Michael Pachter is at it again, analyzing and giving his thoughts on matters concerning the game industry. This time, he laments how much money could have been made if a timely game tie-in to the blockbuster The Dark Knight was released. He says Warner Bros. and EA may have missed out on US$ 100 million. More after the jump.

Good news, Rock Band fans! We've got some juicy new details related to the upcoming Rock Band 2. Find out the platforms the game will be headed on, the number of tracks, and the general release date of the game after the jump!

Atari just received a warning from NASDAQ stating it may be delisted for low stock market value. Even after patching things up with FUNimation, it seems the video game company is in the red once more. Find the details at the full article.

It's official: BioShock (Microsoft Xbox 360, PC) is a necessity for gamers. Or at least, 2K Games announced that the genetically enhanced title is proven to be a must-have gift for this holiday season. With plenty of Game of the Year awards under its belt, 2K is confident in BioShock. The biggest honors the game received await at the full article.

 

Looks like the HD-DVD format is being left out in the cold this holiday season. Following Blockbuster's announcement of a Blu-ray exclusivity deal, this new announcement from Target is looking like the format wars' final nail on the coffin.

The Associated Press has just released a statement that Target, second-largest retail outlet in the US, will be bringing the Blu-ray under the spotlight this holiday season. They're going to be pushing up Blu-ray players and discs all the way to the front displays, specifically, the endcaps of the store aisles.

Sony's BDP-S300 Blu-ray player will be sold come October for US$ 499, and flanking it on the shelves would be Blu-ray movies from Sony Pictures and Walt Disney.

It might be worth of note that Target would still continue selling HD-DVD items, like the Xbox 360's HD-DVD add-on. But it seems as if, on the disc player side of things, the retail chain will only carry Blu-ray players from Sony and not HD-DVD players (with an exception to Toshiba's HD-DVD player which is available on the Target website). So, like the deal with Blockbuster, Sony's hand on Target looks like a pretty secure lock-out.

Target is to make its official announcement of the deal with Sony come Thursday.

The Associated Press reports that a shareholder revolt at Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. this week "offed nearly as many executives as virtual characters in the video game company's violent titles," and that this shareholder revolt of sorts has led to the increase of Take-Two's stock.

Strauss Zelnick, former chief executive of BMG Entertainment, is the company's new non-executive Chairman. Ben Feder, formerly a senior executive at News Corp., a global media conglomerate, is set to replace Pal Eibeler, to former CEO and president of Take-Two.

The Associated Press article then decided to give some folks who are not so pleased with the content that Take-Two has distributed some focus. The article goes on to cover the many facets of videogame violence and the problems Take-Two has with Child Advocacy groups and legislators who are displeased with the content they release.

Yes, a whole lot of quotes from CEOs of non-profit organizations, some snippets of info about Hot Coffee, and descriptions of Grand Theft Auto and Bully that portray the titles as gore fests and not environments that give players the freedom to act irreverently.

Perhaps Take-Two's woes has more to do with management than with their content. It can be recalled that Take-Two's former chairman and CEO, Ryan A. Brant, became the first chief executive to be convicted of backdating stock options. The exec pleaded guilty last February in a New York state court to first-degree falsification of business records in a deal that lets him avoid incarceration. How GTA-esque.

Video game industry analyst Tom Gardner, CEO of Alexandria, Va.-based investment company The Motley Fool, notes:

Sometimes institutions play football with small public companies, and they can inflict a lot of damage if companies don't have a large enough ownership stake to protect against institutions that squeeze out profits in the near term.

...But in this case, the institutions look quite good: You have backdated options, hidden porn, accounting issues and mismanagement. You have management that was at best incompetent and at worst dishonest.

While we can understand his sentiment, Senator Barack Obama's choice of rhetoric was a bit stale. Game Politics notes an Associated Press report that mentions his use of gaming as an equivalent to slacking.

According to the Associated Press, Obama was heard saying this at a a recent promotional rally in Austin, Texas:

Obama told the Austin crowd that they should try to recruit their friends to support his campaign. "I want you to tell them, 'It's time for you to turn off the TV and stop playing Game Boy,'" Obama said. "We've got work to do."

It obviously wasn't meant as a literal term, as the senator's been somewhat vocal in getting newer voters to go out and rock the vote (for him, presumably). He previously criticized youth culture as "watching TV, playing video games, and avoiding tough classes in school." Whether or not he wins the elections, we just want to tell him one thing though: "The new handhelds are the DS Lite and PSP. Take your pick for your next performance."