Electronic Arts is still hoping to acquire Take-Two Interactive, the publishers of Grand Theft Auto IV.  This week, they renewed their bid of $25.74 U.S. to buy the company.

The offer, which had expired last Friday, values the video game publisher at over $2 billion.  EA has been pushing to take over the firm for months, and Take-Two previously insisted that the company wait until GTA IV hit the streets.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick can only shake his head at the deal.  He says that when the board originally received the offer back in March, they “unanimously determined to be inadequate and contrary to the best interests of Take-Two’s stockholders.”

The company isn’t closed-minded on selling, says Zelnick. “The Board is committed to maximizing stockholder value and is exploring all strategic alternatives to do so. We said we were willing to begin formal discussions with interested parties on April 30th, following the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, and we have in fact begun that process.”

The huge success of Grand Theft Auto IV, and a new Bioshock movie deal with Universal are raising the profile, and price, of Take-Two.  If EA hopes to acquire the company, they may have to raise their bid or make some adjustments to their strategy.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has confirmed that Guitar Hero will expand with more instruments in future versions. The news is hardly a surprise, since Rock Band, which also features drums and vocals, has been doing quite well.

“We’ll include a lot of other instruments, vocals. It will help us expand internationally. It’s the first game we’ve had in which we can use local content and local bands.”

Activision hasn’t confirmed when they’ll be making this introduction, but a new Guitar Hero is scheduled for release at the end of 2008.

Eidos’ Montréal studio is working on a new game, according to a recruitment ad on its website.

The Canadian branch is working on Deus Ex 3, but has announced its working on a second “AAA” project — a term its using to describe its high-priority titles.

Eidos didn’t go as far as to name the game, but they did provide a hint: “The title begins with the letter ‘T’”, reads the notice.

We’re going to take a wild guess and say its probably a Tomb Raider game.

Take-Two Interactive has turned down an offer from Electronic Arts, according to a statement from the firm. EA reportedly offered to buy the firm at $26 U.S. per share.

Electronic Arts has been attempting to acquire Take-Two for some time, but the firm is determined to hold out until they release Grand Theft Auto IV in a month. Take-Two says they will revalue their stock options after the game is released.

The company says it will discuss “strategic alternatives” and “business combination” options with interested parties.

John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, spoke to investors last week about the company’s performance in 2007. And although the leading third-party developer in the video game industry had decent sales numbers, they’re not happy about what the company delivered in terms of gameplay.

“While we are the third-party quality leader, we are not satisfied with where we are”

The company hopes to perform better in 2008. EA did just acquire BioWare, which published Mass Effect last year. Mass Effect went on to become one of the year’s bestsellers and most praised games by fans and critics alike. BioWare is said to be working on a variety of games, including Dragon Age for the PC, an untitled RPG, an MMO and two Mass Effect sequels. One of the games is also said to be a project with LucasArts with which BioWare has a strong history. But BioWare isn’t EA’s only focus for 2008:

“People are very keen on a title we’re developing through our DiCE group in Sweden called Mirror’s Edge. Anything with Sims written on it feels always feels good, and we’re coming up with a very innovative new title called Sim Animals–that’s very strong.”

Other titles like Rock Band and Battlefield: Bad Company are expected to add to the expectations of the company’s 2008 performance.