There may come a time when executives from Electronic Arts Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. are all smiles after the two sides agree to a buyout. Right now, however, that day seems remote.

"We've always wanted to do a friendly deal and we continue to hold out hope that it might happen," Owen Mahoney, senior vice president of corporate development at Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts said Friday.

But Electronic Arts, Mahoney suggested, will continue to play hardball with its $26 a share, $1.9 billion offer for Take-Two, which has insisted any negotiations between the companies won't take place until after the release of its "Grand Theft Auto IV" video game on April 29.

"Twenty-six dollars is a very full and fair price," he said. "We've talked a lot about it internally and I can tell you our board expects us to be very price-disciplined on this."

Mahoney's comments followed a statement from the company Friday that it would extend its tender offer from April 11 to April 18. It made the extended offer conditional on Take-Two removing its poison pill. Take-Two announced the adoption of the shareholder rights plan March 26, and said it would delay its annual meeting from April 10 to April 17.

"We think their actions are unfor tunate for their shareholders," Mahoney said. "We can't control their actions, we can only speak to our own actions.

"The delay in the shareholder meeting and the poison pill add risks to their shareholders and are therefore unfortunate," he added.

Take-Two officials were unavailable for comment. A company spokeswoman said nothing has changed in the company's stance since its March 26 recommendation that stockholders not tender their shares.

No negotiations with Take-Two have occurred since EA's offer was made public last month, Mahoney said. He reiterated previous comments from EA that the longer the situation drags on, the less value Take-Two has, though he said there is no drop-dead date when a deal would need to be reached.

"This has been out for a month already," he said. "We're trying to get done as fast as possible because our publishing organization can do very well selling all of Take-Two's products."

While emphasizing that completing a friendly deal remains the priority, Mahoney admitted walking away from a transaction also is an option that has been discussed internally at EA.

"We have many different options and many different scenarios, one of them is that that would happen," he said.
Shares of Take-Two closed Friday at $25.33, below the offer price but close enough to it that investors apparently still think Electronic Arts might raise it.

New York-based Take-Two has provided a litany of reasons why EA's $26 offer is not in its best interests. It has said that the bid "substantially undervalues" the company's position in the gaming market and is "opportunistically timed to capture the value of the upcoming 'Grand Theft Auto IV' launch at the expense of our stockholders."

In its statement, Take-Two said as of March 27, only 5,000 shares of Take-Two had been tendered. Mahoney argued that from his understanding of tender offers, shares typically aren't tendered until closer to the offer deadline.