News

Week of January 3 - January 9, 2000

[Friday, January 7, 2000]

Midway Protests
The city of Chicago has come under fire from Christian groups over a $2 million grant design to keep game developer Midway from relocating. 20 protesters calling themselves Christian peacemakers marched on Chicago's City Hall, arguing that the grant was akin to a civic endorsement of games, like Midway's Mortal Kombat, that the Christian group finds inappropriate. "Public money should not be going to companies that sell violent war toys for children," said spokesperson for the protesters. Chicago's City Council defended the grant on the grounds that it would protect the 700 Midway jobs already in the city and may allow Midway to expand and create still more.

So Long, Amen
Cavedog has finally pulled the plug on its long struggling Amen: The Awakening project. Cavedog had initially laid off the project's entire design staff and pushed back the release date, citing ongoing technology problems and promising to bring the staff on again when the project got back on track. A number of the staff will move on to other projects, but several have been let go. The company has decided this time to kill the project as part of an effort to restructure with a focus on the development of it Total Annihilation sequel and its Boneyards online community.

PC Data's Top Ten Games
The top ten games for the last week of the Christmas shopping season, December 19-25, 1999, were little changed from the proceeding week.

1. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Disney
2. MP Roller Coaster Tycoon, Hasbro Interactive
3. Microsoft Age of Empires II: Age Of Kings, Microsoft
4. Frogger, Hasbro Interactive
5. Deer Hunter III, GT Interactive
6. Quake III Arena, Activision
7. Barbie Generation Girl Gotta Groove, Mattel Interactive
8. Microsoft Flight Simulator, Microsoft
9. Toy Story 2 Action Game, Disney
10. Sim City 3000, Electronic Arts

[Thursday, January 6, 2000]

Eidos Sports
Though the company already holds licenses for sports games ranging from Formula 1 Gran Prix to the Olympics, Eidos has decided to take a serious stab at the sports game market by creating a dedicated sports division. Richard Thompson has been named to lead the new division, and will be responsible for Eido's professional sports sponsorship as well as game commitments. Jon Rosenblatt will be the department's product manager, and will be charged with widening appeal of Eidos sports titles beyond eurocentric titles like Championship Manager. "We see sports as a global opportunity," said Rosenblatt, "The Olympics license will have global appeal."

NUON Titles
VM Labs is releasing more information about its upcoming NUON DVD game machine, including a list of games set to appear at the systems launch or shortly thereafter. Leading the slate are Tempest 3000, an update of the arcade favorite, a first person shooter from Eclipse Software called Iron Soldier, and A-Maze, a board game. A NUON version of Cyan's blockbuster Myst is also in the works. Rounding out the list are a Freefall 3050 AD from Total Arkade Software and a 3D racing game based on the Camelot legends called Merlin Karting. "NUON's compelling features will achieve mass market appeal and help drive sales for the overall DVD platform over the next few years," believes VM Labs CEO Richard Miller.

Mac Voodoo
3dfx Interactive used the Macworld forum to announce that they would bring 3D hardware based on their new VSA-100 processor to Macintosh gamers. 3dfx had previously provided only beta drivers allowing Mac owners to make use of PC Voodoo 3 accelerators, but the new VSA-100 based products will contain native Macintosh support and acceleration. "We will fully support boards on the Mac platform, including customer service, technical support, driver updates, game developer evangelism and all of the other services available to users of 3dfx PC products," promised 3dfx's Bryan Speece. Configurations are to be announced in the first quarter of 2000 with products hitting the shelves in the second quarter.

[Wednesday, January 5, 2000]

Jobs No Longer Interim
In his keynote address to the Macworld masses, Steve Jobs reported that he is dropping the word interim from his title and will become Apple's official CEO. Along with unveiling Mac's new operating system, OSX, Jobs also announced that Apple is investing $200 million in a partnership with Mindsping Internet to create a Mac branded internet service provider. The new ISP will be the default internet service on all Apple computers, leading Jobs to speculate that Apple could become one the worlds top internet companies. Unfortunately for Mac game ambitions, a demonstration of Quake III running on Apple's new OSX promptly locked up the system.

S3 Invests in Intellon
S3 Incorporated announced that it has made a strategic investment in Intellon Corporation. The deal will create a partnership giving S3 access to Intellon's Power Line home networking chip technology. S3 and Intellon will jointly research and develop future versions on the technology for use in S3 Diamond Home Free home networking products. "Intellon's Power Line technology provides the opportunity to develop an advanced high-speed digital connection using existing electrical wiring. S3 and Intellon will be able to work toward simple and easy networking solutions," said S3 Chief Technology officer Andrew Wolfe.

EB's Happy Holiday
Game retailer Electronics Boutique reports that strong demand led same store sales for the all-important nine week holiday period to an increase of 12.2 percent. Total sales for the period reached $261 million. The company's internet subsidiary, EDWorld.com more than tripled last year's holiday results, pulling in $7.5 million in revenue. Hot holiday sellers for EB included Dreamcast, Color Game Boy, and all things Pokemon.

Uri Geller To Sue Nintendo
Spoon bender and psychic showman Uri Geller has promised a nearly $100 million lawsuit against Nintendo, claiming that the company based a Pokemon character on him without permission. Geller further alleges that the Pokemon in question, a psychic villain called Un-geller, is damaging to his image. Nintendo claims it is a coincidence, "None of the Pokemon characters is given a name based on the image of any particular person," says Nintendo's Hiroshi Imanishi. Geller plans to file the suit in both the United States and Japan.

PC Data's Top Ten
PC Data has released its top ten list of best selling games for the holiday lead up week of December 12-18.

1. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Disney
2. MP Roller Coaster Tycoon, Hasbro Interactive
3. Microsoft Age of Empires II: Age Of Kings, Microsoft
4. Quake III Arena, Activision
5. Barbie Generation Girl Gotta Groove, Mattel Interactive
6. Toy Story 2 Action Game, Disney
7. Deer Hunter III, GT Interactive
8. Microsoft Flight Simulator, Microsoft
9. Sim City 3000, Electronic Arts
10. Frogger, Hasbro Interactive

[Tuesday, January 4, 2000]

Mattel Hires Stolar
Former Sega America head Bernie Stolar's challenge this year will be to change the fortunes of a different struggling videogame power. Mattel has announced that Bernie Stolar will be the new president of Mattel Interactive. Stolar will be charged with solving the problems currently plaguing Mattel's interactive toys and software division, including stemming the losses of The Learning Company. Stolar left Sega of America after disputes with Sega's Japanese parent over strategy for Dreamcast American launch, at Mattel he will be a key part of CEO Jill Barad's overall plan to reshape the company. Mattel also announced the retirement of Chief Financial Officer Harry Pearce, who spent 24 years with Tyco before joining Mattel in a 1997 merger. Pearce's departure is also said to be related to financial problems stemming from The Learning Company acquisition.

CGDA Announces Election Line-up
The Computer Game Developers Association has announced the nominees for this year's board of directors election. On the slate are Matt Toscholg of Outrage Entertainment, Warren Spector of ION Storm, Elaine Hodgson of Incredible Technologies, Lloyd Melnick of Octagon Entertainment, Marc Mencher of Virtual Search, Julian Egebrecht of Factor 5, Marc Baldwin, and David Aronson. Several seats are open, and balloting will take place throughout the month of January.

Infogrames Adds Management
Infogrames North America has added two new members to its senior management team. Joining the company are Derek Quackenbush, as chief financial officer for North American operations, and Ron Rudolph as senior vice president of administration. Quackenbush had previously been director of finance and administration for Sony's 989 Studios, while Rudolph has held senior positions with technology companies like 3Com, Unisys, and Intel.

Game Blast Finalists
The editor of Computer Gaming World and Electronic Gaming Monthly have released the list of finalists for the two magazines joint Game Blast 2000 Awards. Editors from the magazine have nominated games in 42 categories, ranging from hardware components to advancement of the art. Nominees for the Game of the Year award, given to the PC or console game that most revolutionized its field in 1999, are Rogue Spear, High Heat 2000; Age of Empires 2, Quake 3, and Star Wars Episode One: Racer. The two magazines will hold a joint ceremony to present the winners on January 20 in San Francisco.

[Monday, January 3, 2000]

MCV Quits Paper
German publisher Computec has pulled the plug on the U.S. edition of its games industry news publication, at least on paper. The edit staff of MCV's American print publication will stay with the company to launch a new web based version of the magazine to debut early this year. The more established German and British editions of MCV will continue to publish on paper. The free news magazine faced fierce competition in a crowed market, going head to head with Gameweek and Games Business since its launch in 1998. Computec says it will launch two new consumer magazine in 2000, but hasn't commented on the subjects.

Gateway sells Amiga
Gateway has decided to sell all of the Amiga trademarks and computer systems it acquired in 1997 to Amino Development Corporation. The terms of the sale were not disclosed. Gateway had planned to use the Amiga name on a series of internet computers, but has since decided to fold that operation into Gateway product development. "This is a very exciting day," said Amino CEO Bill McEwen,"and now an even more exciting tomorrow. Now we can finish the job that was started 15 years ago. "

Tyson on Codemasters
Infamous heavyweight boxer Iron Mike Tyson will be making his video game debut on the Codemasters label. The company will be rolling out a Tyson boxing title on PC and Playstation this May, but their licensing agreement with the former champ extends to all gaming platforms. Said Codemasters marketing director Nick Wheelwright, "We have chosen to concentrate on one boxer for our game, instead of trying to throw everything into the pot at once." As for Tyson, he explained, "Its my kids who have been after me to get a game going for quite a while now, and I've been watching this whole area of sports-based videogames, waiting for just the right opportunity to become involved,"

Gamers Depot to Expand
Web publisher Midnight Café LLC has announced the acquisition of games and hardware news and reviews site Gamers Depot.com. Midnight Café plans to leverage the Gamers Depot brand to create an entire network of game sites catering to all platforms. "With the acquisition of Gamers Depot, Midnight Cafe has gained an experienced and energized team of industry professionals that know the territory,'' said Midnight Café Managing Director Ryan Douthit. The company plans to launch new game news and reviews sites aimed at Linux, Mac, and console gamers within the next year.

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