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U.S.
Representative Edward Markey (D–Mass.) and the Violence
Policy Center (VPC) released a study last week entitled, “From
Gun Games to Gun Stores: Why the Firearms Industry Wants Their Video
Games on Your Child’s Wish List.” The report—19
pages long and in “full color”—claims to reveal that the gun
industry is marketing firearms to children and teens through
videogames. The study targets such games as Remington Top Shot
and Guns & Ammo: The Ultimate Target Challenge as
introducing “‘virtual’ versions of their deadly products to
children,” and calls on the government to investigate the situation.
Markey also noted that he hopes to introduce legislation in 2001 that
would enable the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) to sue gamemakers over such marketing
practices and making such software illegal for children to purchase.
Check out this X-Box
promotional card that Microsoft is supplying to its retailers (and
expect the 733 mhz chip to be at least a 1GHz chip by release date.)
GameSpy
Industries, one of the leaders in interactive online entertainment
catering to gamers, announced today that it has acquired the assets of
MPlayer from
its parent corporation HearMe.
The deal consists of cash, a promissory note and stock, from which
HearMe will acquire a 10 percent stake in GameSpy.
"GameSpy's technologies have become the industry standard in
multi-player client software, multi-platform developer tools and back
end systems for the $8 billion interactive entertainment
industry," said Mark Surfas, CEO/Founder of GameSpy. "We
chose to acquire Mplayer, because since its launch in 1996, the
company has been a clear leader in online entertainment with top-notch
content, a dynamic community of Web users and strong business
partnerships.
As part of the agreement, GameSpy will acquire MPlayer.com, MPlayer's
recently launched GlobalRankings
system and MPlayer's matchmaking and latency technology. The MPlayer
management team will continue with GameSpy in the same role.
The
Interactive Digital
Software Association (IDSA) has announced that the 2001
Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) will be held at the Los Angeles
Convention Center on May 16–19, 2001, with the conference portion
being May 16–18 and the exhibit portion being May 17–19.
IDSA also announced that registration for the seventh annually held
trade-only event is also open, with forms available for online, by fax
or by mail. For more information, call 877.216.6263. Yippee!
Dreamworks
SKG has signed a pact that will enable TDK
Mediactive to create games based around Dreamworks’ forthcoming
3-D, computer-animated movie, Shrek.
The film revolves around “an ornery ogre named Shrek,” who
suddenly finds himself crossing paths with myriad traditional
fairy-tale characters.
The five-year deal enables TDK Mediactive to develop Shrek-centered
games, with the first being a Game Boy Color title that will ship
simultaneous with the film’s May 2001 theatrical release. That will
be followed by a release for a “next-generation console platform in
the fourth quarter of 2001.
The
Video Software
Dealers Association has announced its VidTrac results for the week
that ended December 17, 2000. The top five videogames rented were:
1. Driver 2—PlayStation
2. WWF No Mercy—Nintendo 64
3. The World is Not Enough—Nintendo 64
4. WWF Smackdown! 2—Know Your Role—PlayStation
5. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2—PlayStation
LucasArts
has posted some new
screenshots for the PlayStation 2 game Star Wars Episode I:
StarFighter. This title was originally scheduled to hit the market
by the end of 2000, but now it has been pushed back to release in the
first quarter of 2001. By the looks of these screenshots, it could
very well be worth the wait.
989
Sports, a software label from Sony
Computer Entertainment America, has announced a pair of new
PlayStation 2 games with NCAA branding:
• NCAA Final Four 2001 offers college
basketball with over 300 Division 1-A teams, each with its own
realistic playbook and play styles matching its school’s history.
The title also provides a “Bubble Watch” feature to enable status
updates on the way to the NCAA Final Four tourney. Over 1,000
motion-captured moves were grabbed to make gameplay that much more
accurate, and the action is backed by Quinn Buckner’s playcalling.
• On the football side, NCAA GameBreaker
2001 enables combat between the 115 Division 1-A teams in any
game—regular season or bowl contest—and has their players all
competing for All-American status and the Heisman Trophy. Play-by-play
comes from ABC’s Keith Jackson, and the game development was
assisted by University of Wisconsin and Heisman Trophy winner Ron
Dayne and University of Washington Head Coach Rick Neuheisel.
Dreamcatcher
Interactive has announced plans to release PC and PlayStation 2
games based on Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi book Dune. The
company expects to ship the title—which is billed as a 3-D,
real-time game that’s two-thirds action and one-third adventure—in
September 2001. Frank Herbert’s Dune is being developed by
French developers Cryo
and Widescreen Games.”
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