According to Gamesindustry.biz, Namco and Bandai are planning to merge this september, thereby creating Japan's third largest videogame company after Nintendo and Sega Sammy Holdings. However, Namco should perhaps be cautious before ordering lots of stationary with the joint company's new name on it - eight years ago, Bandai was involved in a very similar situation with Sega, but it all fell apart due to 'differences in corporate culture' - which is a little like the 'creative differences' that have forced many a pop band to dismantle. Except not as exciting.
So what will this merger mean to gamers? Well, although Bandai does have a games division it is much more well-known for its toy and TV brands such as Power Rangers, Gundam and, of course, Strawberry Shortcake - so we could perhaps see more videogame translations of those. There may also be a few interesting franchise crossover possibilities. In fact, all of the properties mention above could easily be incorporated into the next Tekken title:
