Stocks should be going through the roof with the announcement that Vivendi and Activision are now combining in an effort to kick Electronic Arts in the teeth.

What is really shaking things are all of the trickle-down effects. Here are some that I’ve noticed within the past few hours:

1. World of Roses was announced for Q2 2008 – For all three next-gen systems, a MMORPG is coming out where you can choose a faction in the rock and roll world. Now you can live out your dream of being Axl Rose, trashing your hotel rooms, and going on a raid into the “Leprechauns Who Tell Me To Burn Things” camp.
2. Square Enix, Ancient Hero of Mergers that they are, is teaming up with Konami – Fans of the Metal Gear Series will have to wait for a sparring with Cloud or Cecil, though, since most of the designer’s energies are being focused on Front Mission 7: Ninja MechaTurtle’s Dirge
3. EA will not sit by quietly – Madden and Medal of Honor, two of its biggest franchises, now will feature an on-rails section of the games where players re-enact The Last Boyscout and “take-out” the defensive line. In Medal of Honor, the defensive line will speak a dialect of Evil German. In Madden, they’ll wear Cardinals uniforms.
4. Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, Pokemon:Chartreuse, and My Sims are working on a joint project called How To Make You Vomit
5. Bungie and Nintendo together at last? – Halo 4 is slotted to feature mushrooms and talking turtles. Two working titles are A Night with Keith Richards and We Swear We’re in it for the Storytelling and Not the Gobs of Money.
6. Lego:Howard the Duck is in the works for Q3 2008 for LucasArts, following the awesomeness of Lego: Star Wars: The Complete Saga: Everything Star Wars Needs more Colons.
7. A Britney Spears/Hannah Montana karaoke game has been acquired by Vivendi, makers of F.E.A.R.. Overrated child stars jump from behind corners, embraced by flames, and the player has to sing top chamber music hits like “O Fortuna”/”If You Wanna Be My Lover” to contain the spirits. The Wii version has motion sensors so that players actually beat themselves over the head to advance.

You can pre-order these from fine vendors like .

You should see the discussion about the defense and attack of Howard the Duck in the comments on Amazon.

The Haiku
If I were a duck
my worries would not be of
George Lucas’ hair

Semi-related posts:

1. Madden 08 First Impression
2. Wii Online
3. Survey Results
4. Since when did I like football?
5. Madden Tuesday