Activision and Vivendi announced yesterday that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine Vivendi Games, Vivendi's interactive entertainment business -- which includes Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, the world’s #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise -- with Activision, creating the world’s largest pure-play online and console game publisher. The new company will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ.

Representatives of Blizzard, in the new online FAQ and in recent interviews, have stressed that the merger will not affect the company's games, websites, personnel, or day to day operations.

Q: What will happen to the Blizzard brand name?
A: The Blizzard brand name will stay the same as it's always been: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Q: What will change with regard to the day-to-day operations at Blizzard?
A: There will be no changes in the way Blizzard operates. All of the people, processes, and philosophies that have made Blizzard so successful will be preserved. Blizzard will benefit from all-star sales and distribution teams to service our products. In addition, the combined company will be stronger financially, managerially, and operationally.

Q: How will this impact Blizzard's games?
A: This will not impact Blizzard's games. We remain committed to providing the same high-quality game content and support that we always have. Development on Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II, as well as on our unannounced games, is continuing as normal.

Activision Blizzard

Blizzard's Merger FAQ

1UP.com: Mike Morhaime Interview

Blizzard Entertainment

With the 2007 holidays just a few weeks away, Inside Mac Games has posted its yearly holiday buying guide. Looking for something for that special someone or simply something for yourself? We've come up with a few great gift ideas for the Mac gamer.

To check out the IMG's Buyer's Guide 2007 - Part 1, please follow the link below. Part 2 and 3 will be posted in the coming days.

Inside Mac Games Feature: IMG Holiday Buying Guide - Part 1

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Blueline Studios' adventure game The Castle is now available for Mac OS X as a universal application, allowing it to run natively on PPC and Intel macs. In the game players solve mysteries and gradually unravel a spellbinding plot about three people trapped in a surrealistic world. The Castle features more than 1,200 high detail 3D pictures, as well as compelling sound, music, and animation sequences.

When Noemi suddenly finds herself in an ancient castle, and two men from her past unexpectedly appear, she would never have thought it would be the beginning of a mysterious plot.

As the three people explore the enigmatic world in which they are trapped, they encounter an oracle. Its predictions seem to become fulfilled every time.

But really every time?

When one of the men suddenly disappears, it is the beginning of great passion--and a wicked plot. A plot you can unravel if you put together Noemi's lost diary, solve strange puzzles, find hidden secret passages, and prepare yourself for the unexpected while there is still time....

The Castle

GameBanshee recently released an interview with Interplay's Jason D. Anderson about the company's upcoming entry into the massively multiplayer online game arena. Although the company has yet to formally announce the setting of the MMO, many fans and game journalists have suggested Fallout Online as the most likely possibility.

GB: The massively multiplayer market basically comes down to World of Warcraft and then everyone else somewhere down the list, which really isn't the case for any other video game genre. How do you feel about stepping into a sector with such an odd market share distribution?
Jason: I don't worry so much about the market share distribution. I know it sounds arrogant, but I am planning on making an awesome MMO. I am trying to put a team together that shares both my enthusiasm and my vision. This question goes back to my feelings of defeatism that you see in the industry.

There are many people who say "Oh, you're making an MMO? And you really think you're going to compete with WoW?" And you would not believe how many times I have heard something along those lines... That is not the attitude I want on my team. I am playing MMOs and I am enjoying them. WarCraft is one of the games I play, but it is not the only one.

I am making a game that I truly believe in and that I am willing to pour my heart and soul into. I am not worried about WarCraft. So many people say "Why Try?", but my response is "Why not?"

GameBanshee: Interplay MMO Interview

Interplay

Valen Games has announced that the financial strategy game Lunar Domination is now available for Mac OS X. In addition to Mac OS X support, the new version of Lunar Domination also includes online multiplayer support for two players. The game ofers players the unique challenge of defeating their opponents through skillful manipulation of the lunar ore market rather than with the traditional arsenal of weapons seen in other games.

Lunar Domination is a turn-based strategy game where players fight for domination over the lunar ore market. Unlike in war strategy games, players cannot attack each other directly. Instead they must skillfully manage their finances and base expansion, and compete with their opponent for orders from clients. This focus on financial strategy creates a different player experience compared to traditional war strategy games. The only weapon that is available in Lunar Domination is your mind.

To win the game you must fill the ore quotas of three clients faster than your opponent. This involves mining the ore, and then competing with your opponent for the client orders. Each completed order brings you closer to victory. Competition for orders takes place using an auction system, where the player with the lowest bid wins the order.

The ore that your clients request is scattered around a map, and can be mined using specialized buildings. The map itself is split into sectors which can be bought by you or your opponent, and contain the ore that you can mine. Sectors are also home to your buildings, which allow you to mine, store, refine, and sell ore to your clients.

Neighboring sectors form sector groups, where member sectors share resources that buildings in them provide. However, larger sector groups result in higher income taxes. This makes smaller sector groups more profitable, and one of the challenges in the game is to keep your sector groups as small as possible to make the most money from your ore.

The game is available for Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, Windows 2000/XP/Vista, and Linux. It costs $19.99 and can be purchased at the Valen Games web site linked below.

Lunar Domination

In celebration of the holiday season Digital Eel, perhaps best known for its Infinite Space sci-fi games, is now offering two of its other game titles for free. Big Box of Blox, a colorful matching game, and Dr. Blob's Organism, a fast pace shoot 'em up, are now available for free to both OS X and Windows users.

Just in time to stuff into your virtual holiday stockings, Digital Eel hereby declares that Big Box of Blox and Dr. Blob's Organism are now FREE! Yep, that's TWO games for the low, low price of $0! How can this be, you ask? Because it's that time of year when everyone should be thinking about sharing, absolutely, and we want to show our gratitude to gamers (you know who you are) for supporting us --but also because free stuff is fun!

The best part is yet to come. This applies to BOTH the Mac and PC versions of these games!

Big Box of Blox is Digital Eel's first attempt to skewer the matching game genre (something we seem to like to do from time to time, ahem), with five different game variants, eye-popping art by Phosphorous and one of Digital Eel's more bizarre sound productions. You don't want to miss this one, especially for free! So, as we say: "Enter the Asylum, visit the Mushroom King and spin the Wheels of Fortune with Digital Eel's Big Box of Blox!"

The IGF double award winning Dr. Blob's Organism is a frenetic shoot 'em up based on John Conway's Game of Life. Players blast feisty one-celled organisms as they try to escape from a petri dish. Each level in the game introduces new powerups and more dangerous organisms with special abilities. Playing this game, you will learn to fear the word mitosis even as you get sucked in by the visuals, music (lots of tracks!), lightning-fast gameplay, and moist and squishy sound effects. Okay, no more waiting.

Digital Eel

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In a news update on the official site Basilisk Games has offered a brief update on the status of the Mac version of the company's upcoming RPG, Eschalon: Book 1. The game will receive an official release date sometime this week. The first in a planned trilogy, E:B1 will offer an experience inspired by classics of the genre as well as turn-based combat, a large world to explore, and a variety of quests.

The newest patch for the Windows version of Eschalon: Book I is online. You can grab the patch over on the Book I page, and those of you who are curious about the fixes can find them listed here. Also, we are going to announce the release date of the Macintosh version next week, and the Linux version is going to be closely behind that!

Basilisk Games

Eschalon: Book I

Buy Eschalon: Book I

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