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 News
Week
of December 20-December 26, 1999
[Tuesday,
December 21, 1999]
Sega
Additions
Sega has added three new members to the Dreamcast team. Vinay Goel has
been appointed vice president of business development and will look to
expand on Sega's industry partnerships. Goel was previously vice president
of VTEL Corporation where he worked on improving Internet streaming media
technologies. Tetsu Noguchi, coming over from Cyber Media, will seek to
increase Sega's online sales as director of e-commerce. Rick Naylor, formerly
a central product development manager with Psygnosis, will take on the
role of senior product manager in charge of Sega's first party games.
"The expertise they bring to the brand will further strengthen and assure
the continued success of Sega Dreamcast well beyond the holiday season,
and ensure new ways of expanding the e-commerce strategy, product range
and sales channels," said Sega of America Senior Vice President of Marketing
Peter Moore.
Pokeland
Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamuchi has announced to the world that Nintendo
intends to see Pokemon overtake Mickey Mouse and friends as the most popular
characters in the world. The next step to Pokemon global domination is
the creation of Pokemon World, a theme park dedicate to all things Pokemon.
Nintendo is reportedly working with municipal government in the company's
hometown of Kyoto, Japan, to find a suitable site for the park. Nintendo
hope to have the attraction open within a year of finding a location.
Tomb
Raider: The Movie
A big screen version of Tomb Raider is apparently once more on
its way. Though problems with the script are still slowing the project,
Variety has reported that veteran director Simon West is nearing complete
of a deal to sign on to direct the project. West's previous movies include
The General's Daughter and Con Air. Paramount is said to be considering
a rewrite of the script, but the studios still hopes to fast track the
project to capitalize on the games continuing success.
[Monday,
December 20, 1999]
THQ
Buys Anomalies
Internet game maker Genetic Anomalies has been acquired by publisher THQ
in an all stock transaction valued at nearly $8 million. As part of the
acquisition, THQ obtains the right to all of Genetic Anomalies' products,
including a World Wresting Federation online strategy title that is currently
in development. THQ will also get Genetic Anomalies' multiplayer online
game and virtual property technologies. "Genetic Anomalies equips us with
proven content as well as the experienced development and design talent
that is crucial to success in this rapidly evolving market. We expect
to make more announcements in the near future with respect to leveraging
content controlled by THQ in game environments played over the Internet,"
said THQ President Brian Farrell.
S3
Buys Number Nine
S3 has moved to strengthen it relationship with IBM by announcing that
it will acquire all assets of Number Nine Visual Technology Corporation.
Number Nine is a contract supplier of S3 based products to IBM, and the
acquisition will allow S3 to consolidate and simplify its business with
IBM. "We expect that our acquisition of Number Nine's assets will enable
us to streamline [our] business model and further strengthen our direct
relationship with IBM," explained S3 CEO Ken Potashner. S3 plans to merge
Number Nine's hardware and software engineering groups into existed S3
teams.
Corporate
Gaming
A consortium of six Japanese industrial, publishing, and broadcasting
companies has announced it intention to enter the videogame field. Partners
in the new firm include Mitsubishi, Nippon Television Network, Tokyo FM
Broadcasting, and Tokuma Shoten Publishing. The company, to be led by
former Sega vice president Hayao Nakayama, will focus on bringing popular
animation properties to next generation consoles.
PC
Data's Console Top Ten
PC Data's best selling console games for the month of November.
1. Pokemon Yellow Nintendo
2. Pokemon Blue Nintendo
3. Pokemon Red Nintendo
4. Pokemon Pinball Nintendo
5. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis Capcom
6. Donkey Kong 64 Nintendo
7. WWF Wrestlemania 2000 THQ Inc.
8. NBA 2K Sega Dreamcast
9. NBA Live 2000 Electronic Arts
10. Pokemon Snap Nintendo
Past
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