What to do when your event is drawing flak and your circle of supporters are leaving one by one? Try a different strategy, for one. And this is what ESA seems to be doing for next year's E3. Talks of them "going public" are circulating the Internet's grapevines. But how probable is this move?

It looks like layoffs are the "in" thing these days. While NCSoft lost less people than rumors previously said, Radical Entertainment was not so lucky. According to the Vancouver Sun, the studio's staff has been cut roughly in half. More in the full article.

It's now official AND finalized: Activision and Vivendi have finally completed all the transactions needed to seal the deal and merge into Activision Blizzard, and the union between the two major gaming outfits would open a whole lot of possibilities for the gaming industry. More details in the full article.

Well, it looks as if the merger between Activision and Vivendi has finally reached its end. We've just received a press release that lets us fully make use of our Activision-Blizzard tag. Learn more about the merger after the jump!

Some shareholders were apparently not too pleased when Activision and Vivendi made known their plans to form a merger, and filed an injunction suit in an attempt to stop the development in its tracks. All was for naught, however, when the court denied the request to intervene in the planned merger. More details in the full article.

Electronic Arts has decided to wait a bit more for Take-Two Interactive to reconsider its offer for acquisition. The Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) publisher now has until the 16th of May to say yes to the giant's proposal. However, EA has lowered its per-share purchase rate by 24 cents. All the details follow after the jump!

A lot of people have split opinions on the effectiveness of in-game advertising. However, Sony's chief executive Howard Stern expressed his doubts on the potential of that particular marketing trend. He wasn't alone in the idea either; other big names from major companies such as NBC Universal and Activision Blizzard voiced similar sentiments.

For more details, check out the full article after the jump!

(Editor's Note: What with controversies last week, the gaming industry's Batmobile might've lost its wheel - while the Joker got away - but that doesn't mean this sleigh ride will be stopping any time soon.)

G'day Christmas shoppers! This week in the gaming industry, we get to see the birth of a new umbrella corporation (sans the bio-engineered zombies) and a whole slew of issues to settle. QuickJump QuickPeek 24 is here to pop open a bottle of eggnog and more updates!

After Activision and Vivendi's announcement of the Activision Blizzard merger, will other gaming companies follow suit? At the very least, EA is open to the acquisition of other development studios, since there's a lot of talent to tap into that's not within EA's in-house studios. Check out more details in the full article.

Some analysts are adopting an optimistic outlook towards the recent announcement from Activision and Vivendi Games of their merge into Activision Blizzard. One such analyst, Piers Harding-Rolls, gives a few good reasons why. Hit the full article to check it out.