E3 that happy gathering that is really all about pretending. There are truly disturbed web-monkeys pretending to be sane, PR people pretending they like you, marketing people pretending to be gamers, booth babes pretending they aren't scared, gamers pretending to be journalists, journalists pretending to be interested and game developers pretending they've been getting sleep or anything else, lately. It's a zoo basically. It all starts in less than a week. Boy, I can't wait. Anyway, here's what happened this week.

Is Armageddon at hand? Take-Two software, the company that should always be remembered for releasing a totally unfinished pile of code called Battlecruiser 3000 on an unsuspecting public, announced recently that it has acquired the famously independent Gathering of Developers Studio. G.O.D was founded as a haven for artist-developers longing to be free of corporate BS. Well, looks like the corporate BS went and tracked them down.

Founder Mike Wilson claims that despite the fact that the evil Take-Two company will now own a majority stake (80.1% reportedly) Gathering of Developers will still retain autonomy. Incidentally Take-Two is also known for savagely shutting down Gearhead software (Black Dahlia, Hell, Ripper). By savagely I mean that they reportedly placed locks on the doors, kicked everyone out, gave long time staffers only three weeks severance pay and denying artists the opportunity to photocopy their work for their portfolios (evil!).

G.O.D still has the potential to succeed (those Blair Witch games look -- um... promising?) but it will only take a few expensive failures to make Take-Two step down on that converted church Old Testament-style. I offer the following Milton quote to G.O.D CEO Mike Wilson in this trying time: "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven".