Vivendi Universal Games and Interplay Entertainment Corp. announced today that they have resolved all prior legal disputes and will resume the distribution contract signed in August 2002. Accordingly, VU Games will distribute Interplay's Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel in North America and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan). VU Games will also retain exclusive distribution rights in these regions for all future Interplay titles through August 2005.

Vivendi Universal and General Electric Co. have reached an agreement to merge the French company's Hollywood studio, cable TV networks and theme parks with GE's NBC business, creating a media giant with about $13 billion in annual revenue. Read more if you are interested in financial numbers & news....

After yesterdays news about Interplay sueing Vivendi, this is not really a surprise. Interplay Entertainment Corp. announced today it has terminated its distribution agreement with Vivendi Universal Games.

Vivendi Universal's video game arm has sued one-time partner Interplay Entertainment Corp., alleging Interplay breached a distribution deal between the two. The suit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accused Interplay, which is controlled by French publisher Titus Interactive, of trying to get out of a product distribution deal by making claims of unpaid payments under the pact (thanks Gamers.nl).

Vivendi material is starting to roll in with some impressive titles as usual. You can now check screens for the following titles :

• Tribes: Vengeance (PC)
• Men Of Valor: Vietnam (PC/Xbox)
• Ground Control 2 (PC)
• BlowOut (Xbox/PC)
• Previously posted Advent Rising screens (PC/Xbox)
• Previously posted Drake screens (PC/Xbox)
• Previously posted Black9 screens (PC/Xbox)

NDL, a developer of 3D graphics technology for the computer and video game industry, announced today that it has issued a publishing license of its Gamebryo 3D graphics engine and toolkit to Vivendi Universal Games. The agreement, which covers all major game platforms, will allow Vivendi Universal Games' development teams to create unique and compelling interactive content for the PC and video game console systems.

Vivendi announced today the development of Contract J.A.C.K. – the official prequel to GameSpy’s 2002 PC Game-of-the-Year, No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.’s Way. Contract J.A.C.K., developed by one of the industry’s elite developers, Monolith Productions, showcases the award-winning storytelling of Monolith in a new singleplayer standalone experience focused on giving PC gamers more action and less stealth while adding new robust multiplayer content as well as a suite of mod-making tools.

Vivendi Universal Games announced today that it has entered into a production agreement with Turbine Entertainment to develop "Middle-Earth Online," a massively multiplayer (MMP) game to launch in 2004. The game will be developed as part of VU Games' long-term agreement with Tolkien Enterprises to create interactive entertainment based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic novel "The Lord of the Rings." Read more for details and 4 hi-res screens ...

Vivendi today announced its product line-up for the 2003 E3, a blockbuster roster of more than 30 PC, console and online-based titles covering a broad range of interactive content. Among the highly anticipated products are games based on theatrical and television licenses, including The Hulk, Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat, The Fast and the Furious, The Simpsons and Buffy The Vampire Slayer; brand new intellectual properties such as Metal Arms and Men of Valor; and new installments to such venerable franchises as Crash Bandicoot, Hunter: The Reckoning, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings and StarCraft. VU Games will also showcase products that will be distributed on behalf of strategic partners, including Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II from Interplay, Dark Age of Camelot: Trials of Atlantis from Mythic Entertainment and Outlaw Volleyball from SSI. Read more for a summary on each title ...

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. is mulling a bid for the videogames business of Vivendi Universal SA, which the French media conglomerate has put up for sale to reduce its borrowings. Take-Two Interactive, based in New York, would make a bid for VU Games with financial partners, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Vivendi Universal Games announced today that hard rock front man (Black Flag, Rollins Band), actor (“The Chase,” “Johnny Mnemonic”) and spoken word artist Henry Rollins has signed on to voice the role of Mace Griffin in the upcoming video game “Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter.” The sci-fi action game will be available second quarter 2003 for the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system and Nintendo GameCube.

Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) today announced that it has obtained the exclusive publishing rights for the world-renowned "Hunter: The Reckoning" franchise. Under terms of the agreement, VU Games has assumed worldwide publishing and distribution responsibilities to future game releases based on the multi-year content license from White Wolf Publishing Inc. The publishing rights were purchased from Interplay Entertainment Corp.

Vivendi Universal Games announced today that it has shipped "Enclave," for the personal computer to retailers nationwide. A third-person, 3D action game, "Enclave" is set in a fantasy environment where long ago a rift formed separating the lands of light from the plains of darkness by an impassable chasm. Over time, the Enclave of light grew strong and prosperous, while those confined to the war-ravaged plains of the outlands harbored nothing but hatred and jealousy. Now, after hundreds of years, the rift is closing and it is only a matter of time before a full-scale war erupts. At the start of the game, players must make an important decision and choose to take on the role of either an agent of light or of darkness.

Vivendi Universal Games today announced the shipment of Empire Earth: Gold Edition to retail stores nationwide. Published under the Company's Sierra Entertainment label, the new video game combines Gamespy.com's 2001 "PC Game of the Year" Empire Earth with the Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest expansion released in 2002. Together, both games have sold nearly two million copies worldwide and won numerous industry awards. The new combo-pack gives real-time strategy game fans everything they need to conquer the world.

Vivendi Universal Games announced today a multi-platform title line-up for its Vivendi Universal Games Faire in Berlin, Germany, February 25, 2003. Providing a pre-E3 preview for the European markets, the event showcases a number of the Company's 2003-2004 releases from studios including Black Label Games, Sierra Entertainment and Universal Interactive. In the meantime it was also revealed that The Hobbit is not only scheduled for NGC, but also PS2/Xbox/PC and GBA.

Noticed on Shacknews that Yahoo.biz reports Investment bank Investec believes Microsoft Corp. was in talks with French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal about buying Vivendi's video game business for as much as $2 billion. A spokeswoman for Vivendi Universal's game unit declined to comment. A Microsoft spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment. This can only amount to the recent rumours and speculations ..

Vivendi Universal has held talks with at least three potential suitors to sell its video game arm but no deal is believed to be near, according to banking sources familiar with the situation. Vivendi Universal Games has talked to Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp. and Electronic Arts Inc. about a possible acquisition, though those conversations were described by the sources as preliminary. The talks come as Vivendi Universal Entertainment, which encompasses the Franco-American conglomerate's TV, film, music, theme park and game assets, has itself been the subject of a takeover bid, with oilman Marvin Davis spearheading a deal worth about $15 billion for the unit.

French police raided Vivendi Universal's headquarters and other unspecified premises Thursday as part of a financial-accounts investigation, judicial and police sources said Thursday. The raid, by financial-division police, is part of a probe into potential irregularities in Vivendi's accounts when under the leadership of former chairman and chief executive Jean-Marie Messier, the sources said. A spokesman for the French media company has confirmed a search was being performed at Vivendi's headquarters and was related to the accounts investigation.

Vivendi Universal Publishing is being sold to the Lagardère group - including, if we've read this right, the games bit. Read more below to check out the full press release!

The Games division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, Vivendi Universal Games, announced today the acquisition of Massive Entertainment by its studio, NDA Productions (known for their Ground Control title).

Black Label Games, a studio of the Games division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, announced today that it has signed an agreement to license the interactive rights to Quentin Tarantino's ("Pulp Fiction," "Reservoir Dogs") upcoming Miramax film "Kill Bill."

Vivendi Universal Publishing announced today several new games as part of its Games division's long-term agreement with Tolkien Enterprises to develop interactive entertainment based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit." The new titles include The Lord of the Rings: Middle-earth Online, an Online Massively Multi-player role playing game, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring, a real time strategy game, and additional PC and console titles based on Tolkien's "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King."

When it pours, it rains .. or something like that .. good thing is, its raining screens and info which is a always nice ... some more roundup screens from Vivendi Universal's lineup ..

• Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (GC/PS2)
  
• The Scorpion King: Rise of An Akkadian (PS2/GC)
  
• Spyro 2: Season of Flame (GBA)
  
• Monster Force (GBA)

ECTS 2002 is over but it still drops in screens and facts. Today we collected a bunch of screens from PC and Console titles from Vivendi, and the shots are from following titles:

• Casino Empire (PC)
  
• Jurassic Park (PC)
  
• The Thing (PC)
  
• Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest (PC)
  
  
• Jurassic Park (XB)
  
• The Thing (XB)
  
• Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (GC)
  
• The Thing (PS2)