After Reuters reported yesterday that Infogrames CEO Bruno Bonnell might be willing to help out Ubisoft in its defense against a hostile take over from EA, todays rumour involves a possible merger between Vivendi and Ubisoft according to French newspaper L'Agefi. Either publisher had no comment but it is safe to say that a merger between Vivendi Universal Games and Ubisoft would create the largest video games group in Europe. Analysts said the tie-up would be encouraged by the French government which would be concerned about seeing French games technology fall in foreign hands.

UPDATE : "In view of the rumors reported in the press, Vivendi Universal denies that any negotiations are taking place concerning the takeover of Ubisoft."

VU Games today announced an agreement with Encore which includes the assignment of the Hoyle games license and a worldwide perpetual license for certain family entertainment software content and technology.

Valve today announced the U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle, WA granted its motion for summary judgment on the matters of Cyber Café Rights and Contractual Limitation of Liability in its copyright infringement suit with Sierra/Vivendi Universal Games. Read more for details ...

As has been rumored the past few days, 'Half-Life 2' is indeed being sold early at various big stores in the U.S., such as BestBuy, Wal-Mart and even a few select EBGames. The lucky ones who managed to purchase a copy will get a major disappointment, as Vivendi ordered Valve to not activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers. Basically, anybody who bought HL2 can't play it yet. Valve issued a statement saying it is not their decision, but Vivendi who threatened Valve with breach of contract if they did.

Vivendi Universal Games today announced the sale of its Knowledge Adventure educational software business, including its titles JumpStart, Mathblaster and others, to Knowledge Holdings, Inc., a company formed by Azure Capital Partners and Telesoft Partners, two Bay Area venture capital firms. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

VU Games announced today the lineup of titles the company will be showcasing at the World Cyber Games Championship Expo in San Francisco from October 7th through the 10th. The Expo will be open to the public and will be located at and around Polk Hall, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in Downtown San Francisco.

Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) and Empire, a UK computer games developer and publisher, today announced an exclusive agreement by which VU Games will market and distribute Empire's multi-platform destructive racing game titled FlatOut in North America.

Vivendi Universal Games today announced a global distribution agreement with HD Interactive to distribute the action-packed, PC-based, 3D tactical strategy space game, Nexus -- The Jupiter Incident.

Vivendi Universal and Konami today announced an exclusive distribution agreement in Japan. Konami will be the exclusive distributor for VU Games' console titles in Japan; VU Games will maintain publishing responsibilities.

Head over to our dedicated EGN section to check out the following new screens from Vivendi's 2004 EGN lineup:

Crash Twinsanity (PS2/Xbox) - Evil Genius (PC) - Fight Club (PS2/Xbox) - Men of Valor (PS2/Xbox/PC) - Predator: Concrete Jungle (PS2/Xbox) - Red Ninja (PS2/Xbox) - Spyro: A Hero's Tale (NGC/PS2/Xbox) - World of Warcraft (PC)

Vivendi and Irrational Games today announced a North American agreement which grants VU Games exclusive distribution rights to Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich.

Entertainment software developer and publisher NovaLogic, Inc. and Vivendi today announced an exclusive multi-year strategic agreement, under which VU Games will become the sole distributor of NovaLogic products in North America. NovaLogic will continue to oversee development, production, marketing and PR for its products.

Vivendi Universal Games today announced another step in its turnaround plan to improve operating effectiveness, reduce costs and position for growth. The changes include a significant staff reduction in its North American based operations (Papyrus & Impressions, as well as some PR people) resulting in the elimination of 350 staff positions. The Company's Blizzard Entertainment studio was not part of the staff reduction.

Vivendi Universal Games, in cooperation with Internet community site Tribalwar.com, announced today a contest to create alternative “skins” for use within Tribes: Vengeance. The competition, which starts immediately, will end on July 9th when a panel of judges from Vivendi Universal Games, Irrational Games, and Tribalwar.com will select the best skin and award its creator a high-end graphics card from ATI Technologies and an in-game credit.

Check out the following new screens from Vivendi's 2004 E3 lineup:

• Tribes: Vengeance (PC)
• Spyro: A Hero's Tail (NGC/PS2/Xbox)
• Starcraft: Ghost (NGC/PS2/Xbox)
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Xbox)
• Red Ninja: End of Honor (PS2/Xbox)
• 'The Bard's Tale' (PS2/Xbox/PC)
• 'Advent Rising' (Xbox/PC)
• 'World Of Warcraft' (PC)

Vivendi Universal Games announced today the development of the latest action-packed project from the developer that created award-winning games like Aliens vs. Predator, the No One Lives Forever franchise and Tron2.0. Developed by Monolith Productions, F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault and Recon), is an intense first person close-quarters combat experience with rich atmosphere and an engaging storyline.

Vivendi has closed down famed NASCAR developer Papyrus (along with all their other East Coast Studios). The VUGames forum has the following about it : "Yes, Papyrus has closed up shop for good. Sorry, but it is true. The last time I asked a few weeks back, the statement was that multiplayer will continue to be fully supported. Nothing has been said to change this, but we are asking again to be sure. The reason parts are still down is they physically moved the servers from Boston to LA. The bugs arn't worked out yet."

Vivendi today announced its multi-platform product line-up for the 2004 E3. The company will showcase 18 highly anticipated titles, including: Blizzard's World of Warcraft, StarCraft: Ghost; Half-Life2; Crash Twinsanity and Spyro: A Hero’s Tail; Van Helsing and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay; Fight Club and also a yet unannounced title from Monolith (revealed as a mix between The Matrix meets The Ring). Read more for details on each title ...

Vivendi Universal Games sets its sights on the latest edition of the popular SWAT franchise with the announcement of SWAT 4. Developed by Irrational Games, SWAT 4 allows players to take control of a squad of up to five police officers tasked with performing dangerous operations such as high-risk arrests, hostage rescue and counter-terrorism. Read more for details and the first screens!

As most people will know this week's news is mainly dominated by various announcements and revelations at the GDC (Game Developers Conference) in San Jose, CA. Vivendi is showing off various in house productions and we have screens & trailers from the following titles :

• Men Of Valor (Xbox/PC) - Screens
• Leisure Suit Larry (PS2/Xbox) - Screens
• Red Ninja: End Of Honor (PS2) - Screens
• Cold Winter (Xbox) - Screens

Vivendi Universal Games and Radical Entertainment today announced a worldwide development agreement under which Radical will exclusively develop products for VU Games. The two companies will collaborate on the development of six multi-platform titles based on new and existing entertainment franchises. VU Games will also obtain a royalty-free license to Radical's proprietary game development technologies, as well as an option to purchase the company during contract's term. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

After we had the Vivendi US release list, their European colleagues have releaved their 2004 release schedule. No major surprises or revelations, nor release dates for HL2 or World Of Warcraft, but CS: Condition Zero & Lords of the Realm III are listed for March 2004, Van Helsing (PS2/ Xbox), The Fast and The Furious (PS2/Xbox) and Ground Control 2 are all scheduled for the first half of 2004. Read more for the full release list ...

Earlier today we had CDV's 2004 lineup, and it seems Vivendi has now also revealed their upcoming titles. Apart from the anticipated Half Life 2, Men of Valor, X-Files, Tribes Vengeance, World of Warcraft, Ground Control 2, Starcraft Ghost and Evil Genius we also note a few yuet "unannounced" titles such as 2 new Tolkien based titles, yet unnamed Crash Bandicoot and Spyro The Dragon products, a new game based on the Predator franchise and a cryptic discription of a new "Unannounced Pandemic console title" (currently working on Full Spectrum Warirors). Read more for the full list ...

Vivendi Universal Games announced that it has hired Chance Thomas as the Tolkien Music Director in charge of the creation and production of the musical themes for all of its videogames based on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.