|
 News
Week
of October 16 - October 22, 2000
[Friday,
October 20, 2000]
Graffiti
Anger in S.F.
A Sega-sponsored graffiti contest is drawing fire from the mayor of San
Francisco. The office of Mayor Willie Brown is attacking Sega, which is
sponsoring the graffiti contest as a promotion for its upcoming Jet
Grind Radio title, on the grounds that the contest undermines the
city's efforts to stamp out graffiti. "I don't take issue with graffiti
art, but I take issue with vandalism," said a spokesperson for the
mayor, "If you look at Sega's posters for the event and look at their
game, they're blurring the line and glorifying vandalism." For its
part, Sega argues that its contest promotes non-destructive art. "I
think we've taken many steps to market this product responsibly,"
said a Sega spokesperson, "There is lots of room in San Francisco
for graffiti as an art form." Sega's graffiti art contest takes place
October 21 in San Francisco, the same day as a semi-annual trash and graffiti
clean up day sponsored by the city.
Munch
for Xbox
Oddworld Inhabitants is pulling the plug on Munch's Oddysee for
PS2 in favor of Xbox exclusivity. Oddworld President Lorne Lanning has
expressed his displeasure with Playstation 2 programming difficulties
in the past, but in an interview with Daily Radar identified Xbox superiority
as the motivation for the move rather than PS2 problems. "On the
Xbox, there's a lot less compromise," said Lanning, "This system
is the one that developers are going to be the most excited about, which
ultimately means that game-players are going to be getting the best experiences
from." Munch's Oddysee had been scheduled for Spring 2001,
but will now be a Fall 2001 Xbox launch title.
[Thursday, October
19, 2000]
Indiana
Ordinance Stayed
An Indianapolis ordinance restricting explicit coin-op games is on hold.
An appeals court judge granted an emergency motion from amusement industry
lawyers to stay enforcement of the measure until a final verdict is delivered.
A district court had earlier upheld enforcement of the game restrictions.
"This order suggests that the Court of Appeals believes there is
a substantial likelihood that they will reverse the District Court's order
that we have challenged," said amusement industry attorney Elliott
Portnoy. The Court of Appeals is expected to make a decision by the end
of the year.
Sega
Nets 100,000
Sega Net has signed up more than 100,000 gamers in its first month. The
company identifies NFL 2K1 as one of the major incentives driving Sega
Net growth, and reports that users are logging on for an average of two
hours each day. "Initial numbers such as these prove the potential
of the online community. Given this tremendous support, we will continue
to provide gamers with the best content available online," said Sega.com
CEO Brad Huang. Sega hopes to build on the momentum with the release of
online Dreamcast versions of Quake 3 and NBA 2K1 later this month.
[Wednesday, October
18, 2000]
Intel
Results
Intel is announcing better than expected numbers in the third quarter.
The company a 19 percent increase in sales for the quarter, to $8.7 billion
from last year's $7.3 billion, and a jump in income from $1.9 billion
in the third quarter last year to $2.9 billion this year. Intel's performance
for the quarter was something of a surprise following a September profit
warning that sent the company's shares down as much as 22 percent. Intel
plans to continue its revenue growth by introducing more aggressive pricing
strategies.
[Tuesday, October
17, 2000]
IGDA
Program Director
The International Game Developers Association has named a new program
director. The organization has announced the hiring of Jason Della Rocca,
formerly developer relations group manager at Matrox Graphics, as program
director. Della Rocca will head up the IGDA's member and outreach programs.
"I am here to facilitate the sharing of ideas and the creation of this
sense of community through programs that inspire developers to get involved,"
said Della Rocca, "I am thrilled to be making the IGDA's vision a reality
- day by day." The International Game Developers Association is managed
by the CMP Game Media Group, publishers of Gamasutra.
Infogrames
and Hudson
Infogrames Entertainment and Hudson Soft are forming a joint venture in
Japan. The newly created Infogrames Hudson K.K., which is to receive 70
percent of its start-up funds from Infogrames and 30 percent from Hudson
Soft, is comprised of 10 member development team and will be headed up
by Hudson Soft General Manager Tadahiro Nakano. The company's goal is
to strengthen Infogrames' position in Japan by creating a stronger presence
in the territory. Infogrames Hudson's first task is the development of
next-generation titles, the first of which will appear in the summer of
2001.
Yummy
Distribution
Yummy Interactive is signing up big publishers for its online PC game
rental beta program. The company plans to make Eidos' Tomb Raider:
The Lost Artifact, Activision's Battle Zone II, Infogrames'
Beachhead 2000 and Ripcord's Spec Ops 2 available, without
the need for a full download or installation, for free of charge play
to up to 2,000 players a day during the beta period. Yummy plans to launch
it full pay-per-play and subscription based catalog later this year.
[Monday, October
16, 2000]
Infogrames
Departure
Roy Campbell may be leaving Infogrames. MCV is reporting that Campbell,
the managing director of Infogrames, left the company on October 13 and
that the company is close to appointing a replacement. Neither Infogrames
nor Campbell would comment.
3dfx
Rulings
3dfx Interactive is announcing favorable rulings in its ongoing patent
infringement battle with Nvidia. The company is reporting that the court
has rejected claim constructions, used to define infringing conduct, from
Nvidia while accepting the majority of those proposed by 3dfx. "We
see these rulings as a very positive sign that we are winning the battle
to protect our valuable intellectual property for our shareholders,"
said 3dfx CEO Alex Leupp. 3dfx plans to file for a summary adjunction
of infringement to put a quick end to the case.
Official
Xbox
Imagine Media will publish the official Xbox magazine. Imagine parent
company Future Network Plc won exclusive national and international publishing
rights for an initial three years with an automatic two-year extension.
Imagine will launch the magazine sometime next summer.
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