Who says that Monday Morning Quarterback has to be tied to the NPD sales reports? Not us, not when there's news breaking of this magnitude. Yes, we know we haven't done an MMQB for the October sales numbers; our Thanksgiving travel schedule got in the way, so we're planning to fold it into the November sales analysis. But enough about us. When news came across the transom earlier today that Vivendi Games and Activision had announced their plans to merge, we quickly contacted our regular QB, Game Head host, Geoff Keighley, to pit his BlackBerry-fueled insights against our Palm-enabled observations. Not only did he agree to do so on the holiest day of football lovers around the world, after winning the coin toss, he volunteered to go on offense first. Some excerpts:

Geoff Keighley: It’s pretty monumental that the new company will be Activision Blizzard, not Activision Sierra. But here’s my open question to Mike Morhaime and the guys at Blizzard: Are you really going to put your name on the box for a game like Scarface II? Or even a derivative third-person action game like Wet? Blizzard has been so protective of its brand for years that I find it hard to believe their name/logo will go on all the game boxes. Or will Blizzard now have a say in the games the joint company publishes? If so, the quality standards are going to have to go way up. In fact I am beginning to wonder just how many Vivendi games are really going to make it through the star chamber at the combined company. Stay tuned.

N'Gai Croal: What this merger really says to me is that EA brought back CEO John Riccitiello later than it should have. Why? Because sometimes it's the deals you don't make that cause your downfall, and nowhere is that more true than in the videogame industry....When Vivendi was looking to sell its videogame unit back in 2003, the major publishers like EA all kicked the tires, but none of them wanted to pull the trigger on the reported $1 billion asking price when the only asset of any perceived value was a pre-World of Warcraft Blizzard. That's somewhat understandable, but how did EA let Red Octane and Harmonix slip through its fingers, long after it was clear that Guitar Hero was a phenomenon and with a former record label exec in worldwide music boss Steve Schnur in EA's own executive suite? I have to imagine that if Riccitiello had returned to EA sooner, there's no way that someone like him, who's been so aggressive on acquisitions, would have let both companies escape his grasp. Put all of this together, and it starts to look like a series of unfortunate events that has resulted in the creation of what could be EA's most formidable competitor yet.

To read our discussion in its entirety, click on the link below.

On Sunday morning, Vivendi announced its plans to combine its videogame unit with Activision announced their plans to merge, creating what the two companies say is the world's largest videogame publisher. Vivendi, which is contributing $1.7 billion in cash to the venture, will own 52 percent of the new company; however, Activision chairman and CEO Robert Kotick will emerge as the president and CEO of Activision Blizzard, while Bruce Hack, current CEO of Vivendi Games, will serve as vice-chairman and chief corporate officer of the combined company. Following the deal, Activision Blizzard will seek to repurchase up to 146.5 million of its shares, or a 31 percent premium on Activision's recent share price.

Activision is best known for its Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and Tony Hawk franchises, while Vivendi, which has had success of late with such games as Scarface: The Word Is Yours and F.E.A.R., has become known in recent years as the house that Blizzard kept afloat, thanks to the outlandish success of the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft. We expect to have more coverage of today's announcement in the days ahead.

To read the full press release, click on the link below.