Always quick with a comment, Michael Pachter has weighed in on the rumor about Microsoft buying Electronic Arts. As far as the Wedbush Morgan analyst is concerned, the rumor doesn't make any sense at all.

Electronic Arts and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) will be hosting a panel entitled "Homophobia in Virtual Communities" to discuss methods on how to combat discrimination and hatred language in online gaming communities.

Some changes are also in store for RPG heavyweight BioWare and MMO studio Mythic Entertainment. Electronic Arts has announced that the two studios will be restructured into a single group that will handle RPG and MMO games development.

Although not officially confirmed yet, the grapevine has named the casualties of Electronic Arts' "cost-cutting measures." Studios that experienced significant layoffs are Mythic Entertainment, the guys behind Warhammer Online, and EA Tiburon, the studio responsible for Madden and other titles under the EA Sports banner.

Surprisingly it was almost a clean sweep. The majority of QJ writers agreed on this one, a single publishers name kept coming up around the water cooler. Can you guess which publisher stole our hearts this year?

Of course, there are always the dissenters. Booo! Hissss!

There will be sequels for Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. This is what Electronic Arts reassured the awaiting fans in the midst of the growing recession within the industry. Check out the rest of John Riccitiello's statements in the full article.

When it rains, it pours. EA has gone ahead and closed down their Casual Label, merging it and their Hasbro partnership with the Sims Label. EA Mobile, Pogo, Media Sales and Online Casual Initiatives will also be merged but there is still no word on where they'll end up.

EA to be bought out? By Disney?! Well, the world's turned upside down anyway, so why not this? The Wall Street Journal speculates that with EA's stock down by 18 percent last Friday, the time could be right for bigger fish who are looking to expand their presence in the gaming market to swallow EA whole.

More bad news for Electronic Arts as investors are beginning to abandon the publisher despite its strengths and potential to improve. Industry analyst Michael Pachter explains that EA management has shown indifference in handling their current situation.

Whew!  It is not true that Electronic Arts (EA) is banning gamers from playing their games if they  get banned from the forums, as one moderator threatened players with. EA's official statement on the matter can be found at the full article.