Infogrames Could Help Ubisoft vs. EA

GamesIndustry.biz iz reporting that in a show of European solidarity publisher Infogrames may assist Ubisoft (with the blessings of the French Government) if EA attempts a hostile takeover of the Prince of Persia developer. From the article: "Speaking to news agency Reuters, Bonnell expressed his hope that Ubisoft will remain independent - and rubbished EA's claim that its recent purchase of almost 20 per cent of the firm's stock was merely an investment." Further details on Greg Costikyan's Blog. All this is follow up to year-end shenanigans from EA.

Comments

Let's Boycott EA

[Anonymous Coward]

All Slashdotters from this day forward should boycott all EA produced software.

Re:Let's Boycott EA

[grub]

All Slashdotters from this day forward should boycott all EA produced software.

What, by not downloading those torrents?

Re:Let's Boycott EA

[armyofone]

I already do. I have some of their titles, but they were all bought a while ago - and all were purchased off the used shelf.

My money has spoken.

Re:Let's Boycott EA

[hollismb]

Yeah, I've been boycotting EA ever since the days of the ill-fated Sega Dreamcast. Not that it's stopped them. All this new stuff (UBISoft, the NFL deal) just adds fuel to an already big fire.

Re:Let's Boycott EA

[superpulpsicle]

Fire? If they hostile take over a new company everyday, it'll be a nuclear catastrophe of biblical proportion.

Re:Let's Boycott EA

[ATN]

I would like to but they bought Free Radical. Timesplitters 3 is going to be EA :( KAAAAHHHHN!!!!

Re:Let's Boycott EA

[Anonymous Coward]

EA makes crap anyway. w00t lots of rehashed shitty sports games.

They've already destroyed the sport videogame genre, IMO.

Re:Let's Boycott EA

[Fierlo]

Good job. I've not bought an EA game since they refused to make titles for a system that hasn't proved itself, yet pledged support for a piece of paper with specs on it.

Re:Let's Boycott EA

[Anonymous Coward]

Could be a good start.
Less warezzed games -> less mindshare -> less world domination.

Sigh

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess that means the EA cafeteria will be selling "Freedom Fries"

Re:Sigh

[Anonymous Coward]

*goes looking for the "-1: Old" modifier*

Best quote ever....

[hollismb]

From Penny Arcade to EA:

PA: How do you respond to rumors that you are the fucking devil?

EA: EA does not comment on rumors.

Re:Best quote ever....

[Anonymous Coward]

Poor devil, Penny Arcade managed to make a joke that's funny and now hell's frozen solid.

Pun?

[Talrias]

GamesIndustry.biz iz reporting that in a show of European [...]

Iz that a pun?

Sorry, I couldn't rezizt commenting on thiz. I'm here all week.

History in the making...

[Anonymous Coward]

France stands up to aggression! Film at eleven.

Re:History in the making...

[Anonymous Coward]

oh, that's great, lol

Re:History in the making...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha!

Now all you have to do is tell me that Italy has got them covered...

(sorry - couldn't resist!)

Re:History in the making...

[Anonymous Coward]

810,000 dead in world war 2 says they don't submit easy.

Re:History in the making...

[Anonymous Coward]

Given that 809,999 of them died bending over, history might say otherwise. 1 is still unaccounted for.

Re:History in the making...

[Anonymous Coward]

hey, don't be ridiculous, there were *at least* a couple dozen fighters in the french resistance.

Re:History in the making...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, they stood up to America on that Iraq thing..

Re:History in the making...

[aussie_a]

True, but most of them weren't French. They just liked to bung on the accent.

Re:History in the making...

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no more France. Interplay liquidated it.

Re:History in the making...

[ahknight]

Of course, because when we got there we realized they'd been illegally selling them French armaments.

I'd put up some resistance, too, if I'd been doing the same.

In other news...

[k4_pacific]

Jordan Mechner has been kidnapped by unknown hostile assailants. A video released by his captors show him working 90 hour weeks at gunpoint in an unidentified office. Police suspect foul play.

Re:In other news...

[iabervon]

FBI analysts report that it was taken on top of a hill, with a snow-capped mountain not far away. Martial artists are reportedly searching hilly areas in sight of the Rockies for foreboding castles.

Re:In other news...

[Sentry21]

When I first started reading that post, the first thing that came to mind was 'Are you a bad enough dude to rescue Jordan Mechner?'

I guess I'm a little TOO oldschool.

No context..

[the_mad_poster]

Who the hell is Greg Costikyan and why is his blog a good source of information? It's called "context", folks. Before I read any of the linked text, I should know the basics about what's going on, who Ubisoft is, and who Costikyan is.

I'm getting sick and tired of reading writeups and being left to discern all of the information on my own. If you're going to claim to post news articles with information in them, you're going to have to actually provide some information.

Re:No context..

[nadadogg]

I like your style, and would enjoy subscribing to your newsletter.

Re:No context..

[Dirtside]

Before I read any of the linked text, I should know the basics about what's going on, who Ubisoft is, and who Costikyan is.

In the time you spent writing your post, you could have Googled the information you were looking for, rather than wasting everyone's time listening to you whine, and remaining ignorant.

Slashdot stories are not going to suddenly get longer because people like you refuse to put out a little effort.

If you're going to claim to post news articles with information in them

I don't see where the editors claim that the stories posted on Slashdot are comprehensive news articles. The tagline "News for Nerds" is colloquial at best; nobody ever confuses Slashdot with a "real" news site like CNN. Slashdot has always gotten 99% of its stories from user submissions where they link to other websites. Expecting it to change because you're too lazy to hit Google is absurd.

Re:No context..

[Allandaros125]

Greg Costikyan is a game designer who's worked on many an eld volume of RPG lore, and also does consulting for the game industry, including PC gaming, apparently. He is also one of the creators of the role-playing game PARANOIA, for those of you who might remember that.

I would also point out that if you're reading the in-depth story, you should have some knowledge of the stuff you're reading about. If Slashdot were to follow what little example and context you provide, you would have to define who "Microsoft" is every time you had a story about Windows.

C'mon, mon! Google's there for a reason!

Re:No context..

[the_mad_poster]

So, basically your argument here is that Slashdot is a worthless wannabe news aggregator and there's no conceivably good reason to come here since I could get better context and more accurate information from Google News? Good argument: don't complain about it's worthlessness, because it's worthless.

Achtung, moron-boy: if they want me to go out to various sites and read things for my informational pleasures so that I keep coming back to give them ad revenue then they better damn well tell me what I'm clicking through to BEFORE I CLICK THROUGH TO IT. As if that weren't bad enough, in case you haven't noticed lately, the editors have shown an amazing inability as of late to tell the difference between legit stories, and troll and astroturfing "stories". I suppose, however, you don't have a problem with blind-clicking through links.

Blind click-through on this one, please.

kthx

Re:No context..

[the_mad_poster]

This is not google, and Costikyan is not a well-known person outside of a certain subset of the gaming populace.

If I had to Google for every idiotic thing the moron editors put up on the front page (since they seem to have taken a liking to stupid braindead bloggers and astroturfers as of late), I would never actually get through anything on this miserable site.

Re:No context..

[KDR_11k]

Well, it's for nerds. Nerds are supposed to know what happened with Ubisoft.

Re:No context..

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you stupid shit, the fact that basic information is missing from the post means that thousands or tens of thousands of people will be wasting time googling something that should have been there in the first place. And this isn't just for one article summary; it's for dozens per day.

So, what is "wasting everyone's time" is the missing information, not the OP's "whine". BTW, you ignorant cunt, it should be "reading you whine", not "listening to you whine", unless you are accessing Slashdot through a text-to-speech translator (or unless someone is reading it out loud for you, etc.).

Asshole.

P.S. Please don't be insulted by the above text. It is meant to be constructive criticism. Got that, dickhead?

Re:No context..

[Dirtside]

So, basically your argument here is that Slashdot is a worthless wannabe news aggregator and there's no conceivably good reason to come here since I could get better context and more accurate information from Google News?

If you want to make shit up and pretend that I said it, then yeah, sure, go ahead. My actual argument is that /. is really about the discussions; the stories provide a springboard for those discussions. Providing substantially more background in the stories isn't worth the time of the submitters, the editors, or (because most readers are at least passingly familiar with the issues) most of the readership.

if they want me to go out to various sites and read things for my informational pleasures so that I keep coming back to give them ad revenue then they better damn well tell me what I'm clicking through to BEFORE I CLICK THROUGH TO IT

You seem to be asking for a summary of what each link goes to, rather than, you know, clicking on the link and reading it. God forbid!

As if that weren't bad enough, in case you haven't noticed lately, the editors have shown an amazing inability as of late to tell the difference between legit stories, and troll and astroturfing "stories"

When troll or astroturf stories show up, they get debunked/revealed in the discussion. Since the point of /. is the discussions, what's the problem? And can you give me a few examples of such stories? I want to make sure we're thinking about the same thing.

I suppose, however, you don't have a problem with blind-clicking through links.

Blind click-through on this one, please.

I don't think you even know what you mean by "blind-clicking." Presumably it means "clicking on a link without knowing where it goes." Well, see, there's this handy little status bar at the bottom of my browser window -- yours, too, I'll wager -- that, when you mouseover a link, tells you what site it goes to. And if that isn't helpful enough, usually the content of the link itself gives some clue what the link goes to.

And /. stories don't really link to NSFW stuff like goatse. You seem to be saying that because I'd click on a /. story link without carefully analyzing it or knowing in advance exactly what it links to, that I'd blindly click on a goatse link that some random joe posts in a discussion thread. Are you mad? *looks at username* Oh. Huh.

Re:No context..

[Dirtside]

Okay, maybe this is just too obvious, but since you apparently hate this site so much ("every idiotic thing", "moron editors", "they seem to have taken a liking to stupid braindead bloggers", "this miserable site"), why are you still posting here? Masochism? Stupidity? Lack of ability or desire to find anywhere better to go?

Re:No context..

[the_mad_poster]

Because more intelligent people attempt to affect a change in a system they perceive to be negative, they don't pack up the tent and ship out like a bunch of chickenshits who are too afraid to speak up.

And before you take me to task over the way I'm going about it, note that I got YOU involved, now didn't I?

Re:No context..

[Dirtside]

If your intent is to try to improve Slashdot, may I suggest that calling the editors "morons," saying that what they do is "idiotic," calling the site "miserable," and being generally hostile, both:

A) is not likely to get the editors to listen to you, and

B) does not indicate that you care about the site or want it to get better? It sounds like you just want an excuse to bitch and moan.

And before you take me to task over the way I'm going about it, note that I got YOU involved, now didn't I?

Yes, mostly on the order of shooting down your various claims. You got me working against you. That doesn't really qualify as success in getting /. changed the way you want it.

Re:No context..

[the_mad_poster]

That doesn't really qualify as success in getting /. changed the way you want it.

That's what you think. Who the hell said anything about IMPROVING it?

Funny...

[Evan Meakyl]

I read this morning here (in french, sorry!) that it was Vivendi Universal Games which was supposed to help Ubisoft....


But "In /. I trust ..." :D

Re:Funny...

[spac3manspiff]

The French industry of the video game tightens the elbows vis-a-vis with the attacker
PARIS (AFP),
05-01-2005

The French industry of the video game, whose brittleness burst at the great day with the intrusion of the American giant Electronic Arts in the capital of Ubisoft, is mobilized to preserve a part of its independence, which could pass by a bringing together between Vivendi Universal Games and Ubisoft.

The financial daily newspaper Agefi launched this assumption Wednesday, by affirming that the group of media Vivendi Universal, present in the plays vidéos with its division CONSIDERING Games (VUG), would have had preliminary contacts with Ubisoft.

Questioned, the groups concerned refused any comment. But the possibility of an increased defense of Ubisoft, which in spite of its smaller size is the French group of video games in less bad form, had the merit to make rebound the action of the Breton group, which gained 9,68% to 27,20 euros with 13h40.

Electronic Arts had announced on December 20 to have bought 19,9% of the capital of Ubisoft with Talpa Beheer, company controlled by John De Mol, cofounder of the house of Endemol production.

With with dimensions of Ubisoft, number two European of the sector, the French leader Infogrames fights to make accept a complicated financial rescue plan, while VUG is an important hearth of losses for Vivendi. During the first three quarters 2004, VUG showed a trading loss of 185 million euros, on a sales turnover of 211 million euros.

"Since years, I repeat that the French editors of video games are threatened of disappearance and their difficulties were amplified by the recent explosion of the cost of the licences and the development of the products", indicated to AFP Jean-Claude Larue, president of the SELL (Trade union of the software publishers of leisure).

The important video games represent today for the editors of the investments of more than 50 million euros, between the purchase of the licences (20 million euros), the increasingly complex work of writing of the software for several platforms (consoles and computers) and of the budgets marketing which can reach 20 to 30 million euros.

Vis-a-vis with countries like China or Canada, where the creation of plays is less expensive or is subsidized, French industry obtained government Raffarin a clear assertion of her will of support, in particular at the time of the proclamation by the Prime Minister in Futuroscope in April 2004 of a "passenger waybill" for the sector.

But principal promised measurement, a tax credit making it possible to lower the costs of the investments in France, still did not come into effect, for lack of agreement of Brussels.

One of the most former editors of plays of the hexagon, Titus Interactive, which fought since years for its survival, announced at the beginning of week its setting in bankruptcy.

As, a regrouping of the French groups it is planned to prevent as the world leader Electronic Arts, whose prosperity contrasts with the difficulties of good of other American groups, comes to make his market with leisure among the French editors.

The owner of the group Vivendi Jean-Rene Fourtou affirmed on several occasions that after having planned to separate from his division video games, it had decided to restructure it, and to even resort to acquisitions for better rectifying it from the point of view of a future transfer or an introduction out of purse.

But VUG, which in the past had not known to exploit the great popularity acquired by its educational plays Adi and Adibou, does not gain today the successes discounted over its last great plays, Half Life 2 and Warcraft, according to professionals'.

Whereas the Guillemot brothers, who controlent 17% of Ubisoft, continue to try to rejoin other shareholders, like the Case of the Deposits, to concrete their minority of control, certain analysts of the sector doubted Wednesday that the best means of consolidating Ubisoft is to make him absorb new hearths of losses.

Re:Funny...

[stupidfoo]

LOL - Babelfish strikes again!

ok, how long

[minus_273]

before we hear the french battle cry... "I surrender"

Re:ok, how long

[WIAKywbfatw]

These constant anti-French comments are pathetic. One of your country's oldest allies is hestitant about giving you carte blanche to invade other sovereign states and all of a sudden it's open season on France?

The whole "let's declare war on anything associated with the word 'french' in it" is just pathetic. Really, it just is so petty and ridiculous that it borders on infantile: are freedom fries any tastier than french fries? No? I didn't think so.

Grow up. It's shit like this that has cost you the almost all of international support and goodwill that was apparent in the aftermath of September 11th.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

we have been making fun of the french since way before 9/11.

Let me know what they do for us, then figure out what we do for them. compare those two lists.

this isnt high school, we dont have to be the popular kid in the class. ie this isnt a popularity contest that much of europe pretends to be in.

Re:ok, how long

[J-Doggqx]

When I go to a restaurant that has freedom fries on the menu I typically ask them, "Could I have French fries instead of the freedom fries? Freedom fries leave a bad taste in my mouth."

I do the same thing for French toast also.

Re:ok, how long

[necrognome]

Our secondary education system, as a whole, leaves much to be desired. Most Americans know less of American history than recent immigrants. Forgive the ignorant, for they know not what they post to slashdot.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

Please learn some history. France (and the rest of Europe) has a long history of war mongering.

What's so cute is that you honestly think that men with absurd amounts of power won't wage war.

France and the US is dirty.

Re:ok, how long

[k4_pacific]

What they do for us:

* They own RCA.
* They keep Boeing from being a monopoly.
* They keep Spain and Germany seperated.
* Helped us in the Revolutionary War.
* Renault.
* Provided words like Entreprenuer and Buffet.

What we do for them:

* Call them names.
* Provide them with Microsoft software.
* Helped them in WWII.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

These constant anti-French comments are pathetic. One of your country's oldest allies is hestitant about giving you carte blanche to invade other sovereign states and all of a sudden it's open season on France?

I don't think most Americans are bothered by French hesitancy to intervene militarily in the Middle East. They got blown up with us in Beirut, and could reasonably assume that the post-invasion situation would be bloodied by fanatics bent on imposing a Taliban like state in Hussein's power vacuum. It's the appearance of complicity in the corruption of the efforts to contain Hussein (UN oversight of oil sales), and the protection they afforded Hussein's regime from UN Security Council action that rankles.

The U.S. certainly has a history of making 'deals with the devil' in the effort to contain the horror of Soviet communism, but why was France sheilding Hussien? To protect the people of Iraq from the horror of being able to vote in real elections? I'm a big fan of sovereignty, but why not support Taiwan's right to self government and democracy instead of an asshole like Hussien's power to tyrannize?

Re:ok, how long

[xgamer04]

Renault

Hmm, are you sure this is a positive thing? (I kid, I kid...)

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll take a "smorgasbord" over a "buffet" any day of the week.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

The whole "let's declare war on anything associated with the word 'french' in it" is just pathetic. Really, it just is so petty and ridiculous that it borders on infantile: are freedom fries any tastier than french fries? No? I didn't think so.

Dude, have you considered that most people are satirizing exactly that idiotic sentiment? I don't think it ever went any further than the House cafeteria menu and maybe a couple jingoist redneck diners, and even the former has changed it back. The joke's old, but it's not the same joke you think it was.

As for "almost all", give Bush four more years, we'll have 'em burning US flags in the streets yet.

Re:ok, how long

[Reignking]

One of your country's oldest allies is hestitant about giving you carte blanche to invade other sovereign states and all of a sudden it's open season on France?

huh? Americans have been making fun of the French for decades...

Re:ok, how long

[fbonnet]

Let me know what they do for us, then figure out what we do for them. compare those two lists.

Guess who is helping the US most in Afghanistan? And who was the first leader to visit New York in the aftermath of 09/11 ? (hint: his first name is Jacques).

Comparing lists as you suggest is not a correct way of handling relationships between such two long-lasting allies.

The reason why the French are so upset about the USA is that they wasted the vast amount of sympathy they gained after 09/11 by engaging into a so called "war on terrorism" that rather looks like a struggle to safeguard their own interests (oil, dollar...). The reason why the USA are so upset about France is because they tried to make the UN prevail above these interests. Please stop watching Fox News and get some real information.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

amen. i have no particular reason to love or hate the french... but i'm sick of the ignorant bashing that goes on. if you lived in or visited france and feel you have legitimate issues with the state.. go ahead and speak on it.. else, keep your ignorant opinions to yourself. now if you'll excuse me, my freedom fries are getting cold.

Re:ok, how long

[ifwm]

Now, here's the important part, we don't care. I said it, and you and any others can try to change it, but you won't. The truth is most of the other countries in the world don't matter anyway, and the others toe the line because we're partners. We're partners with everybody, and they know it, so they pipe up a little, but when it comes time to get their handouts, they STFU.

I'll give a crap about what they think when they get off our teat and exercise some self determination.

Re:ok, how long

[Frumious Wombat]

A truce: We'll import your unpasteurized cheeses, and you'll stamp little (up, eh?, or down) thumb symbols on your wine that you export to us. Maybe we can agree to start smoking again, and you'll stop trying to export Renaults.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

And the British have been making fun of the French for hundreds/thousands of years. It's true.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

Heh, America wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for the French.

I hate America.
I hate France.

However, the fact that America required French help to even exist is extremely embarassing. The US stooped lower than any other country in history.

The US is a joke, you actually needed the French!? LMAO.

You lose.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

wooohoooo, let me crack open the champagne (real french of course) we have the french military on our side...now im afraid

but seriousely

the reason the french were pissed is because they were doing billions of dollars of illegal business with Iraq. It was a NonWar for oil for them.
they opposed the war because of their own oil interests.

not to mention its alll a FUCKING JOKE, the french jokes are the same as polish jokes. grow a god damn sense of humor and get over yourself. life isnt that serious.

get some real news too buddy.

Re:ok, how long

[ifwm]

And what pissant insignificant country do you hail from?

Oh, right it doesn't matter anyway.

Re:ok, how long

[scribblej]

I'd just like to state, as someone who's older than three years of age, that we hated the French long before September 11th, 2001.

That is all, frog-lover!

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

there is no connection between france and 9/11... what you probably wanted to say was "we have been making fun of the french since way before the Iraq invasion".

Re:ok, how long

[adsl]

Actually with first "dig" came from A European. Just look at the earlier comments:) Quote And people wonder why the EU is weak? (Score:0, Offtopic) by boringgit (721801) on Wednesday January 05, @04:50PM (#11268987) (http://www.by-users.co.uk/) I am a Brit - as such I am European - fine - Eupope great - USA not quite so great. Unquote

Re:ok, how long

[R2.0]

Actually, the US needed Imperial France - the France of the Louis'. The French aristocracy helped us, and that wasn't altruism - it was sticking a finger in Britain's eye.

Revolutionary France, Napoleonic France, Republican France - I can't think of a lot of good they have been for the US.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

One of your country's oldest allies is hestitant about giving you carte blanche to invade other sovereign states and all of a sudden it's open season on France?

No, we hate the French because they're weasels, cowards and opportunistic a**holes who feel the only way to build their country up again is to tear the U.S. down. What other Western country is actively anti-American, and can be expected to oppose the U.S. no matter who controls the government- socialist, communist, Gaullist, National Front crypto-fascist?

Which country's foreign minister poses as champion of international law, yet is really a degenerate Napoleonic power worshipper who still thinks warfare is glorious- as long as it's France that's kicking butts?

Which country was actually going to participate in the invasion of Iraq, thinking it would be a good military training excerise for its troops?

Which country flies into senseless, destructive tantrums every time its national "honor" is threatened, yet has no shame in turning around and begging the help of anti-Western, Izlamic terrorist grous like Hezbollah, pointing out that France is the Izlamicists' most useful dhimmi stooge?

France- always eager to abase itself before power, always ready with a knife in the back for friends.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

What? I, for one, think we should beat the ignorant with sticks instead.

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

actually wasn't napleon the guy who sold us parts of the usa called the Lousiana purchase? That was useful to us

Re:ok, how long

[Anonymous Coward]

That would be smörgåsbord

Re:ok, how long

[jmitek]

How about you call 'em chips like we do in Oz. It avoids all sorts of cultural problems!

Re:ok, how long

[rcastro0]

No, we hate the French because they're weasels, cowards and opportunistic a**holes who feel the only way to build their country up again is to tear the U.S. down. What other Western country is actively anti-American, and can be expected to oppose the U.S. no matter who controls the government- socialist, communist, Gaullist, National Front crypto-fascist?

Which country's foreign minister poses as champion of international law, yet is really a degenerate Napoleonic power worshipper who still thinks warfare is glorious- as long as it's France that's kicking butts?

Interesting argument. I would mod this AC as interesting.

The AC points out that neither France nor the USA are saints. That the USA is not a saint, the Iraq invasion + DoD Contractors & Oil Exploration Companies Profit Statements + George W. "Bully"'s line of talk already proved. AC reminds us France may try to look more rightful, but that its own actions are really not that consistent with the pose.

Here on my side, what I fear is a time when people in the US, in France, and everywhere lose the pretension of being morally right. People becoming unashamed of saying "we did it because we can, screw what you think".

Even if I know no country's government should be expected to be very rightful, I really, really hope the powerful countries will seek to restrain themselves and act with reflection and wisdom (and I am not talking to GWB). And I hope I can trust on each country's public opinion to seek *within* his/her own country what may be wrong. And denounce. And influence. And correct.

Yours truly, speaking from humble South America (aka "notUSA" and "notEurope", aka periphery of the world, aka not-a-perfect-government-place-either).

Re:ok, how long

[Rallion]

In a restaurant in Wildwood, NJ, I did this.

They refused to serve them to me.

Re:ok, how long

[Guppy06]

Now to play troll/devil's advocate!

"One of your country's oldest allies"

One of our oldest enemies as well. We weren't too keen on this, either. Also, interestingly enough, French aggression in the Pacific caused King Kamehameha III of Hawaii to pursue US statehood in the 1850's. I'm sure I can find other examples of France moving counter to US desires (to say the least) if I felt like digging around more.

If Zimmerman hadn't screwed up and if the sinking of the Lusitania hadn't made such good copy, it's quite possible we might have entered the Great War on the side of the Germans.

"and all of a sudden it's open season on France?"

US animosity towards France goes back at least as far as the De Gaulle presidency. Not really "sudden" at all.

"has cost you the almost all of international support and goodwill"

Personally, I've never been particularly fond of being pitied.

Re:ok, how long

[pommiekiwifruit]

In germany I saw them sold as "Nederlandse frites" (dutch fries). I don't think the Belgians call them "french fries" either :-)

Re:ok, how long

[hachete]

I don't think your secondary education system is to blame particularly, I think it's a systemic
failure of vision Ergo most of "you guys" seem to think that the UK fought the US in the 2WW. Take this as sarcasm or flamebait, but it seems incontrovertible - demonstrated daily on slashdot - that USAians in general just don't care about the "broad sweep of history". Particularly, I guess, if you're a blue stater.

I think there should be some intervention in the UbiSoft (Go Marianne!) v EA (boo sucks Uncle Sam) to stop a monopoly of the "market". But then, Americans, for all their free-market bluster, have the occasional wobbly over this cf Microsoft. Who's to say that George W Bush won't turn a blind to this "conflict" whilst those uber-federalists EUians will levy fines on such a merger.

h

Infogrames is Atari.

[ananegg]

Didn't Infogrames change their name to Atari? http://www.atari.com/

Re:Infogrames is Atari.

[Man in Spandex]

Infogrames relaunched the Atari brand-label in 2001 even though they acquired it long ago.

source http://specials.ft.com/ftit/sept2001/FT343T996RC.h tml

Re:Infogrames is Atari.

[El Cabri]

They haven't changed the name under which they are incorporated in France, but after they acquired the Atari brand name, they started using it for their communication and marketing.

Re:Infogrames is Atari.

[EEBaum]

Only when they're not sucking up to the French government.

Re:Infogrames is Atari.

[Dogtanian]

It says in the article that they acquired Hasbro Interactive (previous owners of the Atari name) in December 2000- so, although the company they acquired owned it before that, 'they' (Infogrames) didn't own the Atari name as such until the end of 2000.

Obviously Hasbro Interactive was part of Hasbro, and I assume it was split off before being sold. (Hasbro's "contribution" to the Atari name was to take all Atari's old games such as Centipede and Pong, and make modern versions of them. I mean, really... if you slap fancy 3D late-90s graphics on Pong, it isn't really ******* Pong anymore, is it?!)

Re:Infogrames is Atari.

[adsl]

Infogrames S.A. Paris trades on the Paris stock exchange. In turn Inforgrames owns a majority of shares (rougly 70%) in Atari (ATAR) which is a US game Company and quoted on Nasdaq. Recently infogrames has been using ATAR stock as collateral to back issuance of new Shares and Warrants in Inforgrames in order to make 2005 Bond payments. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110485888138516 517,00.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo

Re:Infogrames is Atari.

[Anonymous Coward]

... take it from JTS, a hard drive company that Atari "merged" with and changed their name to with the Trammiels still in charge, previously coming from Time Warner....

Infogrames...

[razmaspaz]

How exactly are they going to stand up to EA? They can't even figure out how to spell "Games"!

I was gonna make a joke about France, but frankly...

And people wonder why the EU is weak?

[boringgit]

I am a Brit - as such I am European - fine - Eupope great - USA not quite so great.

That doesn't make you bad!

The French government are really an embarrasment - no EU government is supposed to be able to subsidise private companies in this fashion - it is anti competitive.

The French government really don't seem interested in that. Any US airline employee who is conerned about their job should be aware that the French government have ploughed millions of dollars worth of aid into Air France over the last 20 years. They have always been "the last time" - thing is, France is huge, what can you do? Throw 'em out of Europe? hardly!

Recent stories don't make me a fan of EA, however, I don't want the French government to make a mockery of the whole of Europe again.

(on the other hand, wait 'till EA buy a French software house - 70 hour week? - They will be lucky to get a 20 hour week ;) )

Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak?

[0racle]

Every government does this, so whats your point. You might want to whine about your own government befor pointing the finger at others.

Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak?

[StalinsNotDead]

I am a Brit.
And
The French government really don't seem interested in that.

Thank you for providing some shred of evidence that improper English grammar is not the sole province of the United States. ;)
Sorry, I mean no offense.

Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak?

[nuclear305]

"France is huge, what can you do? Throw 'em out of Europe? hardly!"

No need to throw them out of Europe. Just march on Paris...apparently that's been proven a feasible task.

Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak?

[Anonymous Coward]

I personally was noting the line:

The French government are really an embarrasment

Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak?

[El Cabri]

There is no mention anywhere of subsidizing Infogrames. Anyway each and every government on earth "subsidizes" various economic sectors and corporations as they see fit. Direct subsidies are outlawed by various trade pacts and international treaties, but there are many holes in those and many other indirect ways for a government to weight in on an economic sector if it think this is strategically useful.

The US federal government does a lot of this, sometimes directly through subsidies (for example, the agriculture), through pork barrel programs, often of military nature (how many billions have the useless NMD poured into Boeing's and Lockheed's R&D depts ?), often through corporate wellfare, such as the Foreign Sales tax breaks that have been recently outlawed by the WTO, sometimes through tarriffs, for example on steel, which were also outlawed by the WTO, but lasted just enough for the American mills to restructure and survive until the explosion of Asian demand for steel, or the on Canadian lumber. The tax deduction of mortgage interest and the "soft sponsoring" of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac correspond to an effective subsidizing of the residential real-estate sector, etc...

Your US Airways example is bad, because the US has precisely massively, if indirectly, subsidized airlines after 9/11, in a manner that has drawn numerous complaints from Europe.

Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak?

[boringgit]

Crikey!

I can't deny the first two!

The last should have read "doesn't"..

My grammar is at best average - my grammar on the 'net is below than average...

Th worrying thing is that I remain better than a lot...

Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak?

[Anonymous Coward]

The US has been breaking WTO laws for decades, and continues to support its' own companies. I think the EU is/has done/planning to do another boycott of certain American goods because the US is still breaking world trade agreements.

France and Germany break loads of EU agreements, we all know that, but the US is also breaking loads of world agreements.

Be good if we could wipe them all off the face of the earth..

Re:And people wonder why the EU is weak?

[suffe]

You bring up "pork barrel programs" in this context as if it is somehow related to subsidizing things, when it is not. Pork barreling is, simplistically speaking, the process of saying "sure, Ill vote for your program/bill/sugestion if you vote for mine". I guess that on some meta level that could be seen as political subsidizing of another political view, but I'm guessing that is not what you meant.

Help? Fight?

[Humorously_Inept]

What can Infogrames do except buy enough of Ubisoft to control it entirely or at least deny EA a controlling stake? Either way, this offer of help doesn't exactly sound like charity.

Is there any place on the web where we can get capitalization information and statistics on foreign companies? Both Infogrames and Ubisoft are public, but neither has stock listed in the Americas and I can't seem to find info like floats, capitalizations, insider/institutional holdings, amount of cash available, etc. EA's a pretty big company sitting on a pretty fat wallet (to the tune of 2.5B in cash).

Re:Help? Fight?

[radish]

UBISoft: UBIP.PA
Infogrames: IFOE.PA

Re:Help? Fight?

[incom]

Merger perhaps?

Vivendi also wants to help out Ubisoft

[Momoru]

Vivendi to help Ubi . And has more financial resources to do it.

That name..

[Frac]

Everytime I see Infogrames, I can't help but wonder whether someone screwed up when they registered the company Infogames.

"Hey Bob, can you take a look at the incorporation documents? What's with the 'R' in the company name?"
"Ohhh...... fuck."

Re:That name..

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds a little less cheezy when you pronounce it like it's supposed to be pronounced: Atari.

(actually "in-fuh-gromms", but I have to wonder whether that was part of the reason they bought the name)

Re:That name..

[El Cabri]

-grames is the French version of a common (latin?) suffix indicating something written, or a record. Program, Sonogram, Grammar, (Deutsch) Grammophon, etc.

Re:That name..

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, the guy you're replying to is 'murican.

Re:That name..

[xlv]

-grames is the French version of a common (latin?) suffix indicating something written, or a record. Program, Sonogram, Grammar, (Deutsch) Grammophon, etc.

I just looked in one of my French dictionnaries specializing in etymology: the "gramm-" suffix means "letter" or "drawing", used in crypthogramme, programme, programmable, electrocardiogramme, ... So I think if they made a spelling error, it's because they used only one "m"...

The roots are greek, from gramma, grammatos (letter) and gramme^ (drawing).

Re:That name..

[Anonymous Coward]

Infogrames is almost certainly originally a play on datagram since what used to be called Data Processing in English was called Informatique in French and datagram is a pretty common CS term.

You know once upon a time Infogrames published CGA games on 5'25 floppies so the founders were almost certainly swimming inside a sea of early DOS/General computer science reference manuals.

you? what's this you?

[Anonymous Coward]

How did you come to the conclusion the parent poster was an American? I saw no mention of that in his comment.

BTW, I love how any response to a French joke is to badmouth Americans. You can't defend the spinelessness of France so you have to attack the USA. Nice bit of distraction there.

Here's a hint for you. It's not just the USA that hates the French. The rest of the world does too.

Plan of Attack

[LegendOfLink]

It's quite simple, Infogames will turn off the lights and EA will be eaten by a GRUE!

Re:Plan of Attack

[UWC]

Wasn't that Infocom? Are the two related?

On a similar note, I'd best put on my peril-sensitive sunglasses before seeing my comment's final score.

Re:Plan of Attack

[Photon Ghoul]

You're thinking of Infocrom.

Re:Plan of Attack

[WWWWolf]

(A nitpick: Zork was Infocom's and not Infogrames' - I was under the impression Infocom's stuff belonged to Activision these days or something. Which is curious, since Atari brand belongs to Infogrames, and Atari's and Activision's relationship... uh, ergh, I got a headache. What a tangled web!)

Scene: A Tomb of Old Brands, under the ruined halls of a Game Company.

A pair of Electronic Arts' IP Robbers break through the sealed door and collect their jaws from the floor as their flashlight beams reveal untold number of great game franchises.

They stare at the treasures with most amazed expression before the cynicism and professionalism rise from within their hearts once again, and open their briefcases and start putting some of the documents from the tomb there. But then, suddenly, a *rattle* is heard.

*rattle*

*Rattle*

*RATTLE*

The two glance around, nervously, only to be faced with a most horrifying thing ever imagined.

"WHO dares to DISTURB our slumber?"

The IP Robbers can only stand there, petrified with horror, in front of the fearsome, awe-inspiring, noble forms of Dave Lebling and Marc Blank.

The two eye the papers the two scumbags were taking, and then eye these petrified robbers in turn, who suddenly manage to snap out of this and flee toward the door.

...and as they race toward the exit, a speck of light so far, far away, they realize they will never reach it in time.

"NOTHING can save you from our wrath! We are INVINCIBLE!" ... are just about the last words they can hear.

Weeks later, an expedition was finally sent to move the papers away from the old vault, and the ghastly, rather well eaten remains of the IP robbers were found. Later that day, Activision CEO threw some comments to the company's PR people responsible for press statements, and they had considerable trouble making the statements marketable. Uncensoredly, it went somewhat like this: "I knew this Doom 3 distribution deal would work out just fine! La la la la..."

European Solidarity?

[Anonymous Coward]

The French government did the same thing when a German pharmaceutical giant tried to take over France's pharma "national champion". Nothing new here, just another case of meddling by France's neo-mercantilist government in order to save French pride- the interest of shareholders and free trade laws be damned...

Re:European Solidarity?

[mmkkbb]

German law prohibits any foreign entity from gaining a controlling interest in Volkswagen.

Foreign airlines are prohibited from flying between US cities.

Japan makes bogus claims to turn away shipments of US vehicles.

It's not just France.

Re:European Solidarity?

[Anonymous Coward]

But the difference is these are (mostly) one-time laws- which other country's national government steps in to play "match maker" every time one of their big corporations is threatened by foreign take-over?

Re:European Solidarity?

[mmkkbb]

First, as far as I know, the French government's help to Ubi Soft is limited to allowing Ubi to buy back shares rather than explicit.

Second, I'm sure there are plenty more examples of corporate welfare by governments. It does strike me as peculiar that France is doing a lot to bail out a video game publisher when there are other, larger French companies that are owned in large chunks by foreigners. (STMicroelectronics, for example)

Re:European Solidarity?

[paedobear]

The French government has decided that videogames are an artform, so this is more in the way of artistic patronage than corporate welfare. Maybe. I'm fairly sure that the French government has gotten in more trouble from the EU for protectionism and subsidies to French companies .

Re:European Solidarity?

[Zangief]

And USA poisoned chilean grapes, to protect their local grape productors.

Everybody is protectionist. USA the first of them.

Re:European Solidarity?

[dj245]

Foreign airlines are prohibited from flying between US cities.

In addition all foreign trucks operating in the US must be shipping to or from another country (US or Mexico). You cannot, for example, take Potatos from Saskatoon Canada to New York; and then take apples to New Jersey. This makes sense though, because at this point you are working inside the United States without a work license, effectively.

Re:European Solidarity?

[MORB]

Another example would be Zenith data systems.
They used to be a major supplier of PCs for the US administrations.
Then, they were bought by Bull, a french company.
Curiously, US administrations then switched to another supplier.

Not to say I blame the US for doing these kind of things, the point is that governments stepping up to protect the national industries happens in every country, not just france.

Re:European Solidarity?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, I remember the poisoned grapes. It happened when I was 10 years old or such.

Do you have (a link to) evidence that it was perpetrated by US interests as opposed to, say, some craven homicidal lunatic somewhere in the supply line?

What do you think?

[Anonymous Coward]

This Brazilian hooker charges $55 per hour for sex. I would really like to spank that ass a little.

http://hotside.com.br/shara.htm

Re:What do you think?

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn you, now I have to jack off again.

I'm never going to get anything done today.

Re:What do you think?

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate aggreeing with trolls, but... damn. She's hot.

Re:What do you think?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is why I love slashdot....
Damn, she is hot.

I don't understand

[ifwm]

why so many people seem to be happy that EA may not get Ubisoft. If it's because you think EA makes crappy games, and will make Ubisoft make crappy games, then ok I get it.

But there are you others. You seem to be assigning a sense of romanticism here, as though EA were attempting to defile the virtue of Ubisoft. What the hell is wrong with you people?

Re:I don't understand

[Bagels]

Ubisoft, unlike EA, occasionally has some bit of originality in their games - see Prince of Persia: Sands of Time or Beyond Good and Evil. The worry is that we'd end up with Prince of Persia 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, etc... or an endless stream of expansions, or any of a number of other mediocre ideas that EA has pushed on the market.

Re:I don't understand

[UWC]

I think it might be more that EA has been reviled of late for apparent monopolistic ambitions (and assumed overcommercialization, common-denominator pandering, and stifling of creativity as a result--all unproven but potentially valid fears) and poor treatment of its direct employees. The rumored takeover plans for Ubisoft I think are opposed out of distrust for EA and a feeling that they might not, at the moment, deserve the increased revenues that the acqusition of another major developer would bring. That and the fact that Ubisoft is one of few commercially known studios still operating outside of the umbrella of the likes of EA or Vivendi-Universal.

Re:I don't understand

[AceCaseOR]

Well, it might have to do with EA is evil.

Re:I don't understand

[ifwm]

You should change your nick to Exhibit A.

Re:I don't understand

[AceCaseOR]

I've thought about it, but unfortunately, /. doesn't let you change your nick (expecially since I have come to the conclusion that not only is my nic lame, but I've changed my E-Mail addy since then.

Re:I don't understand

[miffo.swe]

Maybe its because we are sick and tired of NHL, NFL, Rally and whatnot 2001,2002,2003 and so on and really like the smaller shops that makes somewhat different games?

Re:I don't understand

[gl4ss]

well.. imagine if ubibug and E-lets_drop_the_O_-A went together.. what would it spawn? rehashes of last years games with bug of deaths?

they're both boring game houses... but with the biggest advertising budgets it seems.

Re:I don't understand

[DeadScreenSky]

On the other hand, that kind of thing is already happening. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within was released back in November, about a year after the last one. I have only played an hour or so, but it was pretty bad (glitches all over, some poor voice acting, bad animation, ridiculous music, hilariously silly new "dark" theme, all charm and humor has been removed, combat about as boring as in the last game but now it occurs every couple minutes or so...). I assume Ubisoft is readying another sequel for the next-gen launch this coming Fall...

(Not that I want EA to take over Ubisoft, understand.)

Re:I don't understand

[daub815]

Amen

Re:I don't understand

[Anonymous Coward]

Ubi Soft is a publisher with multiple first-party studios worldwide (Montreal, Shanghai, etc.) similar to EA. They also sign on as publisher for developer studios like Red Storm Entertainment.

Don't forget Activision, Atari, Take Two, Nintendo, Sony (in its various incarnations), Microsoft, Square-Enix, Capcom, Konami, Koei, etc. ... oh wait, that's quite a few outside the "umbrellas," isn't it?

But I bet you never heard of any of them. :P Nintendo? Who are these people? Microsoft? Last I heard they make something called DOS!?

Re:I don't understand

[hchaput]

I totally agree. Stories like these sound like more irrational EA bashing. Every game company aspires to control the market, and programmer abuse is ubiquitous, but EA is getting all the attention. The sum effect is to give a free ride to all the other game companies. Would this outrage exist if Sony were buying the stock? How well does Sony treat its employees? How many companies has Sony acquired? Would Sony "deserve" to buy the stock?

I should point out, though, that there are plenty of game companies not owned or controlled by EA or Vivendi, and the purchase of Ubisoft stock would result neither in ownership nor control (at least not without 30.1% of the stockholders siding with EA).

Re:I don't understand

[Jacek Poplawski]

What the hell is wrong with you people?

EA is Evil. SCO was not evil, it was just funny, EA is true evil and you don't want to see it. You are happy with their games so you think that everything is OK. Just like many people here use Microsoft software and are happy with it. Try to look from distance. Try to see what influence it has to whole market.

Re:I don't understand

[ifwm]

"You are happy with their games..."

I don't own any EA games, and those I have played were mediocre at best. Interesting that you can tell me how I feel about them.

"EA is true evil and you don't want to see it"

Um, I know it's early, but god damn what a stupid thing to say. True evil? Like baby raping, genitalia mutilating, human flesh eating evil? Of course not.

Have you considered never posting (or sharing your opinion) again? You should.

Only on slashdot...

[xgamer04]

I love how everything that is critical (no matter how just the claims are and how well they are written) gets modded down here. And then we get +5 funny "in soviet korea" garbage. :P

Re:Only on slashdot...

[Dirtside]

I love how everything that is critical (no matter how just the claims are and how well they are written) gets modded down here.

Bullshit. Not all do, but plenty of critical posts end up at +5. Shit, the one you're replying to is at +3 right now. Maybe I should complain about the number of worthless anti-Slashdot whine posts like yours that get modded up.

Re:Only on slashdot...

[xgamer04]

When I replied, it was at 0 or 1: flamebait or something. I know I'm generalizing, etc

props

[Doc Ruby]

Regardless of the merits of EA's Ubisoft non/takeover actions, it should now be obvious that all of that "EA slave labor" scandal in the media the past few months was just propaganda in their takeover war. Regardless of the merits of those labor complaints, we would never have heard about them if there weren't a large equity transaction in the works. EA is hardly a unique taskmaster, especially in the gaming industry (as we heard in the squabbles). But their international ambitions are important enough to draw the attention of the corporate media. Mere slave labor falls far below that threshold.

Big fish, little fish...

[ag4vr]

I was wondering, given France's 35-hour work week, how they could legally have crunch times which are common to other game development studios.

A little Googling shows that Ubisoft has facilities in several countries and actually purchased two U.S. studios (RedStorm and Game Studio) in 2000-01.

It appears that they've been a part of the general consolidation in the games industry as well.

I also have to wonder whether the Feds and/or the EU would allow an outright takeover in the first place, given the antitrust implications.

Re:Big fish, little fish...

[Obliviously]

Ubisoft as a majority is not based in France, but in Montreal, Quebec (where I live). There are absolutely no limits on the work week. In Quebec employees are legally entitled to time and a half for ever hour after 40 hours. Of course people getting paid on salary, like myself, get screwed over on that. I get paid the same for 40 hours as I do for 60. Unfortunately Quebec has not followed the europeon trend of a more relaxed work environment (longer vacations, shorter days, etc...) and its not much different from anywhere else in N. America

Re:Big fish, little fish...

[BeeRockxs]

CryTek is based here in Germany, where we have similar hours per week, and appearantly, they were able to do crunchtime for FarCry. In fact, a friend of mine interviewed for a job at CryTek during crunchtime.

Re:Big fish, little fish...

[paedobear]

They can't "force" you to work over 35 hours - you have to "volunteer"

Re:Big fish, little fish...

[Enoch Root]

You're full of shit. How is Ubisoft "as a majority" based in Montreal when they have 3 studios and their their head office, in France?

Re:Big fish, little fish...

[Anonymous Coward]

They can't "force" you to work over 35 hours - you have to "volunteer"

The point is, if after working there for 5 years, and you get a children, and you want to spent more time with him - then you can no longer "volunteer". They can of course fire you, but at the cost of months (year?) of salary as a bonus.

VIVA LA FRANCE!

[Anonymous Coward]

france must die, I hate them, I pee in their skulls, I can't wait before we take over this piece of shit that they call 'france'. So long for their fries and wine.

Bon Apettite assholes

With what money?

[Orne]

Look Infogra.. *cough*, Atari is having enough problems with their finances as it is. This mildly annoys me, since I happen to have some of their stock in my portfolio (still waiting for it to break even).

They have to postpone a shareholder meeting because they can't get a quorum to vote on their bonds that are due this upcoming July, and now they want to give money away just to float another company? Yeesh! so much for a recovery...

Re:With what money?

[razmaspaz]

I happen to have some of their stock in my portfolio (still waiting for it to break even).

Sell Sell Sell

I don't know why people do this, waiting for a stock to break even is wasting your money. Why would you hold onto a stock that is slowly climbing when there are others out there that are growing quickly?

Seriously you are losing money by not getting into a better investment.

Europeans sure have an inferiority complex.

[glrotate]

One mega publisher buys a medium sized publisher and suddenly they feel their europeanness threatened.

Kinda sad.

Yes! 'France' sounds horrible!

[Anonymous Coward]

'Franz' is a better one :D

Don't sleep with a fan on in a closed room!

[Anonymous Coward]

They use up all of the oxygen. Several people have died in Korea.

American CIA and Fox News don't want you to know.

Re:you? what's this you?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not just the USA that hates the French. The rest of the world does too

"It's not just the French that hates the USA. The rest of the world does too" is an equally valid statement.

Foreign companies take over US companies...

[Travoltus]

... with alarming regularity.

I'm not a fan of EA's business tactics, far from it, but this has happened to all sorts of US companies, and foreign governments protect their markets from the same happening to their companies (see: Japan).

I don't see why US companies should not buy foreign ones.

Re:Foreign companies take over US companies...

[Trepalium]

Alarming regularity.... I think you're exaggerating. Why do you think foreign countries fear losing their companies to large US firms? There are a couple reasons I can think of off the top of my head.

• Competition - France has a population of about 60M people. The United States has a population of 300M. Economies of scale kick in and can make the costs of the US company less than the France only one. Now, this alone isn't the bad part. The problem is that this means the newly merged company can undercut all the other native companies, eventually reducing competition.
• Culture - This may seem quaint to most Americans, but most countries don't want to import US culture, and go to great lengths to try and protect it. The French language silliness you sometimes hear about is one incarnation of this. The Canadian cancon laws are another. Take the slight discomfort some parents expressed when some Japanese animation (Pokemon) became popular in the US, and multiply it to the point where there is little else on the market and you're getting close.
• Sovereignty - There is an overstated ,but potentially real, fear that by allowing these companies to take over the business landscape in the country that it gives foreign countries say over the local government. For a sufficiently large company, "Pass this law, or we pull out of your country" can become a real threat.

The US is unique in that it doesn't have the same fear of these as most other countries do. For example, the US entertainment industry (movies, television, music and games) is the biggest in the world. Of the 100 largest companies in the world, 37 are based in the US (the next highest being 22 in Japan and 10 in Germany), so foreign competition is fairly limited, and when it does happen, it's usually competition between equals (in size) rather than a large foreign company against a small local one.

Re:Foreign companies take over US companies...

[Travoltus]

Odd, what we have in the US is multinational corporations from all over the world taking total and complete PWNAGE of our politicians by threatening to pull out if they don't get their way.

Are there even any "American" companies any more???

OP is perfectly correct.

[djeca]

In English, it is correct to regard corporations, governments, etc. as plural nouns. So: "The French government aren't...", "My bank are incompetent...", etc.

It's incorrect in Yankese, probably because your legal system pretends that companies are people. Hint: they aren't, they're just a group of human beings and a bunch of legal documents.

Re:OP is perfectly correct.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's true that we're being taken over by corporations with more rights than citizens, but there's other groups we refer to in the singular.
"The population of France is ___"
"The group I work with is ___"
"My family is ___"
"My pair of pants is ___"

So, our perversion of the language runs deeper than anyone suspects.

for extra credit, find one word that works well in all of the blanks.

Re:OP is perfectly correct.

[Anonymous Coward]

annoying.

Re:OP is perfectly correct.

[StalinsNotDead]

According to this, it depends upon the context. If the collective noun is being referred to as a single entity then the verb is singular.

If it being referred to as its component parts, then the plural form of the verb is used.

My family is large.
My family are always fighting.

It does mention that in Limese(the British version of Yankese) that the singular/plural distinction for collective nouns is less important.

It's incorrect in Yankese, probably because your legal system pretends that companies are people.

I don't think that's the reason why it's incorrect over here. It's probably because it's only one company, not two or more company.

How does British English deal with the following:
swarm, pride, herd, flock, crash, murder or rhumba. The animal groups for the following: bees, lions, cows, sheep, rhinoceri, crows, and rattlesnakes.

Hint: they aren't, they're just a group of human beings and a bunch of legal documents.

You forgot to mention management. They don't fit into the definition of either of the components you mentioned.

Re:OP is perfectly correct.

[stanmann]

Plaid
rotting
Edible
Two-legged

First time for everything

[GetPFunky]

It would be the first time the French actually stayed in a conflict long enough to see it through... I give it 2 weeks.

Re:First time for everything

[Random Guru 42]

If the French were really the cheese-eating surrender monkeys everyone takes them for, then why did they bother to resist Washington over middle-east issues? Similarily, don't forget that during WW2, the French had a very strong underground movement to screw over the Nazis.

Re:First time for everything

[FuroTheRed]

France isn't the totally spineless country some Americans (including me, at times) make it out to be. At the the same time, so many of them don't respect us. What do you expect?

They helped us start our country. We saved their hindparts in WWII. What we need is mutual respect and support.

Re:First time for everything

[Random Guru 42]

That's very true. Similarily, that's what we Canadians need with you Americans... There's more than enough of us making fun of you guys behind your backs, and I'm certain it's the same the other way around.

"Can't we all just... get along?" :D

Re:you? what's this you?

[Anonymous Coward]

Erm... this statement comes *much* closer to the truth...

will i have to boycott another company

[Anonymous Coward]

Not that it matters to the company cause they wont notice one person but ive already quit buying square games.After they forced chrono trigger resurection (if you havent seen the trailer they released and i believe its still on their site its awesome) mod team to quit i many now be forced to not buy EA products as well. And this may actually bother me since battlefield 2 seems to be coming alot better than the failure they called bf: vietnam

also ubi needs to allow southend to make deathrow 2 i know most people who played the first do want a sequel.

How France works in cases like this (my theory)

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a perfect school book example.

When a big french company is about to be bought out by a foreign entity, France often gets another french company to rescue the first. All sorts of low-key financial insentives are always included, of course.

I had a strong suspicion that such would be the case with Ubisoft. And now it's confirmed. Ahhh, it feels good.

Bloody State invervention again

[Toby The Economist]

Great.

French Gov. getting involved in private business again.

Ubisoft; privately owned company. People like you and me, who've invested their money, made themselves a decent company.

EA; Satan's spawn to be sure, but another private company.

Now, I think EA are evil, but I *also* think it's evil that the State is even *considering*, even *saying* it's watching the situation.

Sure, we'd be happy if EA were thwarted, because we don't hate them, and for good reason. We're happy with State intervention in this *one specific case*.

But are we happy with the idea that the State can intervene in the *general case?*

And the answer is a resounding NO!

And you can't have it both ways; so I really don't like the fact the State is getting involved, even though I can't stand EA and want to see them stopped.

--
Toby

Re:Bloody State invervention again

[Anonymous Coward]

"Now, I think EA are evil, but I *also* think it's evil that the State is even *considering*, even *saying* it's watching the situation."

Just because you think it's evil does not mean that your opinion about the lawfully chosen government of another country has any relevance. If the french don't want to follow the American example, tough shit. Newsflash: most of the world thinks America is evil and doesn't WANT to do what you consider "good".

Re:Bloody State invervention again

[nextdoornerd]

As I am no Economist as such this is only my sincere opinion deduced from personal belief and experience, but the idea of governemnts taking their hands off international acquisitions is at least scary for me.

See, a government operates for the bigger benefit of the people by whom it has been elected (in theory, at least). Big US Company buys out French company possibly to eliminate competition - jobs, national pride, and the sum value produced by the nation are hurt. Intervention by state on many-many levels of the economy has a loooong history - in that case, it protects against negative foreign influence.

Now I appreciate the idea of free trade - on a microeconomical level It Just Works. But when it's about uneven odds (Microsoft trying to take over my garage company, for example :)) or foreign influence, we elected the government to step right in and say "no".

You know Lee Iacocca, the topmanager? He wrote a nice book about his life in the 80's (?). He has a rather interesting rant about exactly that problem - in his time, the US government did not protect the american auto industry from japanese cars while the japanese did this with ridiculous import taxes. All of this because "free trade".

So yes, there are cases when I'm happy that the government intervenes - God knows that it should do it more frequently in my country (which is not the US, mind you). As it is now the Germans own our collective as... backwards parts. But that's our trouble, certainly :)

Anyway, this was only my opinion.

Re:Bloody State invervention again

[Max_Abernethy]

Free markets fail when monopolies are built. That's why we have regulation. Consumers are important private entities too, and the government needs to look out for their best interests.

Re:Bloody State invervention again

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because you think it's evil does not mean that your opinion about the lawfully chosen government of another country has any relevance... Newsflash: most of the world thinks America is evil and doesn't WANT to do what you consider "good".

Just because you think the US is evil dies not mean that your opinion of this soverign nation has any relevance. Newsflash: As much as you like to think your opinion is the majority, it isn't. Go back to bashing us from behind your computer screen with a Big Mac and a Coke while wearing your Eminem T-shirt and listening to Jay-Z and having another Hollywood movie playing in your DVD player in the background.

Re:Bloody State invervention again

[Anonymous Coward]

But are we happy with the idea that the State can intervene in the *general case?*
And the answer is a resounding NO!

Is that a royal 'we' or are you trying to speak with mouths that are not yours?

Re:Bloody State invervention again

[Random Guru 42]

Fucktard. America is far from the majority. Let's see, 293 million or so, compared to a world population of 6.4 billion. China and India together have almost half of the world population, so screw your thought that you're the fucking majority.

Re:Bloody State invervention again

[Anonymous Coward]

Fucktard. I am talking about opinions, not people.

Quit hating, watch more Sopranos.

Ouch

[Mike Hawk]

It's shit like this that has cost you the almost all of international support and goodwill that was apparent in the aftermath of September 11th.

I can only assume your post is a troll, but I'll bite only cause its fun...

So we should be grateful over temporary goodwill "earned" out of the aftermath of an international tragedy? And a few silly comments on a message board are enough to burn that up? All the while Chirac envisioning France and Europe as a counterweight to America? Doesn't sound like there was much support or goodwill to begin with. You grow up. Look back through history, France has only supported America when if futher supported French interests. And no matter when France might have been our ally in the past, they are no longer. They see themselves as a counter to America. Doesn't sound like an ally to me.

Ridicule the cheese-eating surrender monkeys at will Americans. They are doing it to you on French message boards. Je promets.

Re:Ouch

[WIAKywbfatw]

You need to seriously examine how the US went from having the total support of virtually every nation on the planet to the mistrust of all but a few. France isn't responsible for that, it's just the convenient scapegoat.

And as for France only supporting the US when it further supported French interests well that's hardly any different from the US, is it? The US only entered WWI because of the Zimmerman telegraph unearthed by British Intelligence (do you even learn about that in school?) and it only entered WWII because of Pearl Harbour: even then it was Germany's declaration of war upon the US rather than any overwhelming desire on the part of the US that got it involved in the war in Europe.

If you keep regarding any friend who raises its voice in caution as an enemy then you'll soon have no friends at all. You (and I mean you personally) need to learn that friends are the people who tell you when you're screwing up royally and help you avoid trouble, not just the people who jump into trouble with you.

Re:Ouch

[supermojoman]

The US only entered WWI because of the Zimmerman telegraph unearthed by British Intelligence (do you even learn about that in school?)...

To answer your question, yes, I at least learned about the Zimmerman telegraph when in school (I am American). However, I had trouble recalling exactly what it was before looking it up on Wikipedia. What I did recall was the German unrestricted submarine warfare policy. This leads me to say that my teacher(s) and books probably focused on this reason more than the Zimmerman telegraph. However, I could be completely wrong. I was never a great history scholar. I was more interested in the science courses. Also, I should probably note that I was a private school kid. I don't know how things were taught in the public schools.

Needless to say, most people I talk to don't even really know how World War I started. In fact, they only know there was a World War I because there was a World War II. Call it the Great War sometime and you get a bunch of blank stares. But, in my opinion, that's just the result of a poor education system overall and not some vast conspiracy to skew history.

Re:Ouch

[minus_273]

hmm, it seems your history books forgot to mention the arsenal of democracy and the fleets that helped support the british a long time before pearl harbor or the is attacks on us ships in china during the rape of nanking (wait, did your history books mention that?) . No, the US didn't intervene in WWII because of the anti-war movement ( sound familiar) at the time. The anti war groups were so powerful that the NY times barely covered the rape of nanking and accounts of the holocaust were buried in the back pages.
Keep in mind that these were same morons that destroyed a lot of their weapons unilaterally after WWI. The only thing that that could change their minds was Pearl Harbor. If you don't know about this, then your history books were incomplete. If you don't like what is in this post, tough luck, you can't change history.
PS: I'm not an American.

f ea

[SubtleNuance]

EA has the money to "invest" in Ubisoft because they are STEALING from their employees. Uncompensated work is criminal.

Fuck EA.

Continuity is what makes the difference

[Dogtanian]

... take it from JTS, a hard drive company that Atari "merged" with and changed their name to with the Trammiels still in charge, previously coming from Time Warner....

The difference is that from the original Atari, through Warner-ownership, to the Tramiel era, there was continuity. It changed over time, but there was always a connection; the product-line and staff didn't disappear overnight (though, of course, the arcade division, Atari Games, wasn't sold to the Tramiels).

I don't know the details of the JTS deal (and I'm too tired to check it up), but I suspect it had more to do with patents and the like; Atari Corp's computer and games businesses were all but extinct by that time (the Jaguar was a clear failure by that stage- let's face it, if it hadn't been a success with its headstart over the technically superior PS and Saturn, it wasn't going to do it now- and had diverted Atari's resources away from the Falcon and the Lynx- in short, there was nothing worth speaking of left). Even when the merger news broke, I made a comment somewhere that "Atari are dead". *That* was the break in continuity, where any remnants of the 'true' original Atari finally expired.

At any rate, I recall *nothing* from the JTS-era 'Atari'; next I heard was that Hasbro had the name, but rights aside (and didn't the rights to those 'classic' games reside with the now separate "Atari Games", owned by Midway?) there was no connection with the 'old' Atari.

The Infogrames 'Atari' is a name, no more. I don't mind that, I just wish they'd quit screwing around with the logo and revert to the classic design (I've already ranted about this, though).

What restaurant?

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard about the whole incident of "Freedom Fries" on the radio, but I do not know any establishment run by uber-patriot idiots that actually uses the word in my area.

"Liberty Cabbage"

[mickyflynn]

During WWI, sauerkraut was called Liberty Cabbage. Also, German was the 2nd language of the USA until WWI. We have a very large population of German extraction (we also have some 40+ million Irish), so that makes sense even though I was surprised to learn it (History of the English Language class my advisor duped me into taking (I am an English major even if Slashdot posts don't get that across)).

Re:you? what's this you?

[Anonymous Coward]

Which just goes to show: the world hates everyone! Nobody likes a winner.

Nice xenophobia yankdot fuckwads

[Anonymous Coward]

no further comments

I think you misunderstand

[Zentac]

That is not at all the point, ok it is for France, but for most people here it is because they distrust EA, I would be evenly uneasy about simular actions towards Activision or id Software.
You lift one fact of this situation and asume it is the major point of discusion, where as the main reason people get uneasy about this whole happening is the involvement of EA.
If, lets say, Take Two was the one purchasing UbiSoft stock, the whole thing would be much less of a "problem". On the other hand I think they would have anounced there plans beforehand.

Re:I think you misunderstand

[Random Guru 42]

I'd still have issues with Take Two since they seem to be mortal enemies of the IGDA. But certainly better them than EA.

Otherwise, right on.

Rumored they are changing their name as well

[sl4shd0rk]

to MicrEAsoft

Hostile Takeover of Software development company?

[WetCat]

Step 1: Takeover of company
Step 2: Every developer leave
Step 3: Developers incorporate under new company.
Step 4: New company starts another product with help
of the old customer base.

Re:Hostile Takeover of Software development compan

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 5: Profit