duels, mixing potion , playing on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and following the storyline of the film to a dramatic climax to uncover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince. The game will be a test for EA who promised recently that it was done creating mediocre licensed games. Yeah, we will see EA, we will see.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled for release on the Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, Windows PC, Macintosh and mobile devices.