News

Week of September 18 - September 24, 2000

[Friday, September 22, 2000]

Xbox Trademark Dispute
Microsoft may have some trouble trademarking the Xbox name. Just days after Microsoft officially removed the "codename" qualification from the name Xbox with a great deal of flourish at a flashy press conference, MCV U.K. has reported that two of Microsoft's four trademark filings to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have been refused. The reason appears to be a technology holding company called Xbox Technologies of Coconut Grove, Fla., which uses the Nasdaq ticker symbol XBOX.OB. (Interestingly, their stock hit its 52-week high in mid-March, right around the time Microsoft's console was announced at the Game Developers Conference.) According to MCV U.K., Microsoft has opposed Xbox Technologies' filings. Microsoft and Xbox Technologies must resolve the conflict by November 8, or else they will have to settle the dispute before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

In other console nomenclature news, Nintendo has filed to register NGC as a legal trademark for its next-generation Gamecube console. This follows a long lineage of acronymic names for its consoles, from the NES to the SNES to the N64. Nintendo intends for this to be the official abbreviation for the Gamecube.

Aureal Buyout Approved
Creative Technology has announced that its purchase of beleaguered audio hardware maker Aureal Semiconductor has been approved. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, Oakland Division, entered the final order approving the sale of substantially all Aureal's assets to Creative, including patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property. The sale also includes settlement of all outstanding litigation claims between the two companies. Creative will pay $28 million in cash, plus two new shares of Creative stock for every 100 outstanding shares of Aureal stock, which amounts to 208,079 shares of Creative, valued at approximately $4.35 million based on the fair market value of Creative stock on September 21.

Xbox "Mystery Chip" Revealed
Nvidia has released details on the much-rumored second chip it is developing for Microsoft's Xbox, called the Xbox MCP, or MCPX, which is a multimedia processor to handle audio plus connections to networking, storage, and other components, including support for both broadband and narrowband Internet access. Nvidia first intimated that there was a second Xbox chip in the works during a semiconductor conference last month.

The chip will include dual DSPs, and audio processor, a Dolby Digital encoder, USB controller, modem interface, and an Ethernet controller to support home networking. "Our vision is to leverage the power of the MCP to transform platforms such as PCs, game consoles, and set-top boxes into 'residential gateways,'" said Nvidia president CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. "The MCP will eventually become a 'network router on a chip,' and distribute broadband content throughout the networked digital home."

Nvidia plans to begin selling an integrated graphics chip late next year, which will add memory controller functions, plus a modified version of the Xbox chip, thus challenging a market currently dominated by Intel and Via.

[Thursday, September 21, 2000]

Physicians' Group Speaks on Games
Reuters Health reported that a leading physicians' organization is calling for stricter videogame labeling. The American Academy of Family Physicians, the largest organization of family physicians in the U.S. representing nearly 90,000 family practitioners, called for clearer, more visible labels and more stringent restrictions on who can purchase what it deems "violent" videogames.

The AAFP asserts that the Entertainment Software Rating Board's self-monitored labeling system does not go far enough, and called for ratings labels to be larger and also color-coded, to help parents determine quickly and easily whether a game might be suitable for a child. In a statement, the academy "calls on all retailers to enforce the voluntary ratings systems and prohibit minors from buying, renting, or downloading mature-rated games." Some large retailers such as K-Mart, Wal-Mart, and Toys R Us have already made steps in this direction.

"America's children are caught in the cross-fire," said AAFP president Dr. Bruce Bagley. "We want to be sure America's children and youth are receiving positive messages, not negative ones."

Konami, Universal Announce Franchises
Universal Interactive Studios and Konami today announced three agreements to bring well-known franchises to next-generation platforms. Based on a five-year deal struck last December between the two companies to jointly develop and publish games based on Universal Studios' film and television franchises, the companies have now revealed in conjunction with the Tokyo Game Show that they are collaborating on games based on The Thing, Jurassic Park 3, and Crash Bandicoot.

The Thing will be based on Universal's 1982 film of the same name (not a member of Marvel's Fantastic Four). The new Jurassic Park game, headed to PC and unspecified console and handheld platforms, will coincide with the summer 2001 theatrical release of Jurassic Park 3. Santa Monica's Naughty Dog, developer of the first four Crash Bandicoot games for Playstation, will not be contributing to the new Crash game (which is almost certainly headed to the Playstation 2), and is working on a new character for its next game.

Thrushwave Rechristened Super X
Seattle-based game developer Thrushwave Technology has changed its name to Super X Studios. Owner James Thrush, whose company is currently working on a 3D RTS title called Far Gate to be published this winter by Microids, said, "We're a young company, and as a team we wanted a permanent name that all of us could take ownership in."

[Wednesday, September 20, 2000]

Microsoft Announces Xbox Details
Microsoft held a press conference today to announce "significant worldwide Xbox developments." Gamasutra has just arrived back from the media event, held concurrently in San Francisco and London, and now have official word that the console, heretofore "code-named" Xbox, will henceforth be known as Xbox. Discerning eyes will note in forthcoming Xbox promotional material that whereas Microsoft's previous logo for Xbox was in all lowercase letters, the logo now features all uppercase letters.

Xbox general manager J Allard presented a list of more than 150 confirmed Xbox developers, a broad swath of U.S., European, and Japanese companies both big and small. The most notable companies were those conspicuously absent from the list, namely Square and Electronic Arts.

Lacking any hardware to brandish to the media, the real star of Microsoft's show was a reel of what appeared to be predominantly real-time movies demonstrating a few of the 100 Xbox titles currently in development, although no titles were officially announced at today's event. Nestled amid the usual litany of fighting, racing, sports, action, and traditional-looking platform games, there was one unspecified title shown that truly looked different: a highly stylized, cartoonish-looking game with whimsical colors and characters, and "Batman"-style visible sound effects. This looked presumably like a preliminary effort to deliver on Microsoft's promise that the Xbox will offer both the kinds of games that people have come to expect on consoles, plus yet-undefined "new" kinds of gaming experiences, brands, and concepts that people have never seen before.

Said Allard, "We are not confused" about the importance of content to a console's success in a crowded, competitive market.

PS One Shipping
Sony Computer Entertainment quietly released its streamlined version of the Playstation yesterday. Sony intends for the PS One to supplant the existing model of the original Playstation, maintaining the Playstation's price point of $99. While the PS One is one-third the size of the original Playstation, Sony stops just short of calling it "portable," preferring the designation "compact." The console ships with one Dual Shock controller, connector cables, and an "AC adapter for portability," according to Sony. A four-inch LCD monitor for the system will be available in the near future.

NOA Promotions
Nintendo of America has announced some key executive promotions. Five Nintendo executives have been promoted at the vice-president level. Richard Flamm is now vice president, legal and general counsel; Hiroshi Kamada, engineering and quality control; Perrin Kaplan, corporate affairs; Rick Landry, distribution; and Yoshio Tsuboike, publications.

[Tuesday, September 19, 2000]

Nvidia Public Offering
Nvidia is issuing million of dollars in common stock and notes. The compnay is announcing concurrent public offerings of common stock and convertible bonds for an aggregate of $400 million. The offering is being made only by prospectus, and the notes will become due in 2007.

Gore Softens
Al Gore and Joe Lieberman are toning down their rehtoric against the entertainment industry. The candidates used a star-studded $10,000 per plate fund-raiser to assure the entertainment industry that they would not seek to regulate the industry. "From time to time we will have been - and will be - critics or nudges. But I promise you this, that we will never, never put the government in the position of telling you by law, through law, what to make," said Lieberman, "We will nudge you but we will never become censors."

Xbox Uveiling
Microsoft is calling a press conference to relate Xbox developments. Whle Microsoft is only promising that Robbie Bach, J Allard, and John O'Rourke will share significant worldwide Xbox developments on September 20, Advertising Age magazine is reporting that the compnay will use the San Francisco event to reveal a new name and logo for the anticipated console. The Xbox team is also expected to name more developers to its list of Xbox developers.

[Monday, September 18, 2000]

San Diego Ponders Ordinance
A San Diego councilman is proposing a mature videogame ordinance. The measure, introduced by Councilman Juan Vargas, is similar to an ordinance recently enacted in Indianapolis. As in Indianapolis, videogames featuring violence or sexually explicit themes would need to be clearly marked and kept at least ten feet away from non-offending games. Penalties include fines up to $1,000 and revocation of game operator licenses. "Arcades are becoming drive-thrus that serve violence to the impressionable minds of our children," Vargas said in a written statement released to the media. "For 50 cents, our youth are virtually gunning down children, dismembering human-like contenders and pitting thong-clad female warriors against each other." The proposed ordinance is currently under review by the San Diego city attorney.

Lucas Arts Distribution
EA is taking over Lucas Arts distribution in several overseas territories. Electronic Arts and Lucas Arts have worked out a deal granting EA distribution rights for select Lucas games in Germany, Australia, Brazil, and the Asia Pacific region. EA also gains publishing rights in Asia Pacific and Brazil. "These new partnerships reflect a further refining of Lucas Arts' long term international business objectives," said Lucas Arts President Simon Jeffery. Electronic Arts already distributes Lucas titles in Japan and Spain.

Rage Distribution
Interplay is grabbing Rage distribution in North America. The two companies have signed a binding letter of intent to grant Interplay Entertainment distribution rights for Rage Software titles in the United States and Canada. "This deal will ensure Rage gets maximum distribution for our titles across North America," said Rage Software CEO Paul Finnegan.

Indie Music Search
Fox Interactive is looking for unsigned bands. The publisher is seeking original, 60's inspired music for its upcoming spy spoof title No One Lives Forever. The winning tracks won't be featured in the game itself, but rather on an accompanying soundtrack disc. The post deadline in September 25, with MP3 uploads accepted until September 28. More information is available at www.indiespace.com.

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