Just as it looked like Take-Two finally got a chance to take a breather after all of their legal woes, here comes another lawsuit. This time, it's from none other than a former exec of the company itself.

Following Electronic Arts' press release yesterday about their video game for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince being delayed to summer of next year, an SEC document reveals some info on how much the company stands to lose. Since the game won't be released this year, their projected forecast for the 2008 fiscal year report would be US$ 120 million short!

Looking forward to Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii)? Well, here's more licensed goodness coming your way. It was recently revealed that Activision will be rolling out Guitar Hero: Metallica. If that's not enough, the official name of the the next James Bond video game was also revealed. Head on over to the full article for more information.

Take-Two already has its hands full with Grand Theft Auto 4's quite disappointing delay, but there are more problems to come as the games publisher has received a "Wells" call from US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff.

The notice was aimed to inform Take-Two that it is already well under investigation about the stock options fraud committed by its former management, and that there will be enforcement proceedings to be filed against them in the near future. In light of Take-Two's crisis, analyst Michael Pachter gives his opinion about Take-Two's possible responses to the lawsuit.

Basically, a "Wells" notice informs companies or individuals that an investigation concerning their alleged violation of the law has been completed. The SEC staff is currently seeking SEC's approval to file charges against Take-Two and demand "civil monetary penalty", which roughly translates to a pricey fine. Pachter mentioned only two possible options for Take-Two: to litigate or pay the penalty. He continued that it is possible that Take-Two would choose to cooperate and just pay the penalty, which may amount to US$ 10 million. The analyst also noted that it took Take-Two six days before notifying the investors after receiving the "Wells" notice, which he considered odd.

For those who weren't aware, Take-Two's founder Ryan Brant pleaded guilty to the the civil charges the SEC filed against him, with their former lawyer and accounting officer pleading guilty to falsifying stock-related information as well. The fraud has gravely cost Take-Two in settlements alone, amounting to about U$ 7.3 million last February.

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. has revealed that it has received a Wells notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This according to Reuters.

The Wells notice indicates that charges may be filed against Take-Two by the SEC concerning the stock options debacle that hounded the company in the past. According to Reuters, Take-Two revealed in an SEC filing that the company was informed by SEC staff who planned to get authorization from the Commission to file charges as well as go after a civil monetary penalty.

This is the latest blow against Take-Two. Earlier this month, the company announced that it will be delaying the release of Grand Theft Auto IV (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360). The release date for Manhunt 2 (Wii, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2) has also been changed. Take-Two still has one final chance to try and convince the SEC not to file charges.

No worries for Peter Moore, who has signed on as EA Sport's new President. The folks at NeoGAF recently found a document in the Securities and Exchange Commission website outlining Moore's new salary which, if you skip to the bottom line, basically says that Moore will be more than very well taken care of.

Here's a couple of things Moore will be getting from EA:

• An annual base salary of US$ 550,000
• A "discretionary target bonus" 75% of his annual salary
• Stock option to buy 350,000 shares
• 50,000 restricted stock units
• Relocation expenses up to $330,000
• And the whopper: US$ 1.5 million as compensation for leaving Microsoft (which he has to give back if he leaves EA before two years)

Moore will start his new, and rather well compensated, job on September 4.

To see the full SEC form, you can click the Read link below.

Immersion Corporation has finally responded to Microsoft's new lawsuit concerning the rumble maker's settlement with Sony. If you missed our last report, the whole fiasco involves Microsoft' claiming that Immersion owe them part of the settlement fee the latter got from Sony.

Now Immersion is saying that Microsft has already received its share. It was reported that Sony paid Immersion around US$ 150 million. However, things get tricky if you've read Immersion's official filing with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A part of that said filing reads,

Our net income was US$ 122.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007... The increase in net income was primarily due to the litigation conclusion and patent license from Sony Computer Entertainment of US$ 119.9 million and the extinguishment of the liability to Microsoft of US$ 15.0 million.

As you've read, the money that was given to Immersion is being classified under "litigation conclusion and patent license." One can easily assume that these words translate to settlement but you all know how litigations go - everything depends on the interpretation of documents.

We are not entirely sure if Microsoft sued immersion because its lawyers interpreted this differently, meaning there's more money behind these. However, the father of rumble technology is keeping firm with its earlier stand saying,

Immersion believes that it is not obligated under the sublicense agreement with Microsoft to make any payment to Microsoft relating to the conclusion of its litigation with Sony Computer Entertainment. Immersion intends to defend this lawsuit vigorously.

As part of their filing of an 8-K form after undergoing management changes recently, Take-Two Interactive disclosed that an informal probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has turned formal. This from Herb Greenberg's market blog on Market Watch.

The informal probe was originally just about stock options and was disclosed by Take-Two last July. According to Greenberg, Take-Two said that it was advised of the formal probe on March 15. The formal order "allows the SEC, among other things, to subpoena witnesses."

Greenberg surmises that the probe extends beyond the stock options issue, as suggested by the "among other things" phrase. Take-Two has already received multiple subpoenas from the New York County Grand Jury regarding accounting issues as well as the stock options issue.

The SEC announced that former CEO of Take-Two Interactive, Ryan Brant, agrees to part with almost US$ 7.3 million in connection to Take-Two's ongoing stock option scandal.

The amount includes the US$ 6.3 million of settlement money for the civil charges that the SEC has filed against Brant, and another US$ 1 million to New York state and local authorities. Gamespot reports that Brant also pleaded guilty to first-degree felony criminal charges of falsifying business records.

The SEC believes that from 1997 to 2003, Brant granted to himself, and other employees, stock option, and then altered records regarding when the option were granted in the intention to make them profitable to the receiver. The SEC's civil complaint says that not only was this done without the approval of the board of directors, but that Brant also directed Take-Two employees to prepare false documents to back up the stock option grants.

The amusing part about this story is that Brant already has a track record with the SEC. The commission says that Brant paid US$ 3.6 million to settle with the SEC for his alleged role in a financial fraud case at Take-Two in 2000-2001.

Brant stepped down as chairman and director of Take-Two in March 2004. He left the company in October 2006.

The SEC says that its investigation of the current Take-Two scandal is ongoing. Take-Two has already released results of its own independent investigation into the scandal, and the blame is pinned squarely on Brant.

Take-Two Interactive owns Rockstar Games (Rockstar North, Rockstar Leeds, etc.), the creator of the Grand Theft Auto series. Other T2 subsidiaries include 2K Games and 2K Sports.

T2 continues to face woes at the hands of NASDAQ (the stock exchange) and the SEC (the US government's Securities and Exchange Commission). And T2's internal investigation into their stock options grants has discovered "significant" backdating.

"Backdating" stock grants means incorrectly dating the stock grants given to company employees so that their values are artificially inflated (the stock values will be based on higher past values).

In the stock investigation case, Take-Two will be forced to look over and restate their earnings reports from April 1997 to August 2003, which will have tax and accounting impacts on their financial statements.

Now Gamasutra reports that NASDAQ warned Take-Two (again) that they will be delisted or removed from the stock exchange for being late for reporting something (again).

The NASDAQ delisting might be worrisome. NASDAQ is complaining that Take-Two did not file its 10K financial report for this fiscal year (that's a big requirement). Take-Two reps have indicated that they "have an understanding" with NASDAQ that the company will continue to be listed in that stock market for the time being, as long as Take-Two make up their delinquencies and other shortcomings to the market by this March.

Yeah, all this economic mumbo-jumbo might seem meaningless to the gaming community - at least the consumer side - but it is rather important to the producer/publisher side of the community. With the price one must pay to make a game these days, especially a next-gen game, it's important to find sources of cash to lavish on one's developers. The stock market is one such source - not to mention one key indicator of the company's performance.

If Take-Two were delisted from NASDAQ, it would be a big blow to Take-Two's reputation in the market. Investors would be less likely to bet on the company, and the publisher would thus have less money to spend on all of their devs and games. Maybe not immediately, maybe only in the long run, but like one important economist said: in the long run, we're all dead.