In this roller coaster ride we call an economy, big fish will continue to gobble up all the little fish. Unfortunately, not all the little fish will be around at the end. Pandemic, the studio who started the Mercenaries series and brought us the legendary Star Wars Battlefront games is rumored to close down at the behest of its new owners, EA. SW: Battlefront II was my first venture onto XBL. Other than Halo 2, that is where I spent my first days of console online gaming. I loved Mercs 1; Mercs 2 was just okay. I think the death knell was the underwhelming LOTR: Conquest game. This could mean there will never be a Battlefront III, which really sucks. Good luck to all those who will lose their jobs over this. That is what sucks the most about all of this. Talented people out of work FTL.
The new multiplayer experience from Pandemic takes place in Middle Earth as Star Wars Battlefront means Hobbits. The demo, though short, has some gamers anticipated and others waiting with baited breath for the advanced reviews. The demo did not impress me all that much because of its limited campaign that was a walkthrough. Here is the launch trailer. See you in the shire next week.
Pandemic is rocking a new Lord of the Rings game and it sounds pretty damn cool. There’s going to be both a good and evil campaign, so you get to choose whether you want to save or destroy Middle Earth. It’s been confirmed you can be a Ring Wraith and kill Frodo.
And then right after the Sam / Frodo suck fest, right before the credits roll, Sam fuckin’ flat out bricks in Frodo’s mouth.
EA sent out a press release today to let us know that the acquisitions of BioWare and Pandemic Studios have been completed.
“BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios are two world-class studios and bring strong, highly compatible cultures of creative excellence to the EA Games Label,” said Mr. Gibeau. “Their strengths in the RPG, action and adventure genres further broadens EA’s portfolio, and reinforces our commitment to creating the world’s greatest interactive entertainment.”
I’m a big fan of games from both studios, and I hope being part of a larger corporation doesn’t interfere with the development quality. Only time will tell.
The wheelings and dealings of the video game world keep spinning with EA acquiring Pandemic and Bioware from the VG Holding company. This gives the gaming juggernaut dibs on all of their creative properties. This could mean some high quality RPG’s coming up in the not so distant future. Here is the official press release we just received from EA.
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced an agreement with Elevation Partners to acquire VG Holding Corp. — the owner of both BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios. This acquisition gives EA a strong competitive position in key genres in interactive entertainment: action, adventure and role-playing games. The two studios have been recognized for creating some of the highest-quality games in the industry.
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