Take Two Interactive has just announced that it is acquiring Firaxis Games (maker of the popular “Civilization” and “Pirates!” franchises, and home to legendary designer Sid Meier). Take Two and Firaxis only recently began working together as developer / publisher … I guess the relationship was doing well!

First Bioware/Pandemic, now this. At this rate, every major independent will merge or be absorbed by year’s end. At least, that’s what Wall Street has been thinking for some time now.

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• Pre-aqcuisition interview with Sid Meier

Philips has developed a system that enables games to manipulate fans, light sources, etc, to enhance the sensory experience of gameplay. Their PR blurb: “The treacherous road to Saigon will turn your room jungle green, swimming with dolphins will splash it deep blue, ‘Halo’ jumps will turn your fans on full, lightning storms will strobe your white lighting, and attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion will blast on your heaters.”

I wonder what the adoption strategy is? Convince console makers to embed ambient devices (like fans) into their hardware? Sell a nifty peripheral combining fans, lights, etc? I doubt anyone will buy multiple ambient peripherals independently, nor connect this thing to their radiator. Got fire insurance?

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• Sony: projecting sensory input directly into your brain

Telltale Games, founded by former LucasArts employees who had worked on Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, etc, is using digital distribution and an episodic content model to attempt the (profitable) rebirth of the story-adventure game.

There are probably enough story game fans to drive a digital business, especially when you’re not splitting profits with retail. An episodic model also reduces up-front development risk. And story game fans, by definition, are probably more likely to accept the episodic format (after all, we’ve been trained by comics, tv shows, etc!) That said, I suspect that independent studios will need to stick with relatively simple engines if episodic content is to work – at least for now.

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• Interview with Telltale CEO
• In-depth 1UP feature on episodic content