Gaming

With this morning's announcement from Asus and its EN9800GX2 graphics card, we get the first glimpse of what Nvidia's GeForce 7950GX2 should have been. That card, if you'll recall from the summer of 2006, was the first SLI-on-a-single-card design from Nvidia. Effectively, it put two 3D chips on a single two-slot card. What that means is you didn't need a specialized, SLI-compatible motherboard to enjoy superfast game performance, because all of the necessary circuitry was built into the card.

The problem with the GeForce 7950 GX2 was that it was expensive, and it hit the market … Read more

The video game industry and free-speech proponents landed yet another legal victory on Monday, when a federal appeals court affirmed a 2006 rejection of a Minnesota law restricting minors' access to violent titles.

The Minnesota law would have imposed up to a $25 fine on minors younger than 17 caught buying or renting video games rated "M" for mature or "AO" for adults-only, under the video game industry's rating system.

But a U.S. district judge blocked the new policy the day before it was scheduled to take effect. The judge cited constitutional concerns and &… Read more

The drama surrounding Electronic Arts' attempt to buy Take-Two Interactive is, increasingly, playing out like a combination action-adventure and shooter game.

As noted in a story published Friday in The New York Times, Take-Two has become a moving target not only because of maneuvering by the company's officers but because of changes in its shareholder group.

The offer EA presented on Thursday directly to Take-Two shareholders--$26 per share, or about $2 billion--is essentially the same one it offered the video game publisher in February. But as the Times story points out, Take-Two's shareholder population has in … Read more

Microsoft has denied that it plans to integrate Blu-ray high-definition DVD drives into its Xbox 360 game console.

Rumors have circulated recently that Microsoft was considering a Blu-ray replacement for the Xbox's now-discontinued external HD DVD drive.

Last week, the Financial Times, citing an unnamed senior executive, reported that Sony and Microsoft were in talks to integrate Blu-ray into the game system.

Not so, says a Microsoft executive. "Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience," Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, told Reuters … Read more

Updated March 13, 12:45 PM PDT, to reflect the announcement by EA.

Electronic Arts has launched a $26-per-share tender offer for all outstanding shares of game publisher Take-Two following the rejection of an unsolicited bid.

The bid for the rival publisher of the Grand Theft Auto game places the value of Take-Two at $2 billion. Announced Thursday, the EA tender offer is set to expire April 11 at midnight Eastern Time, unless extended.

The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on its Web site Wednesday night, citing people familiar with the matter.

In February, EA issued … Read more

A shareholder of Take-Two Interactive Software has sued the company for rejecting Electronic Arts' $2 billion takeover bid, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday (subscription required to read entire article).

The suit was filed Friday in a Wilmington, Del., court. According to the Journal, the suit charges that Take-Two executives sought to enrich themselves at the expense of shareholders through a compensation agreement, amended in February after EA made a private offer for the company, that could grant them a big pay-out if Take-Two is acquired.

Two law firms--Prickett, Jones & Elliott, and Schiffrin, Barroway, Topaz & Kessler--filed the suit, … Read more

CNET's Gamespot posted a news blurb today on a report that, "Microsoft has entered into talks with Sony to bring Blu-ray to the Xbox 360." The report comes from a Financial Times story that quotes an unnamed "senior executive," who says that Sony and Microsoft "are not simply discussing a successor to the Xbox 360's now discontinued, dirt-cheap external HD DVD drive," but that "there is also the possibility of an internal Blu-ray drive being incorporated into a new, more expensive 'premium' 360 model."

At the Consumer Electronics Show in … Read more

Gary Gygax helped keep me out of trouble when I was in junior high school.

I was saddened earlier Tuesday to hear that Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and the father of modern role-playing games, has died. He was 69 years old. My CNET Reviews colleague Will Greenwald has already written about Gygax's role in the gaming community.

For many of us who grew up before PCs became ubiquitous and long before it was cool to be a geek, Gygax's creation meant Friday nights spent playing games with your friends, not wishing you were someone else. … Read more

Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and one of the fathers of tabletop role-playing games, died on Tuesday at the age of 69. He had suffered from heart problems.

The news was first announced on the message board of Troll Lord Games, the publisher of Gygax's most recent works. It has since been directly confirmed by the company, which will post an announcement on its Web site later Tuesday.

Gygax was best known for helping create Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. He also pioneered tabletop role-playing games. The first D&D rulebooks were released … Read more