John Riccitiello

Launch period shortages are becoming the norm in the gaming world, but we were still expecting Rock Band to be readily available in stores during the lucrative Christmas period - turns out, we were wrong.

EA president John Riccitiello delivered the bad news saying, “We won’t be able to put up enough inventory to meet the demand of this fiscal or calendar year” and added that those who don’t buy at launch “won’t be getting one for Christmas, unless you know someone at one of our retailers.”

Maybe it’s all hype, but with Guitar Hero III selling out, I wouldn’t count on it.

via Joystiq

EA’s share prices have risen sharply with the company’s acquisition of Bioware/Pandemic. After the announcement the stock price rose $2.48 to a trading price of $61.17, a 52-week high. EA purchased the merged company from Elevation Partners for $860 million.

Interestingly EA’s CEO, John Riccitiello has close links with both companies as he was co-founder of Elevation Partners and CEO of BioWare/Pandemic parent VG Holding.

Bioware/Pandemic currently employ 800 staff.

via Next Generation