United: Four Louisiana video entertainment studios have come together to create a single game called Quest for Souls, a fantasy shooter adventure they’re marketing as a throwback to the ’90s Super Nintendo titles such as Final Fantasy and Super Smash TV. According to a news release, King Crow Studios has partnered with Pixel Dash Studios, BitFinity Games and Starblade Games. All will rally under the King Crow banner. The four companies operate in the Level Up Lab, a collaborative gaming studio located in the Louisiana Technology Park. With the release of Quest of Souls, King Crow seeks to bring back the multiplayer role-playing genre of video games. Read the full announcement.
Tax savings: Despite strong objections from environmentalists and lawmakers, BP can classify around $15 billion of a $20 billion settlement for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as a business expense and deduct it from the company’s tax burden, the Huffington Post reports. Such a write-off could save the oil giant more than $5 billion. In a tweet, presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the tax-advantaged ruling “an outrage” that will burden American taxpayers. The International Business Times notes the U.S. tax code allows punitive damages to be written off as a business expense, as BP will be allowed. But provisions added to settlements can restrict this freedom. Read the full story.
Purchased: Gail India Ltd. bought the second shipment of liquefied natural gas from Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana in a deal that makes it the first Asian importer of U.S. shale gas. Bloomberg reports India’s biggest supplier will receive the cargo, bought on spot basis, by mid-April, says Vandana Chanana, a company spokeswoman. The deal marks the beginning of U.S. LNG exports into the world’s largest importing region of the super-chilled fuel, just as regional producers from Australia to Papua New Guinea ramp up supplies. India last year overtook South Korea as the world’s second-biggest importer of the fuel on a spot and short-term basis as buyers took advantage of a slump in prices brought on by the crash in crude oil and an oversupply. Read the full story.
