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One of the most successful Japanese companies taking over a struggling US company to expand its ability to publish and produce games over here. Sounds great to me.

If we get a Tomb Raider RPG, all the better!

I'm putting all my skill points into my camera's "follow butt" ability!

I wonder what kind of effect this will have on Square Enix's game design. The majority of the Japanese and American game markets respond culturally to very different things. Though I've rarely been a fan of Japanese game design, I still have a lot of respect for Square Enix and hope we'll see a good blend between the two.

Putting Lara Croft with Square Enix/Taito... well, it does give "Bubble Bobble" a whole new meaning.

I just hope they'll leave Eidos Montreal alone to develope Deus Ex 3 and Thief 3. NO Japanese influence in those games, please.

Earlier I was hoping for Warner to buy Eidos, now I hope this will work out...

Vilmos, usually when a company buys out another they don't interfere with existing personnel or projects unless it's a hostile purchase (unlikely in this case). However they can and will likely influence future projects. I do find it bizarre that Square would buy out Eidos though. The two companies are tangential to each other in terms of what they produce. I'm not exactly sure what Square sees in Eidos.

They see experience in Western game development, they see expansion into another market, and they see a known brand name, they see established IPs. This falls in line perfectly with the stated goals of SE right now, expanding their market outside of Japan. They know that they need to appeal to a wider world and they are focusing business decisions on that. You can see it through their increased support of the 360, their acquisition of Eidos, opening a new research and development studio in LA, etc. They are trying to diversify, which is usually a good idea.

@ Jeff : Eidos is based in the UK.