|
 News
Week
of February 28- March 5, 2000
[Friday, March
3, 2000]
Cryo
Acquires Dreamcatcher
French game publisher Cryo Interactive Entertainment has acquired Dreamcatcher
interactive. Cryo picked up the from Worldwide Interactive Discs. Dreamcatcher
founder and president Richard Wah Kan will continue on as the company's
manager and director. Cryo hopes to use the acquistion of Dreamcatcher
as a springboard for expansion of it presence in the North American market.
Fat Man Dream Vacation
George 'Fat Man' Sanger will be trolling the hall of this year's Game
Developers Conference looking for to give some lucky attendees the prize
of a lifetime. The Fat Man will distribute five golden tickets, cleverly
camouflaged within candy bars, entitling the holders to a ride in the
Sanger Rolls Royce and visit the Fat Man's Abbey Trails studio. The winner
will also receive a free Sanger penned theme song for next game title.
Spot the Fat Man at GDC, ask him for a candy bar, and you could be on
your way.
AIAS Board Nominations
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Science is inviting members to stand
for election to four new seat on its board of directors. Member voting
for the new board members will begin on April 17, along with final voting
for the Interactive Achievement Awards. Results will be announced during
E3, with the new board members one-year terms beginning on June 1. AIAS
members interested in throwing their hats into the ring should contact
Academy administration director Mija Coit.
[Thursday,
March 2, 2000]
3dfx
Financials
Though 3dfx saw fourth quarter revenues rise this year, from $60.7 million
in the fourth quarter last year to $109.4 million this year, the company
recorded a quarterly loss of $31.9 million compared with a profit of $2.1
million in the same period a year ago. Revenues for the entire year of
1999 rose to $360.5 million compared to 1998's total of $202.6 million.
Losses, however, increased to an astounding $63.3 million compared with
earnings of $21.7 million in 1998. The company attributes the losses to
restructuring costs including workforce reduction as well as lower gross
margins. 3dfx CEO Alex Luepp promised to turn the company around, "We
want to return to profitability as soon as possible. We believe our financial
results will lag our actions by several months and we won't see the real
impact of our actions reflected in our P&L until our FY 2001 second quarter."
Argonaut
Goes Public
Seeking to find additional capital to fund the development of next-generation
titles, British game maker Argonaut Software is planning to go public.
The company plans to list later this month on the London Stock Exchange
with an issue of 20 percent of existed company stocks from current shareholder
and venture capitalists. Argonaut hopes to raise close to $24 million
in the sale. Fellow U.K. developers Sci are completing a move to the London
Exchanges main list in an effort to raise its profile and attract investors.
Konami's Forecast
Japanese game developer Konami is revising its forecast for the current
fiscal year that ended in March. The company has raised its earnings forecast
from $157.6 to $166.9 million. The company has based its increased earnings
forecast on a similar increase of its sales predictions, with consolidated
sales now scheduled at close to $1.3 billion.
PSX Price Drop
CTW is reporting that Sony is introducing a new third party publisher
model that will send Playstation game prices plummeting. The new Playstation
license system could drop prices to a frugal $15 dollars for a budget
title with full price games topping out at a very affordable $30.
[Wednesday,
March 1, 2000]
3dfx
Financials Tomorrow
3dfx Interactive is inviting current and prospective investors to listen
in a conference call releasing the company's results for the fiscal year
and quarter ended January 31, 2000. The report is scheduled for just after
market close on Thursday, and 3dfx President Alex Leupp will review the
company's results and discuss plans for the year ahead. The call will
be begin at 2:00 PM Pacific, and is available online.
Pokemon
Ketchup
Those Hienz may be famous for its 57 variety, only five different Pokemon
will appear on its ketchup bottles. A limited edition of just five million
Heinz bottles, each emblazoned with the likeness of one of five different
Pokemon, will hit store shelves this spring as part of two-month promotion.
The Pokemon bottles will be pushing a five dollar mail in rebate on Warner
Home Video's Pokemon: The First Movie release. "There's no doubt that
the new Heinz Ketchup labels will become a collector's item," said a Hienz
marketing mastermind.
Future
Games Appointment
Gamers Gazette editors Hartley and Pattie Lesser are stepping up to become
co-editors and managers of the Future Games Network, a network of over
sixty game resource sites. "Pattie and Hartley have tremendous experience
in editing, writing and reporting on the game industry," said Mike Warsinske,
of FGN owner Cybereps, "We are thrilled to bring them onboard as co-editors
and managers of FGN."
[Tuesday,
February 29, 2000]
Nintendo
Buys into Convenience
Following Sony's lead in partnering with 7-11 of Japan, Nintendo has announced
plans to buy a three percent stake in Japanese convenience retailer Lawson.
As with Sony's partnership, Nintendo's relationship with Lawson will allow
consumers to purchase Nintendo's console and software products at Lawson
locations or pick up and pay for merchandise ordered online. Nintendo
also has plans to explore other areas of e-commerce at Lawson's 7,000
Japanese retail locations. Nintendo will invest $231.8 million to purchase
the three percent stake.
Stolar Joins Intrinsic
Former Sega CEO Bernie Stolar has been named to the board of directors
of Intrinsic Graphics. Stolar will serves as the board's guide in matters
related to interactive entertainment. "We are very excited to have Bernie
on our team," said Intrinsic's Michael Jones, "Bernie knows just about
everything about and everyone in the game industry. His experience successfully
launching so many new products into the market will be of incredible value
to us as we mature." Intrinsic is a developer of graphics software environments.
DirectX for Windows CE
Microsoft used the Embedded Systems Conference in Chicago to launch the
DirectX Platform Adaptation Kit for Windows CE. DirectX for CE will allow
devices based on the mobile OS to take advantage of multimedia contents
including accelerated graphics and streaming media. "Windows CE is on
the forefront of portable and small-footprint devices with impressive
multimedia capabilities," said Windows CE brand manager Don Chouinard,
"The DirectX capabilities will not only enable OEMs to create remarkable
consumer devices, they will also be used in dedicated devices."
PC
Data Top Ten
The Sims retains the top spot on PC Data Hit List of best selling PC games
for the week of February 13-February 19, 2000
1.
The Sims, Electronic Arts
2. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Disney
3. MP Roller Coaster Tycoon, Hasbro Interactive
4. Microsoft Age of Empires II: Age Of Kings, Microsoft
5. Nox, Electronic Arts
6. MP Roller Coaster Tycoon Corkscrew Follies, Hasbro Interactive
7. Quake III Arena, Activision
8. Starcraft, Havas Interactive
9. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Gold Edition, Red Storm Ent.
10. Sim City 3000, Electronic Arts
[Monday,
February 28, 2000]
Sega
Warns of Losses
Sega Enterprises is warning investors that losses for its fiscal year
ending March 31 will be steeper than previously thought. The company believes
that red ink for year will total $408 million, more than double the company's
earlier estimate of $180 in group operating losses. Sega reports that
better than expected Dreamcast sales in Europe and United States were
not enough to balance weaker than expected Japanese sales, were the Dreamcast
sold only 600,000 of it's 1.1 million unit forecast. A revised Japanese
software forecast calls for sales of 4.3 million games, less than half
of the earlier prediction of 8.75 units. Arcade sales are also set to
miss projections. Sega will sell 36 million new shares, values at $921
million, to partner CSK Corporation to help shore up the company's finances.
Big
Huge Games
Civilization II designer Brian Reynolds has revealed his newest endeavor.
Reynolds, along with fellow Firaxis veterans Tim Train and David Inscore,
are forming a new company called Big Huge Games. The Hunt Valley, Maryland,
operation will focus on the creation of real-time strategy games. "Big
Huge Games will emphasize excellence in all aspects of game development-game
design, artwork, technology and production values alike," said proud new
founder Brian Reynolds.
Eidos
in the Red
Eidos posted an operating loss of nearly $18 million dollars for the nine-month
period ended December 31. Though Eidos had warned investors of the losses
in January, the reports sent Eidos shares in London down as much as 14
percent. "On January 18, 2000 we issued a trading update in which we reported
that the third quarter and full year results would be significantly below
original expectations due to generally disappointing Christmas sales and
product delays. These results are in line with the revised expectations,"
said Eidos chairman Ian Livingstone, "The Board continues to believe in
its business model and the positive prospects for the entertainment software
market in spite of the anticipated retail price pressure on the maturing
platforms." Eidos has promoted Core Design managing director to the additional
role of global head of development to better control internal and external
product quality control.
Midway West Appoints VP
Midway Games subsidiary Midway Games West has appointed Psygnosis veteran
Mark Beaumont to the position of senior vice president of business development.
Beaumont held the same position while at Psygnosis. At Midway West, Beaumont
will head up business development, product planning, and general business
affairs.
Past
News
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
