Electronic Arts has announced that they have sold more than 100 million copies of the games from their Need For Speed franchise.

The company is celebrating this achievement by offering EA Store discount codes for 25% off any Need For Speed title.

To win these discount coupons, you would need to leave a comment on the official EA Facebook fan page before Thursday, October 29th.

It’s hard to believe that NFS franchise is around 16 years old!

Checkout: EA on Facebook

China based videogame company Shanda Games is making headlines.

The company has managed to raise around 1 billion dollar through their initial public offering.

Shanda however managed to meet this target by offering more shares than analysts had expected.

The company is known for publishing games like The Legend of Mir II. These games are popular in the domestic market.

Shanda Games said that they would use the funds generated through the IPO for expansion through acquisitions and joint ventures.

Midway Games has announced that they are selling their San Diego based studio assets to THQ.

The deal is worth around USD 200,000.

Midway however clarified that the deal does not include the TNA wrestling game which was developed at this studio.

This studio has around 100 employees. THQ has already offered jobs to around 40 of them. They might extend the job offer to more workers.

This deal would require the approval of the judges who are overseeing the Midway’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

LucasArts has used Twitter to reveal that they are set to announce a new videogame.

The sad news however is that this new title is likely to based on one of their earlier titles.

The two messages posted on the Twitter service stated:

Amazing news coming Monday! Super excited! You have no idea how tough it is not to start yelling about it! But it’s secret! Until Monday!

Okay, we will do hints. It is awesome news for our old school fans. (anything more direct might get me in trouble)

So, it is pretty clear that an announcement would be made later today.

Checkout: LucasArts on Twitter

ZeniMax has announced that they have completed the acquisition of cult videogame company id Software.

The acquisition was made through their subsidiary Bethesda Softworks.

ZeniMax clarified that all the games being developed by id Software would remain on track.

The company added: “No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio.”

This is a shocking announcement considering there was no public announcement of any bidding or counter bidding!

Activision Blizzard has hinted that they are considering stopping any further development of games for the Sony Playstation 3 gaming platform.

Activision Blizzard Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said in a statement that they might stop making new games for the PS3 due to high development costs and poor sales.

He has been quoted as saying: “I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better.”

Sony Playstation 3 has been the slowest selling console of the current generation mostly because of its high cost.

It continues to remain a premium purchased compared to Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360.

Warner Bros. Entertainment has announced that they are launching a bid for the videogame company Midway Games.

Their offer is worth around USD 33 million.

Midway Games is behind some popular videogame franchises like Mortal Kombat. The company had filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

Warner is not interested in acquiring the entire company. Instead they are interested in taking over Midway’s development studios in Chicago and Seattle along with the “Mortal Kombat” line.

The company does not want to pay for studios in San Diego or Newcastle, Britain.

Videogame publisher Electronic Arts has revealed that game designer Will Wright is leaving the company to join run “Stupid Fun Club”.

Stupid Fan Club is essentially a group that design properties for use in videogames, movies and toys.

EA added that they would be making an investment in this group but no more details were revealed.

Wright is one of the most high profile game designers in the world. His resume includes high profile game titles like “The Sims,” “SimCity” and “Spore”.

Wright spoke on his decision to leave EA: “The entertainment industry is moving rapidly into an era of revolutionary change. Stupid Fun Club will explore new possibilities that are emerging from this sublime chaos and create new forms of entertainment on a variety of platforms. In my twelve years at EA, I’ve had the pleasure to work alongside some of the brightest and most talented game developers in the industry and I look forward to working with them again in the near future.”

EA had this to say: “Will is a great designer and he’s been part of a great legacy of globally recognized game franchises.”

Market analysts believe that this is a disaster development for EA which has been struggling with poor response to their recent games.

Checkout: Stupid Fun Club

Eidos has announced that they are getting acquired by rival company Square Enix.

Eidos is most well known for their Lara Croft series of videogames.

The value of this acquisition deal is around £84.3 million.

Eidos and SCi Entertainment had merged in 2005 to form the entity which is now going to merge with Square Enix.

Jane Cavanagh and Bill Ennis, SCi’s founding management spoke about this acquisition deal: “Square Enix have got the deal of the century.”

Midway Games announced that they have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company said that they would not be able to pay back accelerated debt obligations.

Midway has around $281 million in debt and just $167.5 million in assets.

The company suffered due to selling of stake from Sumner Redstone.

Redstone sold his majority stake in the company to a company led by private investor Mark Thomas.

Midway Chief Executive and President Matt Booty spoke about the new developments: “We have been focused on realigning our operations and improving our execution, and this filing will relieve the immediate pressure from our creditors and provide us time for an orderly exploration of our strategic alternatives.”

The company is most popularly known for their Mortal Kombat franchise.