Where are all the good vibes in technology these days?  

In the latest takeover bid, U.S. video game publisher Electronic Arts is trying to buy rival Take-Two Interactive Software, best known for its “Grand Theft Auto” title,  for about $2 billion in cash. The $26-per-share offer by Electronic Arts, publisher of blockbuster games like “Madden” and “Need for Speed,” represents a 50 percent premium to Take-Two’s  Friday closing stock price of $17.36.

The sticking point is that Take-Two rejected the offer, calling it “inadequate” and complaining that it valued the company at a “significant discount” to peers. EA’s offer comes right ahead of the April 30 launch of the latest “Grand Theft” sequel.

This bid is not exactly out of the blue — for months Wall Street has speculated that Take-Two would be acquired by a major games publisher or media company. And were it to be consummated, it would be the most significant video game deal since Activision in November agreed to pay $18 billion for the gaming unit of Vivendi.

But like Microsoft-Yahoo,  it seems this takeover won’t be a warm and fuzzy affair. For a long time, technology deals were almost exclusively friendly; executives worried that anything less would just cause bad blood and result in top talent jumping ship.

So much for that.  EA Chief Financial Officer Warren Jenson said the company would consider a possible hostile bid for Take-Two. “Our objective is to make this a friendly deal, but we have to keep all options open,” he said.

As for Take-Two,  Chairman Strauss Zelnick said, “We didn’t slam the door, we just said ‘Look, the price is not right and the time is wrong.’”

Let the games begin.

(Reuters)

Keep an eye on:

• Sony said Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, the game software development arm of Sony’s videogame division, will resign on February 29. (Reuters)
• The violent drama “No Country For Old Men” won four Academy Awards on Sunday, more than any other film, including best movie, director and adapted screenplay for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. (Reuters )

(Photo: Reuters)