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This story has been updated from its original version.

In order to get back on top of the video games market, Electronic Arts is willing to pay a hefty price. Namely, $860 million.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based publisher announced on Thursday afternoon that it had agreed to acquire VG Holdings, the parent company of two game development companies, BioWare and Pandemic Studios, from private equity firm Elevation Partners.

This deal, expected to close in January and originally reported by the Wall Street Journal, is the largest in EA's 25-year history.

For more coverage from CNET News.com's … Read more

Whether or not you're one of the few global warming skeptics left, there's no denying that the northeast has been experiencing an unseasonably--up to 85 degrees--warm October.

Now, even when you're playing escapist video games, you'll have to deal with the guilt that your habits have made it too warm to wear autumn tweed.

SimCity Societies (review from CNET Networks' GameSpot), the next generation of the SimCity computer game series that releases November 15, is going to simulate the environmental impact of different types of building and energy choices.

Players who choose inexpensive and "readily-available&… Read more

Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli says the company's vision for Crysis has always been to create the most stunning, immersive first-person-shooter experience ever. And from our early looks at the game, it appears Crysis will be just that. However, we also assumed that to play the game in its full glory you'd need a super high-end PC. How high-end? Well, The Escapist is reporting that Crytek and Electronic Arts, the publisher of the game, have announced the minimum and recommend system requirements for the game, which hits stores November 16.

According to The Escapist, the minimum system requirements are: … Read more

There's a fine line, it's been said, between genius and insanity. And judging from its latest concept, Art Lebedev Studio has a foot planted firmly on each side.

The Russian-based design firm, a darling of technology circles, may have overdosed on creative license with its idea for the "Pultius" remote--which shuns the very notion of punching in multi-digit codes, according to Engadget, opting instead for 102 buttons that control 399 channels on a 20-inch-long bar. It would at least solve one problem: You'd never lose it between the cushions.

We think the designers got their … Read more

This might not be worth mentioning if it were any other product, but it seems that every incremental development involving the "Optimus Maximus" keyboard is followed in excruciating detail. So proving that Crave is a full-service gadget blog, we dutifully report that the famed peripheral will be shipping in white, according to its official blog.

And leave it to its iconoclastic designer, Russia's Art Lebedev Studio, to buck trends once again. As computer and electronics makers have fallen in love with glossy piano-black finishes or stuck with the conventional silver, the studio has taken a completely different … Read more

When I covered the Grand Finals of the 2004 World Cyber Games, I had no idea what to expect.

But I recall that it was tons of fun: gamers from all over the world, all happy to be part of this international event and representing their countries as they went up against the best of the best in their particular game.

My favorite memory was watching a match of Electronic Arts' FIFA Soccer, which was being broadcast on a huge screen on the wall. Meanwhile, two announcers were doing play-by-play, and if you hadn't known it was a video … Read more

Corel Painter Essentials 4, available for both Windows and Mac, combines the resources of a Photoshop with the carte blanche of a art studio program, but without the attitude of either. The end result is something that's more appropriate for people looking to either paint or artistically tweak their photos and to have fun doing it.

… Read more

Could the end of the next-gen optical format war be on the horizon? While you wait for the shakedown, why not tune in some ambient color for your TV? Plus, organizing meetups with your 700+ Facebook friends, 800 IM contacts and your five real friends isn't an easy task, and we found one service that aims to annoy everyone equally. Lastly, we send Mark the intern out into the streets to see if New Yorkers are scared their workplace computer habits could get them fired. That and more, on today's episode of The Queue.

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