If the Take-Two Interactive Software soap opera is one you’d like to tune into tomorrow, you’re in luck.

The NASDAQ company has announced it will offer audio sumulcast of the annual stockholders meetings online. While the simulcast won’t work for stockholders to cast their votes, it’s going to be a great way to tune in to find out what will happen with the software giant that’s been responsible for such games as Bully and Grand Theft Auto.

Will the company go on the auction block? Will other ideas be presented to save it and its board?

The answers could be forthcoming tomorrow starting at 4 p.m. EST. The web cast can be accessed by clicking here.

I'm kind of hoping the current board manages to hang onto the company myself. You've got to have a certain level of respect for folks willing to take a pre-emptive strike in court.

Sadly, it doesn't look like the board will win on this one.

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Labels: grand theft auto, take-two, take-two sale

It wasn’t really a question of if Jack Thompson would counter sue Take-Two. It was more of a “when” kind of situation.

Well, here it is. The notorious anti-gaming Florida lawyer has officially filed a counter suit against Take-Two’s preemptive legal maneuvering. Take-Two wants a U.S. District Court judge to stop what it deems as frivolous suits from the lawyer who just can’t seem to win an anti-gaming lawsuit. Thompson wants Take-Two brought up on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, charges. He claims Take-Two has tried to violate his Constitutional rights since 2005.

According to GameSpot, Thompson seems to be requesting federal court approval for Take-Two games prior to release. "All Take-Two would have to do is submit each game to a court of law to see if it contains material harmful to minors or if it does in fact constitute a nuisance of any kind under Florida law. The games are finished. There is plenty of time to submit the games, and doing so will not in fact impede their release--unless they are in fact harmful to children."

This also from GameSpot: “Thompson's defense also appears to contain a number of factual errors and misrepresentations. He claims the Entertainment Software Rating Board found that Take-Two Interactive failed to disclose objectionable content in its role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The ESRB said it found developer Bethesda Softworks was at fault in that matter, not Take-Two.

"Thompson also said that Bully was found to have 'homosexual sex' hidden in the game, about which Take-Two 'forgot' to tell the ESRB and the judge in last year's suit over the game's release. The homosexual activity in that game was limited to kissing, and the ESRB said shortly after that game came out that such scenes were considered in issuing it a rating of T for Teen.”

As if the factual errors aren’t enough, Thompson has laid out his own version of a conspiracy theory: “According to Thompson, Take-Two had still more help in breaking the law. The countersuit mentions a number of companies and media outlets--including the ESA, Penny Arcade, and GameSpot--as having collaborated and conspired with Take-Two to commit racketeering activities.”

It sounds as if Thompson’s simply up to his old tricks again. This will be one heck of a show to watch. It’s just a shame the court system’s time has to be tied up with such nonsense.

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Labels: bethesda, jack thompson, oblivion, take-two, video game lawsuits