As EA confirms continued goodwill towards the Civ creator, Sid Meier returns the favour and adds to the reasons for a takeover of Take Two...

Days ahead of Electronic Arts' latest deadline over the company's proposed takeover of Take Two Interactive, yet another reason for the publishing giant to buy out the parent company of Rockstar Games has emerged - in the form of Sid Meier.

In a week where the console version of Civilization heads to the home consoles (minus the Wii), both Meier and EA have done some mutual back-slapping thanks to some mediation from GameDaily.biz. In the interview, Meier confirmed that although EA owns the Alpha Centauri brand, "we would certainly love to make a new Alpha Centauri for today's gamers." In response, EA representatives said that "[whilst] we can't think of anyone better suited to doing another Alpha Centauri game...it would be inappropriate to comment further while EA has an active tender offer for shares of his current employer."

The reintroduction of Meier into the EA fold would be the latest in a number of solid reasons why the Redwood publisher would be after Take Two. Naturally, the acquisition of Rockstar Games is pretty high on the list, although grabbing hold of the Bioshock brand, and the integration of the 2K Sports franchises have all been citied. Add Firaxis' output, which includes the Civilization series, and the figurehead of Meier to proceedings, and the amalgamation of the two publishers just continues to make more sense.

This week has also seen one analyst highlighting another potential party for Take Two, in the form of Ubisoft. The French publisher has recently amassed a war-chest as consolidation continues in the industry, although Ubi and T2 are yet to confirm that negotiations are in progress.

Stay tuned to watch another deadline pass on June 16th; the EA/T2 takeover train continues to trundle on.