Eyebrows were raised when word of Electronic Arts filing for a loan to support its campaign to acquire Take-Two Interactive broke out. However, if there's one guy who wasn't surprised, it's the good 'ol Michael Pachter who claims he knows exactly why such loan was necessary. Find what he has to say at the full article.

 Pandemic studios has been known to take its sweet time as it teases fans about its upcoming releases. Such isn't the case today as a lot more than hints about their upcoming games has been dropped. The devs have confirmed that they're working on a new game called The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and its set for launch late this year. Read the full article and see some of the early details.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, originally set to release last year, was moved to 2008 under circumstances of quality and preference. Creative director Cameron Brown of Pandemic Studios reiterated in an interview that it's on track to release in August, which Brown hopes will stick, because he wants to move on to Mercenaries 3 and even release a Mercenaries 2 for the Nintendo Wii. You read that right. More at the full story.

Fans of Electronic Arts and Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Xbox 360, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, and PC) rejoice! The game has finally been dated for launch. In addition, the developers have also released a new trailer of the upcoming video game. To find out more and see the video, head on over to the full article.

It seems that Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) will not be making its expected February 8 release date. So far, no reason has been given for this second delay.

Want to find out more about this? Head on over to the full article for more information.

Last October, Electronic Arts announced its acquisition of VG Holding Corp., the parent company of BioWare and Pandemic Studios. It's now a little less than three months later and EA has just announced that the acquisition is now complete. More in the full article.

New screenshots of Pandemic Studios' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, PC) have exploded for everyone to see. The video game's release has been pushed back to 2008, but the screens at the full article might help ease the pain of waiting. Check them out.

In a recent interview with GameTap, Peter Moore stated his intentions to take Electronic Arts from an "American" brand to a global one. Although EA continues to be popular within the US and without, Moore feels that it doesn't "feel local" to the European and Asian market.

Moore, President of EA, also mentioned last week how EA Sports is looking at cricket as a sport, perhaps as a hint of more things to come to make the brand more global, or depending on your point of view, local to your country. As Moore explains:

I talked a lot [...] about cricket, tennis, mixed martial arts, open-wheel racing [...] all of which can make a difference in the way people perceive us. [...] We don't have that depth and penetration into the psyche of the European sports consumer. We need to change that, and we need to change that quickly.

The goal is to let consumers outside of the US to relate more to the games they play and not just feel like a "brand that has been exported." (Well, when in Rome, people say poh-tah-toh. Or is it the other way around?) At any rate, EA's recent acquisition of Bioware and Pandemic Studios should help broaden their horizons.

Check out the Read link for the full interview.

Although most analysts believe that Electronic Arts did the smart thing in acquiring Bioware and Pandemic Studios, it's not surprising that some groups have questioned whether the price (to the tune of US$ 860 million) was too much. Case in point: Arvind Bhatia of Sterne, Agee & Leach.

Bhatia agrees that the acquisition was a smart move and his only concern was the price, which others have also found to be steep. While other analysts like Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan believes that EA will benefit in the long term, Bhatia agrees with UBS's Ben Schachter: we'll just have to wait and see.

We really like EA's acquisition of BioWare/Pandemic, but the price paid on [the] surface seems high to us; more than $1 million per developer. That being said, if EA can generate mid-teens ROI or higher (as per its plan), the acquisition should be nicely accretive and worth the price. We may have to wait a few years to find out, though.

So analysts as a whole agree that Electronic Arts did the right move in acquiring Bioware and Pandemic Studios; the only difference is the degree of uncertainty over the price involved. However, EA's stocks have risen significantly recently and everyone agrees it's only a matter of time before we see if the deal will pay off; it doesn't look like the company is in any immediate danger as of yet.

Electronic Arts' decision to purchase Bioware and Pandemic Studios seems to be getting some good reception as its stock reached its highest point in a year. There's been some question on the merits of the acquisition and not everyone was happy about it so the rise of the stock value speaks volumes.

EA's stock rose 2.50 points at US$ 61.22 per share today, a satisfactory nod to their acquisition of the two studios that cost the US$ 860 million. Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan believes that EA's decision "will pay off, but there is some risk. In order to succeed, they will have to continue to generate great games. There's nothing to suggest that they won't."