Infogrames Could Help Ubisoft vs. EA 191
GamesIndustry.biz iz reporting that in a show of European solidarity publisher Infogrames may assist Ubisoft (with the blessings of the French Government) if EA attempts a hostile takeover of the Prince of Persia developer. From the article: "Speaking to news agency Reuters, Bonnell expressed his hope that Ubisoft will remain independent - and rubbished EA's claim that its recent purchase of almost 20 per cent of the firm's stock was merely an investment." Further details on Greg Costikyan's Blog. All this is follow up to year-end shenanigans from EA.
Sigh (Score:5, Funny)
Best quote ever.... (Score:5, Funny)
From Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com] to EA:
PA: How do you respond to rumors that you are the fucking devil?
EA: EA does not comment on rumors.
Pun? (Score:2, Funny)
Sorry, I couldn't rezizt commenting on thiz. I'm here all week.
History in the making... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:History in the making... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:History in the making... (Score:2)
I'd put up some resistance, too, if I'd been doing the same.
Re:History in the making... (Score:2)
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In other news... (Score:2)
Re:In other news... (Score:2)
I guess I'm a little TOO oldschool.
No context.. (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm getting sick and tired of reading writeups and being left to discern all of the information on my own. If you're going to claim to post news articles with information in them, you're going to have to actually provide some information.
Re:No context.. (Score:2)
Only on slashdot... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Only on slashdot... (Score:2)
Re:Only on slashdot... (Score:2)
Re:No context.. (Score:2, Troll)
In the time you spent writing your post, you could have Googled the information you were looking for, rather than wasting everyone's time listening to you whine, and remaining ignorant.
Slashdot stories are not going to suddenly get longer because people like you refuse to put out a little effort.
I don't s
Re:No context.. (Score:2)
Achtung, moron-boy: if they want me to go out to various sites and read things for my informational pleasures so that I keep coming back to give them ad revenue then they better damn well tell me what I'm click
Re:No context.. (Score:2)
If you want to make shit up and pretend that I said it, then yeah, sure, go ahead. My actual argument is that /. is really about the discussions; the stories provide a springboard for those discussions. Providing substantially more background in the stories isn't worth the time of the
Re:No context.. (Score:2)
Re:No context.. (Score:2)
And before you take me to task over the way I'm going about it, note that I got YOU involved, now didn't I?
Re:No context.. (Score:2)
A) is not likely to get the editors to listen to you, and
B) does not indicate that you care about the site or want it to get better? It sounds like you just want an excuse to bitch and moan.
Yes, m
Funny... (Score:5, Informative)
But "In
Re:Funny... (Score:3, Informative)
PARIS (AFP),
05-01-2005
The French industry of the video game, whose brittleness burst at the great day with the intrusion of the American giant Electronic Arts in the capital of Ubisoft, is mobilized to preserve a part of its independence, which could pass by a bringing together between Vivendi Universal Games and Ubisoft.
The financial daily newspaper Agefi launched this assumption Wednesday, by affirming that the group of
Re:Funny... (Score:2)
Infogrames is Atari. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Infogrames is Atari. (Score:2)
source http://specials.ft.com/ftit/sept2001/FT343T996RC.
Re:Infogrames is Atari. (Score:2)
Obviously Hasbro Interactive was part of Hasbro, and I assume it was split off before being sold. (Hasbro's "contribution" to the Atari name was to take all Atari's old games such as Centipede and Pong, and make modern versions of them. I mean, really... if
Continuity is what makes the difference (Score:2)
The difference is that from the original Atari, through Warner-ownership, to the Tramiel era, there was continuity. It changed over time, but there was always a connection; the product-line and staff didn't disappear overnight (though, of course, the arcade division, Atari Games, wasn't sold to the Tramiels).
I don't know the details of
Re:Infogrames is Atari. (Score:2)
Re:Infogrames is Atari. (Score:2)
Re:Infogrames is Atari. (Score:1)
Infogrames... (Score:1)
I was gonna make a joke about France, but frankly...
Help? Fight? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is there any place on the web where we can get capitalization information and statistics on foreign companies? Both Infogrames and Ubisoft are public, but neither has stock listed in the Americas and I can't seem to find info like floats, capitalizations, insider/institutional holdings, amount of cash available, etc. EA's a pretty big company sitting on a pretty fat wallet (to the tune of 2.5B in cash).
Re:Help? Fight? (Score:2)
Infogrames: IFOE.PA [yahoo.com]
Re:Help? Fight? (Score:2)
Vivendi also wants to help out Ubisoft (Score:1)
That name.. (Score:4, Funny)
"Hey Bob, can you take a look at the incorporation documents? What's with the 'R' in the company name?"
"Ohhh...... fuck."
Re:That name.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:That name.. (Score:2)
I just looked in one of my French dictionnaries specializing in etymology: the "gramm-" suffix means "letter" or "drawing", used in crypthogramme, programme, programmable, electrocardiogramme, ... So I think if they made a spelling error, it's because they used only one "m"...
The roots are greek, from gramma, grammatos (letter) and gramme^ (drawing).
Plan of Attack (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Plan of Attack (Score:2)
On a similar note, I'd best put on my peril-sensitive sunglasses before seeing my comment's final score.
Re:Plan of Attack (Score:2)
Re:Plan of Attack (Score:1)
(A nitpick: Zork was Infocom's and not Infogrames' - I was under the impression Infocom's stuff belonged to Activision these days or something. Which is curious, since Atari brand belongs to Infogrames, and Atari's and Activision's relationship... uh, ergh, I got a headache. What a tangled web!)
Scene: A Tomb of Old Brands, under the ruined halls of a Game Company.
A pair of Electronic Arts' IP Robbers break through the sealed door and collect their jaws from the floor as their flashlight beams reveal unt
I don't understand (Score:3, Insightful)
But there are you others. You seem to be assigning a sense of romanticism here, as though EA were attempting to defile the virtue of Ubisoft. What the hell is wrong with you people?
Re:I don't understand (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I don't understand (Score:2)
Re:I don't understand (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I don't understand (Score:2)
Re:I don't understand (Score:2)
Re:I don't understand (Score:2)
Re:I don't understand (Score:2)
Re:I don't understand (Score:2)
they're both boring game houses... but with the biggest advertising budgets it seems.
Re:I don't understand (Score:2)
EA is Evil. SCO was not evil, it was just funny, EA is true evil and you don't want to see it. You are happy with their games so you think that everything is OK. Just like many people here use Microsoft software and are happy with it. Try to look from distance. Try to see what influence it has to whole market.
Re:I don't understand (Score:2)
I don't own any EA games, and those I have played were mediocre at best. Interesting that you can tell me how I feel about them.
"EA is true evil and you don't want to see it"
Um, I know it's early, but god damn what a stupid thing to say. True evil? Like baby raping, genitalia mutilating, human flesh eating evil? Of course not.
Have you considered never posting (or sharing your opinion) again? You should.
props (Score:2)
Big fish, little fish... (Score:3, Insightful)
A little Googling shows that Ubisoft has facilities in several countries [ubisoftgroup.com] and actually purchased two U.S. studios (RedStorm and Game Studio) in 2000-01.
It appears that they've been a part of the general consolidation in the games industry as well.
I also have to wonder whether the Feds and/or the EU would allow an outright takeover in the first place, given the antitrust implications.
Re:Big fish, little fish... (Score:1)
Re:Big fish, little fish... (Score:2)
Re:Big fish, little fish... (Score:1)
Re:Big fish, little fish... (Score:1)
With what money? (Score:3, Interesting)
They have to postpone a shareholder meeting because they can't get a quorum to vote on their bonds that are due this upcoming July, and now they want to give money away just to float another company? Yeesh! [yahoo.com] so much for a recovery...
Re:With what money? (Score:1)
Sell Sell Sell
I don't know why people do this, waiting for a stock to break even is wasting your money. Why would you hold onto a stock that is slowly climbing when there are others out there that are growing quickly?
Seriously you are losing money by not getting into a better investment.
Foreign companies take over US companies... (Score:2)
I'm not a fan of EA's business tactics, far from it, but this has happened to all sorts of US companies, and foreign governments protect their markets from the same happening to their companies (see: Japan).
I don't see why US companies should not buy foreign ones.
f ea (Score:2, Insightful)
Fuck EA.
Re:Let's Boycott EA (Score:5, Funny)
All Slashdotters from this day forward should boycott all EA produced software.
What, by not downloading those torrents?
Re:Let's Boycott EA (Score:2)
My money has spoken.
Re:Let's Boycott EA (Score:2)
Re:Let's Boycott EA (Score:2)
Re:Let's Boycott EA (Score:1)
Re:ok, how long (Score:4, Insightful)
The whole "let's declare war on anything associated with the word 'french' in it" is just pathetic. Really, it just is so petty and ridiculous that it borders on infantile: are freedom fries any tastier than french fries? No? I didn't think so.
Grow up. It's shit like this that has cost you the almost all of international support and goodwill that was apparent in the aftermath of September 11th.
Re:ok, how long (Score:3, Insightful)
I do the same thing for French toast also.
Re:ok, how long (Score:2)
They refused to serve them to me.
Re:ok, how long (Score:2)
Re:ok, how long (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:ok, how long (Score:2)
failure of vision Ergo most of "you guys" seem to think that the UK fought the US in the 2WW. Take this as sarcasm or flamebait, but it seems incontrovertible - demonstrated daily on slashdot - that USAians in general just don't care about the "broad sweep of history". Particularly, I guess, if you're a blue stater.
I think there should be some intervention in the UbiSoft (Go Marianne!) v EA (boo sucks Uncle Sam)
Re:ok, how long (Score:1)
huh? Americans have been making fun of the French for decades...
Re:ok, how long (Score:1)
Re:ok, how long (Score:2)
That is all, frog-lover!
Re:ok, how long (Score:1)
Re:ok, how long (Score:1, Offtopic)
* They own RCA.
* They keep Boeing from being a monopoly.
* They keep Spain and Germany seperated.
* Helped us in the Revolutionary War.
* Renault.
* Provided words like Entreprenuer and Buffet.
What we do for them:
* Call them names.
* Provide them with Microsoft software.
* Helped them in WWII.
Re:ok, how long (Score:2)
Hmm, are you sure this is a positive thing? (I kid, I kid...)
Re:ok, how long (Score:2, Interesting)
Guess who is helping the US most in Afghanistan? And who was the first leader to visit New York in the aftermath of 09/11 ? (hint: his first name is Jacques).
Comparing lists as you suggest is not a correct way of handling relationships between such two long-lasting allies.
The reason why the French are so upset about the USA is that they wasted the vast amount of sympathy they gained after 09/11 by engag
Re:you? what's this you? (Score:1, Interesting)
"It's not just the French that hates the USA. The rest of the world does too" is an equally valid statement.
Re:ok, how long (Score:2)
Oh, right it doesn't matter anyway.
Re:ok, how long (Score:1)
Revolutionary France, Napoleonic France, Republican France - I can't think of a lot of good they have been for the US.
Re:ok, how long (Score:2)
Which country's foreign minister poses as champion of international law, yet is really a degenerate Napoleonic power worshipper who still thinks warfare i
Re:Ouch (Score:2)
And as for France only supporting the US when it further supported French interests well that's hardly any different from the US, is it? The US only entered WWI because of the Zimmerman telegraph unearthed by British Intelligence (do you even learn about that in school?) and it only entered
Re:Ouch (Score:2)
Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak? (Score:2)
Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak? (Score:1)
And
The French government really don't seem interested in that.
Thank you for providing some shred of evidence that improper English grammar is not the sole province of the United States.
Sorry, I mean no offense.
Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak? (Score:1)
I can't deny the first two!
The last should have read "doesn't"..
My grammar is at best average - my grammar on the 'net is below than average...
Th worrying thing is that I remain better than a lot...
OP is perfectly correct. (Score:1)
It's incorrect in Yankese, probably because your legal system pretends that companies are people. Hint: they aren't, they're just a group of human beings and a bunch of legal documents.
Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak? (Score:2)
No need to throw them out of Europe. Just march on Paris...apparently that's been proven a feasible task.
Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak? (Score:5, Insightful)
The US federal government does a lot of this, sometimes directly through subsidies (for example, the agriculture), through pork barrel programs, often of military nature (how many billions have the useless NMD poured into Boeing's and Lockheed's R&D depts ?), often through corporate wellfare, such as the Foreign Sales tax breaks that have been recently outlawed by the WTO, sometimes through tarriffs, for example on steel, which were also outlawed by the WTO, but lasted just enough for the American mills to restructure and survive until the explosion of Asian demand for steel, or the on Canadian lumber. The tax deduction of mortgage interest and the "soft sponsoring" of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac correspond to an effective subsidizing of the residential real-estate sector, etc...
Your US Airways example is bad, because the US has precisely massively, if indirectly, subsidized airlines after 9/11, in a manner that has drawn numerous complaints from Europe.
Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak? (Score:1)
Re:European Solidarity? (Score:5, Insightful)
Foreign airlines are prohibited from flying between US cities.
Japan makes bogus claims to turn away shipments of US vehicles.
It's not just France.
Re:European Solidarity? (Score:2)
Everybody is protectionist. USA the first of them.
Re:European Solidarity? (Score:2)
In addition all foreign trucks operating in the US must be shipping to or from another country (US or Mexico). You cannot, for example, take Potatos from Saskatoon Canada to New York; and then take apples to New Jersey. This makes sense though, because at this point you are working inside the United States without a work license, effectively.
Re:European Solidarity? (Score:2)
Second, I'm sure there are plenty more examples of corporate welfare by governments. It does strike me as peculiar that France is doing a lot to bail out a video game publisher when there are other, larger French companies that are owned in large chunks by foreigners. (STMicroelectronics, for example)
Re:First time for everything (Score:2, Insightful)
They helped us start our country. We saved their hindparts in WWII. What we need is mutual respect and support.