News (Page 3884)

Second quarter results for publisher Activision have revealed a decline in revenues and a drop into the red due to a smaller release schedule than last years - but the company has high hopes for the current quarter.

Comments made by Nintendo of America marketing supreme George Harrison earlier this week have been interpreted as suggesting that there may not be another Mario title in production for the GameCube.

GameCube consoles are rolling off the production lines in Japan once again for the first time since January, as global demand for the system finally outstrips the backlog of units which had built up at Nintendo's warehouses.

Publisher Interplay has reached a settlement in its lawsuit against Vivendi Universal Games over their distribution agreement in North America and Asia-Pacific, and the agreement will now be continued through August 2005.

Although sales of the PlayStation 2 appear to have peaked on a worldwide basis, European sales continue to grow - with shipments of the PS2 in PAL territories growing by some 25 per cent in the first half of the year.

Electronic Arts' director of consumer marketing for Europe, Al King, has announced his decision to leave the company after over a decade of working with the publisher - a career which has spanned much of EA's meteoric rise.

Almost exactly a month after Nokia's N-Gage launched worldwide, a spokesperson for the company has stated that it is "pretty pleased" with customer reaction to the device, but that there's much to be done if it's to meet expectations.

Nintendo of America has announced new figures which show the GameCube doubling its market share in the USA in the past month, and holding a strong second place position leading into Christmas.

Publisher Atari has shut its Hunt Valley development office following the completion of its most recent project, bringing an end to the studio which under its previous name, MicroProse, was responsible for several classic titles.

Console giant Sony has unveiled one of its concept models for the PlayStation Portable device at a corporate strategy meeting in New York, giving significant insight into the company's plans for the hardware.

The recent upsurge in Cube sales has reached a plateau already according to this week's ChartTrack hardware report, while Microsoft's Xbox has improved its sales by some 65 per cent in the same period.

Guildford-based developer Mucky Foot has become the latest casualty among UK independent development studios, with the company going into liquidation after a work-in-progress project was cancelled by its publisher.

EA's FIFA 2004 and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 3 held on to the first and second spots respectively in the UK Full Price chart this week, while there were plenty of new entries for other key titles in the top ten.

Publisher Atari has announced a net loss for its September quarter, with falling revenues being pinned on a sparse release schedule - but projections for the coming quarter, which includes the holiday season, are strong.

The price of the PlayStation 2 console is set to drop by over a quarter in Japan later this month, with Sony set to move the price point to 19,800 Yen (€157) in response to declining sales of the hardware.

Microsoft has picked IBM to manufacture chips for Xbox 2 according to a statement from both companies today, following a recent announcement that MS plans to use ATI graphics chips in its second console.

British Telecommunications has sold specialist gaming website Games Domain to Yahoo for an undisclosed sum, the two companies announced today.

Nintendo has responded to Microsoft's recent Xbox bundling initiatives with a deal of its own - a GameCube, a copy of triple-A Christmas title Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and an exclusive bonus Zelda Collector's Edition disc for just £99.

Last week's No.1 Made in Wario has slipped off the pace as Bandai's duo of Naruto and Macross quarrel over top billing, but Cube sales remain strong after a recent price cut.

The latest RPG in the Final Fantasy series will not be launched during Square Enix's current financial year, forcing the publisher to revise its profit expectations.