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Spore lets people play god, tinker with a digital primordial soup and birth civilizations that conquer galaxies. It also may produce a similar big bang for Electronic Arts Inc. Spore -- one of the most-talked-about video games in years, from the man behind the blockbuster Sims franchise -- is set to launch Sunday. The computer game's sales will help determine whether the world's largest video game company will emerge from its restructuring efforts on solid footing. Once the undisputed giant of the industry, EA's dominance has slipped in recent years as its products became regarded as formulaic.

U.S. antitrust authorities dropped a probe of Electronic Arts Inc.'s proposed purchase of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., a step that may let the video game makers move forward with talks. The Federal Trade Commission closed an investigation into whether a combination would be anti-competitive, the agency said.

Electronic Arts Inc. on Monday let its $2-billion hostile buyout offer for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. expire. But the video game companies plan to keep discussing a deal that would combine EA, the world's largest game publisher, with the maker of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. The tender offer would have paid stockholders of New York-based Take-Two $25.74 a share. Redwood City, Calif.-based EA, which makes such games as Madden Football and the Sims, had extended the offer five times.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. has again extended the deadline for its $2-billion tender offer to buy smaller rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. The offer now is set to end Aug. 18 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, an extension from July 18. EA said it needed more time to allow regulators to continue their review. EA is trying to buy Take-Two, best known for its Grand Theft Auto series, for $25.74 a share, or about $2 billion. Take-Two has repeatedly rejected the offer as too low.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. has for a third time extended the deadline for its $2-billion tender offer to buy smaller rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., but it did not raise the price as many analysts had expected. Take-Two again spurned the offer price as too low while saying it had "begun the process" of formally talking to interested parties. EA is the only company that has publicly expressed interest in buying Take-Two, and analysts aren't expecting another suitor to come forward.

Bing Gordon, the chief creative officer at Electronic Arts Inc., will leave the video game company after 26 years to become a partner at premier venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. As one of EA's first employees, Gordon helped shape the Redwood City, Calif., company's path to becoming the world's largest game publisher.

It's the video game that launched a $2-billion takeover war. "Grand Theft Auto IV" is expected to have one of the biggest debuts in entertainment history when it hits stores Tuesday. Analysts predict it will ring up more than $400 million at retail shops in the first week, topping "Halo 3," which last fall smashed the previous record with $300 million in sales.

Federal regulators have escalated their antitrust inquiry into Electronic Arts Inc.'s hostile bid to acquire Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., the video game publishers said Thursday. The disclosure came on the same day that Take-Two shareholders approved a measure granting stock worth as much as $39 million to top managers if the company were sold. Take-Two said at least 73.4% of its investors approved the resolution and that at least 77.3% approved management's slate of directors.