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Infogrames
Entertainment SA has agreed to terms under which it will acquire Hasbro
Interactive and Games.com.
According to a joint statement, Infogrames is buying all of the Hasbro
Interactive and Games.com stock for $100 million, which will be made
up of $95 million in Infogrames securities and $5 million in cash.
"Infogrames and Hasbro are truly poised to become worldwide
leaders in the digital entertainment market," said Bruno Bonnell,
Infogrames' chairman/CEO. "Infogrames' external growth strategy
consists of three requirements: a willingness of the prospective
partner's management to share our strategic vision, a complementary
set of skills and products, and, finally, value for our shareholders.
The Hasbro Interactive and Games.com acquisition meets these
criteria…”
Research
firm PC Data
has issued the results of console sales for the week ending November
25, and it’s not really a surprise that the new PS One led all
others. While PS One carried 42% of the week’s sales, Dreamcast
edged out Nintendo 64, 27% to 26%.
Even more than expected, the limited numbers of available PlayStation
2 consoles choked that platform’s sales to a measly 6%, which marked
a 71% drop from PS2 sales during Thanksgiving week. The lack of PS2
units gave the other systems dramatic increases from Thanksgiving week
to the next: Dreamcast sales increased 104%, N64 sales grew 76% and PS
One sales were boosted by 58%.
Though
the operational and delivery problems many e-commerce sites faced
during 1999’s holiday season don’t appear to be recurring as badly
this year, some “e-tailers” are still hitting trouble spots as the
heaviest retail period of the year brings various glitches and bugs to
the surface.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, Amazon.com
Inc.’s online store yesterday has its third outage since
Thanksgiving, with a 40-minute disruption during the afternoon. Amazon
indicated that all three shutdowns were due to technical problems that
it “believes have been solved.”
The report also noted that Wal-Mart
Stores Inc.’s site has had three outages since the start of
December, though the retail giant claims that the problems were due to
upgrades made to the site and have been resolved.
The
developers of the PC game Deus Ex, Ion
Storm, have released a patch that contains a multiplayer mode. The
patch only allows for person-to-person combat as there are no bots.
Players have a choice of five multiplayer maps: Area 51, Paris
cathedral map, New York Smuggler’s lair, missile silo and the
Vandenberg command post. For those who want to download the patch, it
is available through GameSpy.
According
to sources close to GameFan
magazine and its sister website, the entire staff was laid off
last Friday. Calls requesting comment from the public-relations firm
for Express.com—GameFan’s parent company—weren’t returned by
the time this article was posted. and content on the GameFan.com
website hasn’t been updated since Thursday.
Reportedly, Express.com is pursuing a buyer for the GameFan
properties, which could result in a change to the unemployment status
of its former staff.
The Video
Software Dealers Association released its VidTrac results for the
week that ended December 3, 2000. The top five games 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
In
recognition of the game industry’s contribution to the holidays, the
December 9–15 issue of TV
Guide is offering a look at what’s hot in a “Games
Users’ Guide,” and commemorating it with six different
game-related covers. The game depicted on the covers are:
• EverQuest
• Madden
NFL 2001
• Pokémon
• Shenmue
• Tomb
Raider Chronicles
• Tony
Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
During
an interview with American McGee, Well
Rounded Entertainment has confirmed that his latest PC title, American
McGee’s Alice, will be made into a movie. After ten months of
discussions with Dimension Films, the two sides agreed on doing the
project. Wes Craven (Scream series) will direct the film and
John August (Charlie’s Angels) is writing the script. McGee
also told Well Rounded Entertainment that he would be a producer on
the film.
Electronic
Arts has made available to consumers NCAA
March Madness 2001 for the PS One. New to the series this year is
the Coach mode where players will have to move up the coaching ranks
in order to get a shot at the NCAA championship. The developers have
also included 64 all-time teams like the 1990 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels
and the dominant UCLA squads from the 1970s. NCAA March Madness
2001 features 16 of the top Division I women's teams.
Konami
of America, Inc. is a having a special promotion for its upcoming
PlayStation 2 title Zone of the Enders (Z.O.E.). As
previously reported, consumers who purchase Z.O.E. will
receive a free playable demo of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Rick Naylor, action brand manager for Konami of America, said, “Zone
of the Enders is kicking off Konami’s 2001 action line-up on
PlayStation 2 with a powerful one-two punch…With the purchase of Zone
of the Enders, gamers will experience both the thrill of the
game’s fast-paced mech combat, and get a chance to play one of next
fall’s most anticipated games.”
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