David vs. Goliath…Tyson vs. Bruno…Godzilla vs. Megalon. The entire world loves a good punch-up, particularly when it seems as if one side has a very good chance of pulverizing the other. The latest such battle in the European game industry is Microsoft vs. ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association), and there’s no prize for guessing the underdog. The two have never been the best of friends, primarily because of Microsoft’s refusal to adopt ELSPA’s voluntary age rating system. All other software publishers have been quite happy to go along with ELSPA’s age ratings system, and proudly display the slightly confusing symbols on their game packaging.

It appears that Microsoft — previously too much of a publishing superpower to be bothered with any petty ratings system — has started using the ELSPA system on its packaging. But Microsoft allegedly has been making up the actual ratings (usually titles have to be submitted to the Video Standards Council) and not telling ELSPA anything about it. These shenanigans have gone unacknowledged by Microsoft, especially since ELSPA began threatening legal action for breach of copyright. As ELSPA boss Roger Bennett says, "The actions of Microsoft show that they have a total lack of respect for other people’s intellectual property rights. I am sure that if the boot were on the other foot, Microsoft would feel equally aggrieved about the breach of their copyright." You tell ‘em, Roger!

Some Statistical Light on Europe... A recent flurry of statistical activity has revealed some rather interesting facts about the European market. First off, ChartTrack and GfK have conspired to produce an exhaustive report on the current state of the European interactive marketplace. Their efforts are all the more welcome considering it’s usually easier to get a list of M15’s top employees than it is to find out the top selling games in Germany. In any case the breakdown of sales throughout Europe reveals that the U.K. and Ireland have the biggest slice of the pie at 39 percent of the market, with Germany second at 29 percent, followed by France at 18 percent, the Netherlands at six percent, Spain at five percent, and Italy at a mere three percent. This seems to suggest a little more effort with the foreign language translations might pay some extra dividends. The two stat-masters also revealed that Europe's biggest selling game of 1998 was Tomb Raider III, followed by Gran Turismo and World Cup ’98. No surprise there. In fact, the only real surprises were in the Top Five CD-ROM chart for ’98, the contents of which would cause the average American, and even Briton, to emit a confused "Huh?". The top selling PC game of 1998 in Europe was Tomb Raider III, but clogging up the number two spot is Anno 1602, then Commandos, Gold Games 2, and finally Age of Empires. The relative obscurity of at least two of these middle three titles suggests that the PC market is rather more active on the continent than in the U.K. Indeed, Germany currently accounts for 37 percent of all PC sales in Europe, while the U.K. and Ireland pull in 48 percent of all console sales. Vive la différence!

The second survey of the week is rather depressing. According to information collected by Plimsoll Publishing, half of the computer game companies in the U.K. are in danger of going under unless their profits take a sharp turn for the better. Of the 325 companies studied, 49.8 percent had their health rated as "danger," 11 percent as "caution," 11.5 percent as "stable," 6.2 percent as "good," while only 21.5 percent managed a "strong" bill of health. That means 61 percent of the industry is losing money at the moment, and according to Plimsoll, that worked out as a net industry loss of over £90million ($144 million) last year. It really does seem as if some companies need to cut back on the crappy football games and Doom clones, and work out a proper business plan for themselves.

Two Psygnosis Vets Surface. Speaking of business plans, it looks as though two ex-Psygnosis bigwigs are about to relaunch themselves into the industry. Having left the company he co-founded after Sony allegedly broke his contract, Ian Hetherington is expected to announce his new plans any day now. It is rumored that he will found a start-up development company based around a new publishing model. Details are scarce, but said model will apparently involve the developer having more involvement in the marketing of products. Meanwhile Jonathan Ellis, Psygnosis’ other co-founder, has turned up at creative design and marketing firm Madhouse Associates. There he will take the job of non-executive director, and among the companies he’ll be working with are his old pals at Psygnosis, as well as Hasbro, Infogrames, Rage, and Interactive Magic.

UK Top Ten of All Time. Just to complete the statistical theme of this issue you may be interested to hear what the U.K. version of PC Gamer considers to be the top ten PC games of all time. The U.K.’s biggest selling PC games magazine annually publishes a top 100 list, which although voted on only by the magazine’s staff is quite highly regarded by industry and public alike. Although the public gets its own chance to vote, the results are always impressively similar to the magazine's. In any case that top ten, in ascending order, are:

10. Thief: The Dark Project

9. TOCA Touring Cars 1 and 2 (PC Gamer counts all sequels as one entry unless they

are significantly different in concept)

8. Civilization: Call To Power

7. Formula 1 Grand Prix and Grand Prix 2

6. Falcon 4.0

5. Grand Theft Auto

4. X-wing/TIE Fighter/X-wing vs. TIE Fighter/X-wing Alliance

3. Civilization 1 and 2

2. Quake 1 and 2

and finally at the top spot, Valve’s seminal shooter…

1. Half-Life

Mirroring the sort of nationalistic head-counting that usually goes on in the U.K. on Oscar night, PC Gamer also chose to make a note of how many games were of U.S. origin and how many were from the U.K. (other countries only managed 15 out of the 100 entries in the chart). The end result was that the U.S. of A. won out with 53 entries against the U.K.’s 32. That’s 62 percent versus 38 percent for anyone that hasn’t been treated to enough percentages yet.