Just a little while ago, Take-Two announced that EA has agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement and review the object of its hostile financial affection's business plans for the next three years, turning this hostile takeover into something more ... amicable. Take-Two has also confirmed that it intends to let the clock run out on EA's $25.74 per share takeover offer, which expires today at midnight.

At face value, what this means is that EA still wants to buy Take-Two, and that the current offer still isn't reasonable to the Take-Two board. Meanwhile, the FTC will have finished its anti-trust probe on the issue this Thursday. Perhaps once EA gets a look under Take-Two's hood the two companies can come to a mutually agreed upon price to end this saga -- or some other publisher could come out of left field and scoop Take-Two up.

Showing the man has a little bit of confidence in his company, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has bought 20,000 shares of stock at $48.37 apiece, totaling approximately $967,400. According to Barron's Online (subscription required), this is the second purchase he's made since becoming chief in March 2007. He now owns 47,294 shares and about 75,000 exercisable options.

Said a spokesperson, "John believes that senior executives should be invested in the company." The stock was as high as 54.57 on May 13, the day they reported a $454 million loss in Fiscal 2008. Of course, if he's still confident in the inevitability of the Take-Two takeover, those shares will probably rise a good bit. Speaking of which, the third extension for the Take-Two offer now puts the deadline at June 16.

EA's named a replacement for outgoing Chief Financial Officer Warren Jenson and the winner is: Eric Brown of McAfee Inc. GameDaily reports Brown is no stranger to the ways of EA, having served as Chief Operating Officer of EA's Redwood Shores Studio.

EA CEO John Riccitiello says Brown's broad international experience and industry knowledge make him a perfect fit for the company. Surprisingly there was no gloating about needing a CFO on board who can easily handle a major acquisition. Brown officially begins the job April 14, three days after EA's hostile takeover deadline against Take-Two.

Amidst EA's hostile takeover of Take-Two, EA Chief Exec. John Riccitiello told the New York Times last week that his company would "represent a white knight" to a developer like Rockstar (GTA, Bully) and bring its games to a wider audience than Take-Two could. GameDaily spoke with a couple of the industry's leading analysts, like Janco Partners' analyst Mike Hickey, who called the "white knight" statement -- wait for it -- "total bullsh*t, and disrespectful" to Take-Two's new management team.

DFC Intelligence's David Cole says that Rockstar doesn't need EA's help to bring its games to a wide audience. Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter thinks Riccitiello doesn't really understand the definition of a "white knight." He points out that Rockstar is no "damsel in distress" and could become independent, even though it wouldn't own GTA -- Take-Two owns the GTA IP and that belongs to whichever company owns it.

Read -- Analyst: EA's Riccitiello 'Disrespectful' Towards Rockstar, Take-Two
Read -- New Shareholders to Weigh Take-Two Bid

Take-Two is appealing to stockholders not to consider EA's early-morning all cash tender offer, which pitched a purchase of the company's stock at $26 a share (a 4.4% premium over yesterday's closing price). The Take-Two board states it will review and consider EA's offer and, within 10 business days, advice stockholders of the board's position on the matter along with its reasoning.

The 10 day "please wait" request from the Take-Two board is still way within the April 11 deadline given by EA on its $26 per share offer to stockholders. EA wants Take-Two and it wants it bad.

With Take-Two Executive Chairman Strauss Zelnick having thoroughly rejected EA's initial buyout offer, the Madden and Burnout publisher has redirected its corporate Katamari at Take-Two shareholders. EA has announced the commencement of a tender offer for all of the currently outstanding shares of common stock of Take-Two Interactive Software at $26 per share. Valued at approximately $2 billion, the offer reportedly represents a 64% premium over Take-Two's closing stock price on February 15, the company's last trading day before EA began its increasingly aggressive financial courtship. Compared to Wednesday's stock price, it constitutes a 4.4% premium.

Barring extension, the tender offer is good until midnight EST on Friday, April 11, 2008. EA CEO John Riccitiello described the offer as "a great opportunity for Take-Two shareholders" and as a a way to "maximize the value" of their investment. "For EA shareholders, the combination would add additional intellectual properties to our already strong portfolio and welcome Take-Two's talented creative teams to the great development organization we've built at EA," he concluded.

Will shareholders deem this offer welcomed financial assistance or unwanted financial insistence? We'll have to wait and see.

Continuing their tradition of sitting in on droning investor earnings report calls (so you don't have to!) Gamasutra noticed EA president John Riccitiello predicting that Rock Band bundles may be tough to come by for a while. "We won't be able to put up enough inventory to meet the demand of this fiscal or calendar year," Riccitiello told the investors, adding that those who don't buy at launch "won't be getting one for Christmas, unless you know someone at one of our retailers."

While Riccitiello could be plausibly accused of simply trying to talk up demand in advance of the Nov. 20 launch -- he did encourage listeners to "get in line outside your favorite retailer, because we've got one hot product" -- we find the idea of shortages very easy to believe given the game's strong pre-order sales. With Guitar Hero III already selling out at retailers nationwide, it looks like the market for rhythm games might just be big enough for two expensive, hard-to-come-by products.