News (Page 3917)

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun has withdrawn statements attributed to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer in which he said that the next-generation Xbox would arrive in 2006, stating that they were not made by Ballmer after all.

Bristol-based SN Systems has increased its presence in the Japanese games market by opening an office in Tokyo and signing an agreement with Sega, moves that will go some way to strengthening their position in the region.

Atari's licensed multi-platform Matrix title has sold more than 2.5 million units in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan), making it the biggest and fastest-selling title since the publisher's rebranding.

Hong Kong based Lik-Sang, a mail order company which distributes videogame software and hardware worldwide, has lost a crucial court case brought by Nintendo over the sale of devices which could copy Game Boy software.

Peter Moore, the one-time head of Sega of America who is now a Microsoft corporate VP for retail sales and marketing, has launched a scathing attack on Nintendo's strategy in the console market and on handheld gaming as a whole.

Speaking in an interview with Japanese journalists, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has pinned down 2006 as the year when a successor to the Xbox will be released - a time frame which could see Xbox 2 being the last of the next generation consoles to appear.

First quarter results from Vivendi Universal reveal a slide in revenues and increased operating losses - but the future of the division is set to become clearer shortly, with the company planning to collect acquisition bids officially on June 23rd.

The fallout from Sega's ill-fated merger plans continues, with Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer commenting to a conference in the USA that the company has no intention of buying into the Japanese publisher.

A host of new details about Sony's forthcoming PlayStation Portable (PSP) console have been revealed by SCEE president Chris Deering at a summit in London, including software pricing details and the company's view on the Game Boy Advance.

PlayStation Portable (PSP) is not the first time that Sony has developed a handheld gaming system, it has emerged, with a Japanese business publication revealing details of the company's one-time plans to release a portable platform in 2000.

A number of games companies are making a strong showing on the stock markets following positive reports from key analysts - with Electronic Arts today hitting its highest share price of all time, and significant gains expected across the industry.

Enter The Matrix maintained its fifth straight week at the top of the UK All Formats chart this week, refusing to buckle under the pressure of some big new releases including Sony's PS2 online adapter and its launch titles.

Hackers working on breaking the copy protection systems employed by Nintendo's GameCube have caused a stir by posting binary images of several Cube games to the Internet - but their claims are more than slightly exaggerated.

A Hong-Kong based manufacturer is producing a portable version of Sega's discontinued Dreamcast console, featuring a built in LCD monitor and speakers - but many importers are refusing to stock the machine as it infringes Sega's copyrights.

The Japanese leisure software market has seen its first really major release in weeks, with Sega's "Let's Make J-League Pro Soccer Club! 3" managing sales of over a quarter of a million units in its first week on sale.

Speaking in an interview with French newspaper Les Echos, Nintendo communications director Yasuhiro Minagawa has struck out at critics, pointing at the company's strong profits and expressing confidence in the GBA's performance against N-Gage and PSP.

A new potential buyer has emerged for Vivendi's entertainment properties, including the Vivendi Universal Games division, with Edgar Bronfman Jr - the man who sold Universal Entertainment to Vivendi three years ago - expressing an interest in the company.

A number of websites this morning have reported that this image is the first glimpse of Sony's logo for PlayStation 3, unveiled at a meeting with RAM supplier Elpida - but the logo is actually a mock-up created by UK magazine PSM2.

A new study by market analysts PricewaterhouseCoopers has forecast that the videogames industry will grow in net worth to $35.8 billion by 2007, fuelled by major advances in online gaming thanks to broadband, and in wireless gaming thanks to new mobile ph

Nokia's head of entertainment and media, Ilkka Raiskinen, has attacked Nintendo's GBA in today's Dow Jones, accusing the system of failing to appeal to adult demographics, and has revealed some details of the development business model for N-Gage.

Nintendo has knocked CA$30 (about €18) off the price of the GameCube in Canada, bringing it down to CA$199.99 (€125) in a move which has prompted speculation that the USA will also shortly see a price adjustment.