It’s the fabulous 250th Episode milestone, and this particular podcast features a major surprise for longtime listeners. Not only is this one of the funniest podcasts in a long while, but there’s plenty of show to go around, too. First, the Gaming Flashback checks out the classic shooter No One Lives Forever, while the Gaming History examines the infamous Gizmondo handheld gaming console.

As for the news:

• Hirai: Sony could be facing “serious trouble“
• Take Two CEO states “strong become stronger” with next-gen transitions
• Developer Starbreeze fears Syndicate may be “too hard“
• Oklahoma state rep wants 1% violent videogame tax
• Ubisoft cuts off legit players With DRM server migration

There’s no Question of the Week, but we’re definitely sure there will be plenty of comments for the podcast hosts.

It’s official, EA has given up their talks with Take-Two and, as a result, the stock of both companies is falling like a stone. While gamers may cheer knowing the Grand Theft Auto and 2K Sports product lines will continue to compete with EA products, share holders are doing a WTF?

Take-Two has had its share of financial difficulties, but nothing shakes up a stock more than a break in discussions when the words acquisition have been spoken. It causes uncertainty and lack of understanding on the part of the game industry and share holders. EA’s stock dropped 2.7% upon opening this morning but has begun to stablize as it’s clear EA isn’t in any financial peril from this breakup in discussion.

Take-Two’s stock, however, is in epic free fall with a 25% decline since the discussions ended. One theory is that, “is taking a huge beating as everyone and their mother tries desperately to sell the shares the figured EA was going to to buy.” (kotaku)

As the game industry gets more competitive, builds bigger bank-roll and becomes a staple entertainment icon there is always more business savvy people getting into the game trying to make a fast buck. In this case, the shareholders obviously aren’t pushing for Take-Two’s future decisions or product launches — this is the reaction of business folks trying to make money.

There is huge risk with block buster 100-million dollar titles and all the crazy hype involved with some of the biggest games in history. They break sales records, smoke box-office numbers and bring new gamers into the industry but it’s all at risk when money gets involved. One bad move and a company making a title like GTA can find themselves in financial peril.

With risk comes reward, but failure is always sneaking up around the corner so watch out!

Like a washed up superstar, Grand Theft Auto IV continues to drop in NPD figures. This Axl Rose of video games came on strong and sputtered out into oblivion with barely a notice, leaving the spotlight and all hype behind it. This drastic fall may hurt any negotiations “behind closed doors” with Electronic Arts and their constant attempts to take over Take-Two.

Prior to the release of GTA IV we, in our gaming podcast, predicted a huge launch would up the anti against the bids on Take-Two from EA but things didn’t work out exactly as we expected. Although the game has sold 8.5-million units, it might not add any new bargaining power to the back door negotiations.

A game company is only as good as their games. A hit title which dies out quick helps financially guide the future of the company; technically the future isn’t so bright. With the title quickly falling off the top game sales charts we may never see it hit record sales figures to match that of smaller titles. Having one hot title every four years that “breaks records” for a week isn’t a strong weapon against a low bid from a larger publisher.

While EA may not have any record setting “one week” sales titles yet, they do have a consistently strong set of titles which stick on the charts for months with newer titles arriving to take their spot when they fade. The same can be said for a few other notable publishers, Activision and Ubisoft. To survive in the hot game industry, especially with market downturns, one must have a cycle of great games to publish throughout the year consistently year-over-year in order to provide evidence of their financial stability.

Assuming the bid won’t raise for GTA IV, where does that leave Take-Two? Perhaps Take-Two is better off under the umbrella of Electronic Arts after all. The waters are getting more hostile in the industry as companies compete for gamers attention with 100-million dollar titles and casual games and game consoles (read: Wii) start to build a whole new none-gamer-style momentum.

Is Take-Two better off under the EA brand?

We’re already looking at the results of an Activision Vivendi union and now Electronic Arts is slowly working towards taking over Take-Two. Activision Blizzard is larger than that of EA but would the Take-Two buy-out grow EA into the number one publisher once again?

For gamers, it’s changing the map of the industry. We grew up with many of these seemingly big companies but their all clamoring together to make the next big mega-power. While they struggle for ultimate domination we, the gamers, are going to either benefit from the competition or become victims, or perhaps a little of both.

Let’s assume EA and Take-Two form one entity, similar to the the Destructicons forming “Devastator,” they can reign hell upon the earth and anyone under their mighty fist shall perish! That might be a bit of an exaggeration but it’s safe to assume they’ll wield mighty power, more than ever before and their epic foe will be Activision Blizzard and, perhaps, Ubisoft. In a battle for sales and consumer acceptance the companies will be willing to out do each other at every step with huge funds at their disposal.

As a consumer, competition is a great way to produce innovation, technological advancements and excitement in the industry. These giant development houses are only this large because we’ve given them our hard earned money in return for entertaining video game titles. World of Warcraft is a major player in sucking money from our wallets in a consistent, addictive, manner while Guitar Hero explores new possibilities in music and rhythm gaming and controller accessories.

Electronic Arts and Take-Two would have to combine and push ground breaking changes in all their game franchises to compete. Grand Theft Auto must top their already huge, or, perhaps, release smaller games on the DS. Their sports franchises will go unhindered into the night as the best and only solution to your football desires. John Riccitiello, EA’s CEO, has already acknowledge the lack of excitement and creativity from the EA game library and plans to change it by expanding new intellectual properties and, recently, added a few “small” purchases to their list including BioWare and Pandemic.

While Activision has found a fairly new niche with Guitar Hero we’re waiting to see if EA can respond with their casual games division or with some other secret projects to entangle both gamers and non-gamers. In many ways, this is a bright side to the mergers and acquisitions because we’re all getting something new and creative as talent and ownership changes hands.

Unfortunately, large companies like this can help destroy any chance of small uprisings of new studios by purchasing all the shelve space in retail outlets as part of their ongoing power struggle to be number one. They’ll be able to relax on franchises that have been flat-lining over the years, we may see no progress in the Madden series when Take-Two cannot compete at all in the space while under the wing of EA.

Indy developers will find it harder to compete with block buster titles because game engines are all being taken “in house” by the larger firms because they’ve got so many internal development studios they will need consistent proprietary game engines to hold their edge against their mega competitors. This leaves the indy companies with huge licensing expenses from a larger firm or going with a lighter less stable alternative. A few rise to the occassion like GarageGames to relieve some of the pressure, but how long before they’re bought up?

Perhaps smaller studios with great tools will rise to meet the demands of the Indy developers but they may fall under the mighty dollar if an EA or Activision Blizzard buys them out to “steal” the technology for themselves (or stop others from gaining unwanted advantages.) These large companies will fight tooth and nail so they can gloat positive trends to their share holders and make deals with the devil to push stock value through the roof.

These large studios will be looking to improve year-over-year profits and value to keep growing in the industry. It will not be about the game anymore, but about the dollar. Of course, the managment structures behind the companies will have to hold up and work well together to avoid becoming the next Sierra.

You can only be a mega power for so long before something changes your future. Randy Savage never saw it coming when Hulk Hogan ruined their alliance with three massive leg drops.