|
 News
Week
of August 21- August 27, 2000
[Friday,
August 25, 2000]
Nintendo
Share Hit
Concerns of late entry caused Nintendo's shares to fall following the
company's Gamecube announcement. Nintendo's release dates for its new
hardware were later than analysts had expected, and caused the company's
share price to fall more than three percent. Despite the current drop,
many analysts are raising Nintendo's long term target price.
Sony
Bonds
Sony Corporation has followed through on an expected bond issue. The company
will issue unsecured straight bonds to raise $1.4 billion dollars to help
finance the North American and European launch of the Playstation 2. Sony
had initially suggested that bond funding would be an option after unveiling
a billion dollar plan to increase PS2 chip production capacity. Both five
and ten year bonds will be issued on September 30, with issue prices and
coupons to be decided on August 30. This the first domestic Sony bond
issue in seven years.
[Thursday, August
24, 2000]
Nintendo
Announcements
Nintendo used Spaceworld as a venue to finally unveil its next generation
console and handheld. The system formerly known as Dolphin has been rechristened
as the Nintendo Gamecube. The Gamecube is built around a 405 Mhz, copper
wire central processor from IBM, an Art X developed graphics processor,
and 40 MB of memory. As many had speculated, the Gamecube will use an
8 cm, 1.5 GB proprietary optical disc. Gamecube will not feature a harddrive,
instead utilizing flash memory cards. "In my experience, there have
often been theoretical claims of high performance for game hardware, and
although people were very impressed by the figures, the actual products
haven't even delivered one-tenth of the claims," said Shigeru Miyamoto,
"It is a given that the Nintendo Gamecube will offer better graphics
and higher quality sound, but more importantly it will allow developers
the freedom to concentrate on creativity without worrying about technical
limitations." Nintendo also revealed details about the upcoming Game
Boy Advance. The new handheld is powered by a 32 bit ARM processor and
features a reflective TFT screen that is 50 percent faster than the current
Game Boy Color. Game Boy Advance ships in Japan in March 2001at a price
of around $90; it will arrive in North America and Europe next July. The
Gamecube is expected in Japan in July of 2001, and should make its way
to the rest of the world by October of the same year.
Take-Two
Q3
Take-Two enjoyed a healthy income increase in the third quarter. Net sales
for the quarter reached $71.5 million, an increase of 12 percent from
sales of $63.6 million in the third quarter one year ago. Net income for
the quarter jumped 27 percent, from last year's $2.7 million to $3.4 million
in the third quarter this year. The company attributes it success during
the difficult console transition to its diversified portfolio, with Take-Two
continuing to benefit from PC publishing and distribution as well as from
the establishment of a value priced Playstation line. "In what has
been a difficult time for the interactive entertainment software industry
during which many other third party publishers and distributors have faced
declining sales, we continued to grow our business profitably while building
our publishing schedule," said Take-Two's Ryan Brandt.
[Wednesday, August
23, 2000]
Square
Financing
Colombia Pictures has agreed to jointly finance three movies with game
maker Square's U.S. subsidiary. The companies will share production costs
evenly, though Square will likely still need to issues several billion
yen in securities to finance its part of the costs. Square plans to use
technology and expertise garnered in the production of its current Final
Fantasy film project to reduce production time and cost for the next three
films.
Gaming
Survey
A new survey on American gaming habits suggests that nearly a quarter
of the U.S. population plan to buy a next generation console. The "Gaming
in America Survey", sponsored by Ziff Davis Media and conducted by
The Strategy Group, reports that fully 22 percent of the American population
is intent on picking up either a PS2, Xbox, or Dolphin. The study found
the median age of PC games to be 29 years, while the median age of console
gamers is just 17. Core gamers, according to the report, represent only
one quarter of the console game buying population, but account for 55
percent of purchases.
Episodic
Duke
The World Entertainment Broadcasting Corporation has grabbed episodic
game rights to 3D Realms' Duke Nukem. WEB Corp. plans to begin
episodic delivery of all new Duke content early next year. "As one
of the original publishers of Duke Nukem, I feel strongly that
the episodic gaming model is ideal for Duke," said WEB Corp. CEO
Jim Perkins, "He's got fans around the world who are hungry for additional
challenge, more adventure, and a constant stream of aliens for Duke to
blast out of existence."
Song
Boy Settled
The company formerly known as Song Boy has settled its suits with Nintendo.
The company, now using the name Song Pro, developed a digital music module
for Game Boy under the Song Boy name, and Nintendo filed suit for intellectual
property infringement. "Nintendo is committed to protecting its intellectual
property rights and we appreciate Song-Pro's cooperation in resolving
this situation," said Nintendo of America General Counsel Richard
Flamm.
[Tuesday, August
22, 2000]
Game
Ban Suit
Two game industry groups are suing to overturn an Indianapolis law barring
minors from certain coin-operated video games. The American Amusement
Machine Association and the Amusement and Music Operators Association
want a judge to grant a temporary restraining order the keep the law from
going into effect on September 1. "We are on the edge of a slippery
slope, and our industry has been forced to litigate to protect core constitutional
rights," explained Amusement and Music Operators President Frank
Seninsky. The Indianapolis law allows coin-operated games featuring graphic
violence or sexual content to be played only by those over 18, and such
machines must be affixed with warning labels and kept out of the view
of minors. Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, county prosecutor Scott Newman,
and local police officials are named in the suit.
Nvidia's
Record Quarter
Nvidia is reporting record revenue and earnings in the second quarter.
The company posted net income of $22.5 million for the quarter, nearly
four times greater than its net income of $6.7 million in the same period
last year. Revenues in the second quarter increased to $170.4 million
from last year's second quarter revenues of $78 million. Nvidia hopes
to continue its strong growth by expanding its line next year to include
a PC chipset with integrated graphics and by shipping new Apple parts.
Budget
Dreamcast
Sega is discounting some of its most popular Dreamcast games. The Sega
All Stars game line up includes a number of the console's biggest hits,
like NFL and NBA 2K and Sonic Adventure, at a suggested
retail price of $19.99. "Sega All Stars will benefit both the consumer
and retailer, because gamers will be able to enjoy Dreamcast's best-sellers
at a low price and retailers will profit from a greater margin on software
sales," said Sega of America's Charles Bellfield.
Ron
Dayne on PSX
Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne will grace the cover of 989 Studio's NCCA
Game Breaker 2001. The record setting running back from the University
of Wisconsin, along with appearing on the game's cover, consulted on the
gameplay design and realism. "With our collaboration with Ron Dayne,
the NCAA's most prolific running back, Game Breaker lives up to
989 Sports' mantra 'Made by the Pros. Played by the Pros," said Sony
Computer Entertainment America's Ami Blaire.
[Monday, August
21, 2000]
Voodoo
Sales
First month sales of the Voodoo 5 have been very encouraging for 3dfx.
According to PC Data, the Voodoo 5 550 AGP was the best selling 3d accelerator
brand in its first month of availability. 3dfx has remained the best selling
accelerator brand for 15 straight months, though much of the that success
must be attributed to the fact that boards from top competitor Nvidia
are sold under a variety of brand names.
Sega
MTV
Sega of America is once again sponsoring the MTV Video Music Awards. Sega
is using the award show to launch a new, multi-million, advertising campaign
in support of it Sega Net online gaming ISP. Space Channel 5's Ulala will
present the award for best dance video. "We introduced Dreamcast
last year during the [MTV Video Music Awards]," said Sega of America's
Joe Cully, "This year we'll use this show to introduce an audience
of 22 million to SegaNet."
Core
Editor
The PC version of the next Lara Croft adventure will feature a level editor.
Core plans to include a modified version of its own level editor tools
for free when Tomb Raider Chronicles ships, making this the first
Tomb Raider game that allows player expansion. Dreamcast and Playstation
2 versions of the game will not include an editor.
Past
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