Chip Mergers, Zombies And More

AMDTI Is Born

It was the arguably the least surprising acquisition of the year, but AMD's purchase of ATI was still big news. AMD was long considered an also-ran to the mighty Intel, but over the last few years the chip maker has emerged as a real threat with some well-timed innovations (its 64-bit architecture, Opteron and Athlon chips), a new partnership with Dell and now a major acquisition of graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies.

The $5.4 billion deal broadens AMD's product portfolio and helps the company's goal of unseating Intel as the world's biggest chip company. To use a sports analogy, this is a little like Phil Mickelson/Vijay Singh upping their golf game to challenge Tiger Woods after so many years of Tiger's outright dominance. As for ATI, becoming part of AMD should help it put pressure on its chief rival Nvidia.

Some folks are cheering the acquisition, while others are complaining that AMD paid too much for ATI. I don't really know much about stock prices, and I don't trust the Wall Street analysts anyway. So here's what I do know: at my previous job covering IT for a biz magazine, I talked to computer resellers, white box makers and system builders all the time, and the consensus opinion was that AMD was out-playing Intel in the innovation game over the last couple years. A number of system builders I spoke with regularly (who were big Intel shops, BTW) often said that Intel couldn't touch AMD's 64-bit performance. However, Intel's size and market position gave it the ability to offer lower prices and better support. Will the chip market dynamics change with the AMD-ATI marriage? If anything, the price wars - and war of words - between AMD-ATI and its two rivals should heat up like a San Fernando Valley home without air-conditioning.

"Dead" In The Water?

I think Joseph Heller would have loved this one. Dead Rising, a new survival horror game from Capcom, is scheduled for release in North America and Europe next month. However, the exclusive Xbox 360 title won't be available in Germany because the government has banned the game without actually banning it. I'll explain: since censorship is against the law in Germany, the country can't prevent the game from being sold. But Germany can prevent the game from being published in the country. It seems Germany's rating board, the USK, has decided to deny Dead Rising an official rating. Since Microsoft will not allow unrated games to be published for its platform, therefore, a German version of Dead Rising is pretty much out of the question, though other versions of the game can legally be sold in the country. So it seems that "Dead" won't, in fact, rise in Germany. For more on Dead Rising, check out the TwitchGuru blog and an slide show of the game.

Dead Rising

Twitch Bits

• Blizzard and Xfire are teaming up to create a summer contest based on World of Warcraft. The contest will award the best fan-made WoW movies or machinima films, featuring categories for short films, action, and dance/music videos. More than $23,000 worth of prizes are up for grabs, including a $5,000 gaming PC. In the meantime, check out The Village Elves and Amish Paradise on YouTube.
• Can it be true? After weeks of rumors, several news reports claim there may be a price cut for the Xbox 360 this fall. This could be bad news for Sony and PlayStation 3, which is already more expensive than Microsoft's console. If the software giant does indeed lower the price significantly before the PS3 launches, it could boost the 360's lead even more.
• In the category of least surprising news besides the AMD-ATI merger: the accounting firm for Gizmondo's parent company, the troubled Tiger Telematics, has resigned because the company hasn't adequately investigated allegations of fraud. The law firm of Goldstein Golub Kessler LLP openly questioned the integrity of Tiger Telematics' management team and also claimed the company didn't have sufficient funds to pay for the accounting services. I'm shocked. Shocked! For more on Gizmondo and Tiger Telematics, go here.
• Speaking of bad news, Activision was hit with a shareholder lawsuit that claims improprieties in the company's stock option activities. Take-Two Interactive is dealing with a similar matter; the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Take-Two's issuance of stock options. The Activision lawsuit alleges that several current and former executives improperly backdated and recorded stock options for their own gain.
• And finally, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission finally closed its investigation into Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and the infamous "Hot Coffee" mini-game scandal. Amazingly, while Rockstar clearly violated the ESRB rating system and made a mockery of the video game industry's attempted self-regulation, the game company won' be fined a single penny or face any immediate penalties. In fact, if Rockstar pulls another Hot Coffee, the company will only face an $11,000 fine per incident. I recently wrote about why the FTC is so impotent in a column on a Congressional hearing about violent and explicit games; it's clear the FTC is challenging the SEC as the most toothless regulatory agency in the U.S. government.

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