SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Activision Blizzard Inc shares rose as much as 15.6 percent on Friday after its quarterly results trumped analysts’ expectations, spurring hopes the largest videogames publisher will outperform a bedraggled industry in 2013.

The shares soared to an intraday peak of $13.94, their highest since November of 2011. In afternoon trading, they were up 11.4 percent at $13.44.

By Malathi Nayak

(Reuters) – Activision Blizzard Inc’s (ATVI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) earnings beat Wall Street expectations after its “Call of Duty” and “Skylanders” titles had blockbuster holiday sales, shoring up investor confidence in the world’s largest videogame publisher despite a cautious forecast for 2013.

The videogame maker also forecast a first-quarter profit above industry analyst targets, guiding to earnings, excluding items, of 10 cents a share, versus an average forecast of about 9.7 cents.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd have teamed up to draw developers to the Korean giant’s fledgling apps store, offering unusually strong financial incentives in hopes of expanding its library of games.

EA’s mobile games publishing division, Chillingo, will spearhead “100% Indie,” so named since Samsung will let independent developers keep 100 percent of their revenue for six months, versus the usual 30 percent cut offered by other platforms like Apple Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported higher revenue and earnings in the third quarter, driven by robust sales of its sports title “NBA 2K13″ and “Borderlands: 2.”

Take-Two shares were up 7 percent in after-hours trading after closing at $12.66 on the Nasdaq.

By Malathi Nayak

(Reuters) – Twenty-nine years after its founding, iconic computer maker Dell Inc agreed to a $24.4 billion deal to go private on Tuesday. The $13.65-per-share deal for the world’s third-largest computer maker involves chairman Michael Dell, private equity firm Silver Lake and Microsoft Corp.

Here is a look at Dell’s 28-year journey:

1984 – Michael Dell, a 19-year-old, pre-med college freshman starts selling computers built from stock components out of his dorm room at the University of Texas in Austin. He later drops out to focus on the business he names “PC’s Limited.”

Feb 5 (Reuters) – Twenty-nine years after its founding,
iconic computer maker Dell Inc agreed to a $24.4
billion deal to go private on Tuesday. The $13.65-per-share deal
for the world’s third-largest computer maker involves chairman
Michael Dell, private equity firm Silver Lake and Microsoft Corp
.

Here is a look at Dell’s 28-year journey:

1984 – Michael Dell, a 19-year-old, pre-med college freshman
starts selling computers built from stock components out of his
dorm room at the University of Texas in Austin. He later drops
out to focus on the business he names “PC’s Limited.”

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 1 (Reuters) – When nWay began a trial of
its dark, sci-fi combat game “ChronoBlade” on Facebook last
year, the San Francisco-based startup felt sure it had a hit on
its hands.

“First of all, what comes is, ‘Wow, I had no idea you could
actually do a game of this quality on Facebook,’” said Dave
Jones, Chief Creative Officer of nWay, who has worked on “Grand
Theft Auto” and “Diablo.”

Jan 31 (Reuters) – Take-Two Interactive Software Inc
said on Thursday it has pushed back the launch of the
latest game from its hit “Grand Theft Auto” franchise to Sept.
17 from its previously announced release window of spring 2013.

Shares of Take-Two were down 6 percent at $12.31 in early
afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc slashed its fiscal 2013 earnings forecast after a weaker-than-expected holiday quarter marked by disappointing sales of its “Medal of Honor” title, as the industry struggles with flagging demand.

The games maker forecast non-GAAP revenue for the year to end-March of $3.8 billion to $3.9 billion and earnings of $0.86 to $1.00 per share from $1.00 to $1.15 per share previously, down about 13 percent at the mid-point.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Video game publisher
Electronic Arts Inc reported lower revenue for the third
quarter as the video game industry continued to struggle with
flagging sales and experienced a weak holiday quarter.

Electronic Arts revenue fell as the console game business
has “been extremely soft” as the industry waits for
next-generation versions of Sony Corp’s PlayStation and
Microsoft Corp’s ‘s Xbox to boost software sales, Chief
Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said.