They REALLY should've locked down the Bioshock,Ninja Gaiden,and Mass Effect franchises,I can tell you this right now;

1)Bioshock 1 releasing on the Ps3 isn't just a 'test' to see whether the franchise can sell well on the platform;I have a strong feeling it has to do with the soon to be announced platforms for Bioshock 2.

2)Bioware being under EA=It's gonna cost Microsoft a lot more money to secure the sequel as an exclusive.A lot.And with Mass Effect 1 not selling as well as THEY,Microsoft,expected it to sell,are Microsoft going to pay over 50 Million Dollars for exclusivity?Toss in the fact that EA are the last devs you'd think about when it came to releasing a potential million+ seller as an exclusive,you can see why Mass Effect 2 may very well grace all platforms in existence.

3)The main person behind NG2,who was clearly against coding the title for the Ps3,is not going to be the main person behind NG3.Let's just say once NG2 Sigma is announced,I won't be surprised at all.

Sony buys studios because maybe ppl just like to work for em...i dont know...i dont really care

all i know is i have played a couple games that i bought my PS3 for. I have played GTA MGS GT5P (yea i want GT5) and they have added franchise games like Warhawk RFOM Uncharted.

you cant deny Sonys cataloge of games and you know they will come. Some will even come to your 360...so its not a total loss for your 360 bloodmask!

In the long run the 360 doesnt have the legs (games) to win this race. IMO

add on: I 4get Socom!
games you will not play on the 360 that i bought my PS3 for
MGS4
Socom
GT5
RFOM2
God of War

I'm not a fan of the big companies buying the small successful developers whether it be Sony, MS or Nintendo (or EA for that matter). It may be inevitable as the cost of development rises that we see a consolidation in the industry.

In any case, alot of the talent may leave, the magic the company once had may be lost. They lose their decision making capabilities that were a cornerstone of their success.

As a member of the software industry (although not in gaming), I was in a successful small business that got swallowed up by a huge company. 50% left day 1. The rest of us that stayed became very small fish in a big pond. Projects that were the pinnacle of our company were casually canceled and people were absorbed into other non related projects. It all of a sudden became a 9-5 job with zero interest in working to make the company succeed.

Is this really the only picture we can come up with for anything MS corporate related? Shane Kim is a fine looking man and all, even if he is eyebrow challenged, but a little more variety please :)

Microsoft continually gives gamers some of the worst gaming experiences ever known in history. Microsoft Game Studios is nothing more than a feeble attempt at recreating one of Sony's most strategic and brilliant moves. A strong first party studio is what is needed to have a successful cycle of games for your platform and Microsoft simply does not have the talent needed to perform this.

Only PLAYSTATION®3 gives the gamers that unique, magical moments that cannot be duplicated on any other platform. Playing b3yond has never had such a deeper meaning.

$niper

real time worlds only did crackdown and epic games unfortunately just keeps churning out unreals and gears of war. imo bad choices for microsoft, i think real time worlds might be a good purchase when they prove themselves with one/two more games. and i don't think take two would even go down easy, that thing is just huge. i also don't know about sega since they're sega-sammy studios right now. silicon knights would be a GREAT purchase, although imo too human sucks they have developed some kickass games in the past (LoK, eternal darkness, twin snakes ftw, oh and those old strategy games :D). last but not least i could care less about itagaki.

They should just go ahead and buy EA and Square Enix. If they buy EA then they will have everything that casuals buy, and neither Sony or Nintendo would be able to Stop it. Furthermore, with Square Enix they would slaughter both Nintendo and Sony; Nintendo would stand a chance with Pokemon and maybe Sony could try to fight back with the Wild Arms team, Level 5 and ICO Team, but still, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are the most important franchises ever.

Those are the only two purchases they would ever need to make as all Western publishers would want to publish wherever Microsoft-EA publishes as it would push tons of casual buys, and all Japanese devs would want to publish where Microsoft-SE publishes. I hope neither of these moves becomes a reality as it would suck for gamers. Thank goodness Microsoft is still 6 or 5 billion dollars in the red for their gaming division, so that is a long time from happening.

Microsoft doesn't need Epic as they apparently own the Gears of War IP and Unreal Tournament is not a system seller. Epic's value would go down the drain since their Middleware tools would become useless. Epic and Microsoft are better working separately. Sega is also not needed for anyone; hell, Sega would do better working with Nintendo as the garbage that is Mario and Sonic is actually on the top of the charts.

Microsoft shouldn't buy Take Two, they're worthless. Electronic Arts' offer is actually generous. For just Bioshock, it isn't really worth it, because as great as the game is, it doesn't push consoles. If they want GTA, Rockstar is the target. But again, they are probably too expensive, and it would be a sad day for gaming if it happened since it would give Microsoft too much leverage, just as Square Enix and Electronic Arts becoming part of any company, be it Sony or Nintendo or Microsoft. I hope none of those moves ever happens because console makers would not be competitive anymore and we wouldn't get as many features.

I would like it if Microsoft regains rights for all of Bungie's games (I don't care about Halo honestly but I guess it gives Microsoft something) or at least the Halo IP, and also for them to regroup Itagaki and his friends. Realtime Worlds and Silicon Knights would be alright for them.

If all console makers buy or fund small developers or recruit them, like Nintendo with NIBRIS; Sony with evolution studios, media molecule, ninja theory and Insomniac; and Microsoft with Mistwalker, a new Canadian studio and Bungie; then we gamers will keep having a blast and the industry will keep being healthy. Even if you are a fanboy, you would suffer more than enjoy the consequences of Microsoft buying Rockstar, EA and Square Enix.

Buying Sega will instantly give us a huge library of exclusives. Phantasy Star, Sonic, Shenmue, Panzer Dragoon, etc...

Microsoft has been making a huge profit on its gaming division for awhile now. I'm sure they're planning on something. We'll see if any announcements are made at E3.

I think like should be obvious the devs MS should buy or had bought are the ones that actually did helped them (aka company pals) for example Bioware, Bizarre Creations etc so they can secure X franchise that did helped them

but its kind of silly to think MS should buy some for the sake of buying them for example Sega right now is a BIG "meh" same goes for Silicon Knights that shouldn't even be mentioned till after the release of Too Human

MS to even consider buying one should check for a proven company and not a wild bet that is suppose to pay up in the future and that might end up making them loose money that could have been used to actually buy another dev that actually helped them in the past

This site is infested by too many sony fan boys

I my self would love to see what MS could do if they were to buy out both Sega and Silicon Knights. Plus if MS could give a job to Tomonobu Itagaki.

Seeing as Sega has some of the best IPs out there MS would be able to help grow the company over at Sega so then many great games that people have not seen in years could get new versions. Just think of new games like Vectorman, Streets of Rage, Skies of Arcadia, Shenmue, Phantasy Star & Panzer Dragoon. Plus this is not even half of all the good IPs Sega owns there are a lot more out there and it would take a lot longer to list them all.

Another thing with MS buying Sega MS would be able to games from Genesis,32x,CD,Gamegear,Saturn and even Dreamcast games to Xbox Live Arcade if they wanted to too. So right there that would bring in lots of games to the 360.

I also think with buying Silicon Knights too MS gets to help in the future development of Too Human even more. Plus you would get other IPs from them also like Eternal Darkness. Another plus would be that Sega and Silicon Knights already have a relationship.

As for Tomonobu Itagaki MS could give him a job working at there new Sega gaming studio and He would be able to make new games if He wanted to or be able to make games off of past IPs.

So to me if MS could buy those companies it would be pretty cool.

http://achievements.schrank...

I think that if Microsoft bought Sega, they would be just wasting money.

Microsoft would have to offer EA a boatload of money (Billions of dollars) to buy EA and there's no way that EA would be bought out when they are buying out other studios like Bioware.

Epic Games is the only game studio that I could realistically see Microsoft buying out.

I don't think that Micrsoft will have to worry about Bungie straying too far from them because Bungie will probably end up being just like Insomniac for Sony. Insomniac is an Independant Game Studio, but they've only made games for Sony and Bungie will most likely only make games for Microsoft.

But Microsoft definantly needs to get there act together when it comes to 1st party studios because relying on 3rd party wont be enough.

'ICUP' are you trying to say that the LEGENDRY SOLID SNAKE is a rapist or pedophile? looks like it in your avatar

MS buying sega and or Ea would be a waste of their money and some whackjob's utopia .

Let's start with EA , again are you guys crazy ? Did you see how much is worth Take two alone , with basically only a midly successful sport brand and GTA ? How much do you think it would cost then to buy EA ?

MS offered to buy yahoo , but only because it's basically a fight to hold control of the net , and because they are in a future collision course with Google as a huge competitor . And even then they gave up yahoo when they got greedy and realized it would be more efficient to search for other ventures and way .

So do you really think that a now successfull MS in the video game business would risk tons of billions for EA ? Especially with , most likely , anti-trust orgs behind them ?

As for Sega , its another matter , sega is too expensive for the worth it would bring to microsoft . The extra copies an exclusive deal would give them compared to multiplaforming isnt worth a buy out . Microsoft is doing quite well without their exclusives , and right now Sega aint worth sh*t .

Of course they got a few exciting current and futures titles , but until they manage to get their main ips back on the top , or manage to sells new ones , they aint worth the trouble for either sony or MS , or Nintendo .
Imo Square Enix and bandai namco are far more likely candiates for sega . they seek new way of invading the west , and Square at least made known their intent to buy more studios .

I agree with a lot but things like

Buy epic to get the unreal engine:
"Microsoft would also becone the owner of the Unreal Engine. They could easily make their investmnet back just from licensing the engine over the years. Not to mention the Gears of War franchise would become a Microsoft IP."

-The issue with this is that no one developing crossplatform would buy the unreal engine anymore so revenue streams from that would dry up

-also for companies like Sega - Japan has strict foreign ownership rules that would tend to keep controlling interests out of foreign hands. So microsoft would not be the prime investor

They don't just "buy" exclusives.

what they do is have an inhouse teams that develops IP's for them, and then hire 3rd party developers to make the games.

For example, project gotham racing is an IP that's owned by MS but was made bizarre creations. MGS(microsoft game studios) still owns the IP though. you'll see this happen with a few other titles like their mech warrior and crimson skies games. And it's the same way that nintendo works, like how rare did their donkey kong games, and pal labs does smash bro's and kirby.

This isn't a bad strategy, I really like this way because you get to see something new that each developer brings, and see how a liscense can evolve.

as for thier first party. MS has a lot of talent there.
rare, lionhead studio, turn 10, ensemble, wingnut interactive.

Sure it's just a drop in the bucket compared to sony, but all in their own league in comparison.

.

Yeah at the end of 2007, everybody jumped out of xbox 360. EVERYONE!
Epic went first if my memory serves me correct. They went fast to work with the money theymade from gears and brought out ut3 for ps3!
Bunjie wasnt having it no more and they lost some of their spirit during the release of halo3! Its like they knew they had messed up and it wasnt thier fault. I dont know there was a wierd vibe at bunjie before they made themselves independent. Peter moore left to be prez of ea. Now all EA cares about is the money they are making from playstation games.Bill gates left! I left because of the RROD!
My friends list fell apart before my eyes from rrod victims!
It was over! Its like at the end of 2007, with all the overblown reviews and all the problems with the console. The dashboard had changed into a old Spice commercial and moutain dew advertisements, Hellz they even had ads there for the army and the navy!
If you read this wall of text you would realize that the only thing keeping xbox360 alive is gamers with leftover microsoft points!
The end of 2007 should be documented and soon it will end up in court!
im gonna grab some popcorn as the news slowly reaches these Xbutts!

DIE XBOX DIE!

UDATE 2.40 is upon you!
How does it feel to be under its shadow?
When released it force will destroy faulty hardware everywhere!
Shield your xbox 360!
This update is HOT!