After their takeover bid of Take-Two Interactive fell through, Electronic Arts may be on the hunt once again for another studio to buy out. Rumor has it that this time, EA's eyes are set on Epic Games.

After a long drawn out battle to stave off Electronic Arts' takeover bid, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick laid down the final word on Take-Two's status as a company, announcing that they have decided to remain independent after all.

So after the whole EA-acquisition deal, both Take-Two and EA's stock shares plummeted. Such trying times indeed. So today, T2's busy with damage control. They just published a press release to reaffirm to everyone (most especially investors) that they're still a strong company and will remain an independent company. Warning: boring corporate fodder ahead.

Only rightly, the company that created Mario has been deemed as the top video game publisher by Game Developer. It's amazing how Nintendo still manages to stay on top after all these years.

Sony ranked fifth, and Microsoft blipped on 9th place. Who else made it? Full list after the link.

With Rockstar bringing the Grand Theft Auto franchise to the DS with Chinatown Wars, you'd think that they'd tone it down a bit to keep in line with Nintendo's typically family-friendly handheld platform. Nope. Not if the Houser brothers has anything to say about it.

According to Rockstar's Dan Houser, they're sticking to their guns (no pun intended?) and keeping to the GTA spirit. The game even has a drug dealing minigame. Details after the link.

Steve Jobs once said that the iPod Touch is the best portable device for playing games on. Now, we may actually have a point of reference to see if he's right, if this analyst proves to be correct. According to Mike Hickey, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS will most likely be ported to the iPhone. More predictions in the full article.

Dan and Sam Houser are the founders of Rockstar Games, and the brains behind the Grand Theft Auto series. If you were a video game company, you'd want them on your team.

Their contract with Take-Two Interactive will expire in just a few months, and already Activision Blizzard's CEO is making a play for them. So, what do you think of the creators of the Grand Theft Auto working for the studios that gave us Guitar Hero and Warcraft?

Michael Pachter's made some pretty big predictions before, but this one might take the cake. You know how EA backed off from its attempt to take over Take-Two? It may not have lost ownership, but according to Pachter, it might lose its key creative talents: Sam and Dan Houser, the powerhouse siblings of Rockstar Games. More in the full article.

The epic struggle between Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive has finally drawn to a close. You might think that the hard part's over - but for both companies, it just might be the start of a grueling climb back up. The Nasdaq Stock Market reports that, following the failed acquisition of Take-Two, stock shares for both companies have dropped. I guess misery loves company, eh?

It's like a love story gone wrong. Electronic Arts, who've been hounding after Take-Two Interactive all year for a merger, finally got into closed talks with them earlier this month. And now they just decided to back off. Kinda anticlimactic.