Nintendo DS

This year's Austin Game Developers Conference is adding a nice twist to their event. It's not just gonna be about games, it's also gonna be about charity.

Yep, gamers who'd like to participate in the Austin GDC will not only be having fun by testing their skills as gamers, but will also contribute to a good cause by making a charitable donation. How? Simple. There's a US 20 entry fee for the Level Up Charity Games Competition, and everything will be donated to the ESA Foundation.

Marc Mencher, CEO of competition sponsor GameRecruiter, says this about their charitable deed:

We have a long-standing commitment to supporting the educational needs of minority and female students who are interested in being part of the video game industry. By providing this support to the ESA Foundation's Scholarship Program, we hope to allow deserving individuals to further their education and expand workplace diversity within our industry.

Scheduled for the September 17 competition feature titles such as:

• Rock Band 2
• Madden 08
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• I-Play Bowling

The Austin Game Developers Conference will be running from September 15 to 17 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas.

The recent weekly figures from Chart Track have revealed that a record has been broken in the UK. In the All Formats Top 10 charts, Tomb Raider has been hailed as the longest-staying title on the list's history, with the game clocking 79 full weeks.

Now, for the week ending August 23, 2008, Lara Croft's 79-week crown has been passed on to Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training for the Nintendo DS. Brain Training has now tallied a total of 80 weeks in the All Formats Top 10 charts, constantly moving up and down, but never leaving.

Maybe Nicole Kidman's promoting of Brain Training really paid off in the UK. And as for Lara Croft, maybe she'd want to exercise a different muscle next time around - not that she's daft to begin with or anything... She has, after all, already been subject to a lot of exposure to archaeology, even before inheriting the Croft Manor at the age of 18. Not to mention earn a Guiness World Record to her name...

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Related articles:

• NPD, Chart Track, Enterbrain combined global report
• Nicole Kidman to promote Brain Training
  
• Lara Croft in the Guinness Book as 'Most Successful Human Videogame Heroine'

After the Federal Trade Commission gave its blessing to continue merger negotiations, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive have finally begun its closed door meeting regarding the deal. However, it seems that both parties will be rather tight-lipped regarding the details of the meeting.

EA made a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which mentions the "secret negotiations" that it will be conducting with Take-Two. Here is an excerpt from the said statement:

On August 25, 2008, [EA] and [T2] entered into the confidentiality agreement contemplated by the letter of August 17, 2008 from Strauss Zelnick, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Take-Two to John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer of EA, and the letter of August 18 from Mr. Riccitiello to Mr. Zelnick.

The terms of the confidentiality agreement prohibit each of EA and Take-Two from, among other things, publicly disclosing the status or terms of any discussions or negotiations between EA and Take-Two unless EA or Take-Two notifies the other that it is terminating discussions. As a result, EA does not intend to make any further announcements regarding the status of any discussions or negotiations with Take-Two unless and until discussions between EA and Take-Two have been terminated or such parties have entered into a transaction. As previously disclosed, EA now requires due diligence to support any proposal to acquire Take-Two and there can be no assurance that any proposal, negotiations or transaction will result.

EA is also looking into Take-Two's three year game release schedule. Rest assured that another Grand Theft Auto title will definitely be included in the list, among other things. In any case, we'll just have to keep our eyes and ears open on any news regarding the outcome of the ongoing talks between the two companies.

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Related articles:

• FTC gives EA its blessing to go ahead with Take-Two takeover
• Pachter's nth take on Take-Two-EA takeover: T2 negotiating level down, EA with friendly terms

Because of the absence of games for the "core gamer" in E3, Nintendo was put under the spotlight. Has Nintendo abandoned its core community? The answer is a resounding "no."

Back at E3, Shigeru Miyamoto himself explained that new Zelda and Mario games are in the works, but he didn't go much into detail about it. Now Nintendo has revealed that the "core games" in development - presumably the Zelda and Mario games Miyamoto was talking about - won't be out for a few more years:

We have never neglected our core gamers. We still have developers working on popular core gaming franchises but we need longer to complete these games, approximately two to three years.

These games are not ready to launch in early 2009 but are being worked on by all development teams.

So don't fret it, core gamers, the games are coming. Maybe not in the near future, but they are coming. Take Satoru Iwata's word for it when he commented to Forbes last month:

If there is any perception that Nintendo is ignoring the core gamers, it's a misunderstanding and we really want to get rid of that misunderstanding by any means.

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Related Articles:

• Has Nintendo abandoned its core community?
• E3 2008: Zelda and Mario games for Wii confirmed, Zelda project for DS