Senator? You can have my answer now, if you like. My final offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.
--Michael Corleone in "The Godfather: Part II"

For a deal that's yet to be consummated, there's been a whole lot of activity surrounding Electronic Arts' proposed acquisition of Take-Two. First came the news that the Federal Trade Commission had requested further information and additional time to complete its review of the deal--the "hard look" at the deal that Level Up's own guest poster and former FTC lawyer Justin Blankenship had predicted. Next, at its shareholders meeting last night, Take-Two's board continued to urge its stock owners to reject EA's tender offer.

Finally, this morning, EA announced that it had extended the deadline for its tender offer to May 16th--while reducing the value of its offer from $26 per share to $25.74 to reflect the additional shares of restricted stock that have been granted to Take-Two management. To make sense of all of the head-spinning feints and counter-moves, we shot an email over to the omnipresent Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter. Here's what he had to say:

What should we make of Electronic Arts' decision to extend its tender offer to Take-Two shareholders to May 16th, 2008?

They extended because they fully intend to wage a proxy battle over the next month. That will essentially involve nominating a new board and soliciting the vote of 50.01 percent ofall shareholders (including those who could not vote yesterday because they bought after February 19). If they win the proxy battle, they will take control of Take-Two.

Is there anything significant about that date?

 The cover for the Pixies' 1989 album "Doolittle"

During our phone briefing yesterday with Harmonix CEO and co-founder Alex Rigopulos and Paul DeGooyer, senior vice president of Electronic Games & Music, we uncovered a slew of tidbits about their philosophy regarding future releases of albums, tracks and the overall Rock Band "platform," as term Rigopulos used on more than one occasion during our chat. We'll serve up the full text of this interview at a later date, but in the meantime, here are some of the highlights, in the form of an FAQ:

When is the next album coming out?

Next month.

What is it?

"The Cars," by, um, The Cars.

Anything after that?

In June, they plan to release "Doolittle," by the Pixies. "This is the beginning of what will be a regular flow of full albums," says Harmonix's Rigopulos.

"Who Are You"? More like "Where Are You"? Why wasn't The Who's "Who's Next" the first album release, as previously expected?

Because Harmonix does not yet have everything it needs to create all of the tracks. "We do require specialized audio mixes in the form of stems," says MTV's DeGooyer. "And to be perfectly candid, [Judas Priest's "Screaming For Vengeance'] is the first one that was ready."

Can I play "Screaming For Vengeance" as Rob Halford or Glenn Tipton?

To read the rest of our FAQ on Rock Band's full-length albums, click on the link below.

 The cover for Judas Priest's 1982 album "Screaming For Vengeance" 

Harmonix and MTV Games have just announced that the first complete album for their popular rhythm game Rock Band will be released next week. Even though last year Harmonix cited The Who's 1971 record "Who's Next" when it first revealed that entire albums would be made available through its online store, its inaugural full-length release will be Judas Priest's 1982 hit "Screaming For Vengeance," boasting such classic songs as "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" (already featured in Guitar Hero and SingStar Amped, according to MTV News' own Rhythm Track Finder) and "Electric Eye" (already featured in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s).

Each of the ten tracks on "Screaming For Vengeance" can be purchased individually for the standard price of $1.99 per track (160 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360), while the entire album can be bought for $14.99 (1200 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360).

For the full text of Harmonix and MTV Games' press release, click on the link below.