Today, Electronic Arts announced the release date for it’s upcoming, award winning game, Mirror’s Edge. The action-adventure game is scheduled to ship on November 11 for PS3 and XBOX 360, with the PC version coming later in the winter.

“Mirror’s Edge is bringing something new to the action-adventure genre this holiday by putting the player in the shoes of the hero, seeing what she sees, feeling what she feels,” said Owen O’Brien, senior producer at DICE.

“We wanted to create an entirely new experience, with a different type of heroine and a world that not only looks fresh and new but has unique gameplay.”

Mirror’s Edge was awarded best XBOX 360 game at this year’s Leipzig convention, and best original game at this year’s E3.

According to Gamesutra and a Screen digest-authored report, Electronic Arts and Activision released 75% of the games released from July to September.

Electronic Arts released 21 titles including their yearly sports games such as the Tiger Woods and Madden series. Activision, not far behind, released 19 games. Collectively, they have released 75% of all games in Quarter 3 (July-September) and will cover 40% of all releases in Quarter 4 (October-July)

According to the report, the Wii currently has the most titles out of the three consoles.

Recently, the FTC ruled that Electronic Art’s takeover of Take-Two Interactive did not violate any anti-trust laws. In July we saw a 35% increase in year-to-date sales. However, in the last month we’ve seen three developers, NCSoft, Midway, and Radical Entertainment, layoff dozens of workers.

The video game industry is drastically changing with the influx of so many gamers thanks to Sony’s, Nintendo’s, and Microsoft’s efforts in marketing to the casual gamer. In this multi-billion dollar industry we are now seeing certain publishers initiating more aggressive business tactics. Although growth is welcomed, it’s never good to see a few select publishers dominating in an industry as young as this.

The US Federal Trade Commission has given Electronic Arts the go in it’s purchase of Take-Two Interactive, the creators of the controversial and successful Grand Theft Auto series.

“Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no additional action by the commission is warranted at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed,”

The FTC investigation was initially created due to fears that the merger would decrease competition in the video game industry.

EA and Take-Two’s initial deal at $2 Billion dollars expired on Monday and the companies are now in “strategic discussions” for a new deal. Take-Two originally considered the $2 Billion dollar valuation too low considering their owner ship of the Grant Theft Auto series, their ownership of several key sports games, and their ownership of Bioshock, the 2007 hit which is likely to have a movie and many more sequels.

Analysts expect the merger to commence before the end of the week.
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It’s official:

New York, NY— August 18, 2008 — Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) today confirmed that it expects to sign a confidentiality agreement with Electronic Arts allowing EA to enter into Take-Two’s formal process to evaluate strategic alternatives. Read the full story