News

Week of June 5-June 11, 2000

[Friday, June 9, 2000]

Havok Buys Ipion
Consolidation is afoot in the world of physics SDKs. Havok, a part of Telekinesis Research, is buying German physics rival Ipion. The two product will continue on separately in the meantime, with Havok's Dublin and Palo Alto offices as well as Ipion's Munich office and staff remaining in place to service customers. In the long term, Havok and Ipion hope to merge their strengths in a bid unseat game physics incumbent Math Engine.

Kalisto Acquires Daylight
French game developer Kalisto Entertainment is acquiring Day Light Productions in a stock swap. The buy will help solidify Kalisto's efforts to move into the North American market, where it is already doing 40 percent of its business, and will also give the company a U.S. base of operations. Day Light, based in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will be re-christened Kalisto USA. The deal will become official pending shareholder approval Calico's annual meeting in September.

Lionhead Drops Activision
Activision and Lionhead have backed away from a proposed publishing deal. Activision had announced reaching preliminary agreements to publish games from Lionhead satellite studios Big Blue Box and Intrepid last September. Problems arose in the details, as Activision and Lionhead failed to come agreement as to whether the contracts would be signed with Lionhead or directly with the studios involved.

[Thursday, June 8, 2000]

Infogrames Delisting
Infogrames is joining Interplay and Acclaim in facing Nasdaq delisting. Infogrames is not currently in compliance with Nasdaq's minimum $5 share price requirement for listing on the National market. The company is appealing the decision, contending that a five to one stock split, planned for the beginning of June but delay due to a failure to adequately inform shareholders, is distorting the company's rating.

Sega Broadband
Sega is looking to keep up with Sony by offering broadband access. The company is launching broadband service for Dreamcast in Japan next month. The service with start in conjunction with 40 domestic cable television providers, and will eventual grow to include 200 providers. Sega will sell an adapter to connect the Dreamcast console to cable line Internet systems, and hopes the move will provide a boost in Japanese Dreamcast sales. Sega also has plans in the works to sell game software directly to broadband users in the future. The broadband service launches on July 15.

3dfx SEC Approval
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the 3dfx purchase of Giga Pixel. 3dfx announced its intention to acquire Giga Pixel in stock swap in March, and with the SEC's approval of the company's registration statement the deal can be brought before the 3dfx shareholders. The matter will be decided at the company's annual meeting in July.

[Wednesday, June 7, 2000]

Microsoft Split
The government is calling for a two-way Microsoft split. A federal court judge has ruled that Microsoft's anti-competitive behavior would best be controlled by forcing the company to split into to separate concerns. One company would sell operating systems, while the other would sell other Microsoft applications. The court has given Microsoft four months to come up with a divestiture plan. The court also placed restrictions on Microsoft operations for at least the next three year, though some provisions like orders to disclose certain technologies, have been set aside while the court waits to hear Microsoft's appeals. "When the remedy is implemented, customers and consumers will decide for themselves what software they want to purchase," said chief anti-trust attorney Joel Klein, "Neither a monopolist nor the government can dictate that choice."

Publishers Sue Pirates
Thirteen game publishers are filing suit against six alleged game pirates. Capcom, Lucas Arts, Eidos, EA, Havas, Interplay, Hasbro, Midway, Nintendo, Sony, Activision, and 3DO are all part of the suit against six website operators accused of selling illegal copies of top games. The suit, filed in a Northern California federal court, seeks a court injunction to shut down the offending sites as well as monetary damages for the theft of software. Penalties could range as high as $150,000 per copyright violation.

Hasbro Changes
Hasbro Interactive is folding its international operations into Hasbro's core international toy business. The company's international marketing director, Dominic Myers, has left the firm and Hasbro Toys and Games International head Simon Gardner is now responsible for day to day operations. The changes are designed to improve Hasbro Interactive's global content acquisition, marketing, and distribution activities.

Acclaim Protection
Following closely on threats of Nasdaq de-listing, Acclaim is adopting shareholder protections. Similar to plans introduced by Activision, Acclaim is seeking to protect itself from uninvited takeover attempts. The plan, which would become active if any new party were to purchase more than 10 percent of the company's outstanding shares, is intended to insure that deals made on the open market or with selected shareholders will pay a fair price to all shareholders. "[This] is not intended to prevent a takeover of the company and should not deter any prospective bidder willing to negotiate with the Board of Directors and pay a full and fair price for the company's shares," said a company spokesperson.

[Tuesday, June 6, 2000]

PS 2 Vision
Sony's Ken Kutaragi outlines his vision of a Playstation future. Speaking to EE Times about Sony decision to sell Playstation 2 chips to other manufacturers, Kutaragi explained how expanding the uses of the Playstation 2 format could vastly increase Sony's market share. "If the console remained just a Sony platform, there would be limits to its market penetration," said Kutaragi, "By opening the format, a new horizon will emerge. In the future, PlayStation 2 may be absorbed into TV sets and the game console may disappear."

Indie Games Call
The Third Annual Independent Games Festival is gearing up. Games and applications for the first round of festival judging are due in by September 1, 2000. Winners will be announced at the IGF Awards ceremony at the 2001 Game Developers Conference in San Jose on March 23 2001. The Festival is coordinated by the CMP Game Media Group, parent organization of both the Game Developers Conference and Gamasutra.com. Complete submission, deadline, and eligibility rules can be found on the Independent Games Festival website.

Broadband Opens
Take-Two's Broadband Studios is teaming with Open TV. The companies will collaborate on the marketing, sales, and integration of Broadband Studio's applications on Open TV enabled networks. The pair will also work on the creation of new dedicated and enhanced interactive television applications. The first priority of the partnership will be to push Broadband's Game TV offering, a collection of classic games available for multiplayer gaming across interactive television, PC, and WAP platforms.

[Monday, June 5, 2000]

Dreamcast Cell
Sega and Motorola are teaming up to create a Dreamcast based cell phone. The two companies will jointly develop an API for the Internet enabled phone using technology from Sega's Dreamcast console to allow fast downloads of games, images, and other data. Motorola hopes to use the technology to enhance the data processing capacity of its cell phone as it looks to create next generation applications including mobile video phones, while Sega is looking to diversify its product set by both producing games for the platform and collecting API license fees from Motorola. Nokia is also rumored to be interested in entering the entertainment cell phone arena by penning a deal with Eidos. The new phones are expected to appear in the spring of 2001.

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