Paul Loughrey (Page 25)

Stepping out of the mud and mayhem of off-road and moto-cross titles, former Rainbow Studios chairman Earl Jarred, together with several ex Rainbow colleagues, has established a new independent development studio in Arizona.

Bungie has confirmed recent Internet rumours surrounding the Xbox 360's backward compatibility and graphical enhancements for the first two games in its award winning Halo franchise.

NVIDIA has announced its Q3 results for the period ending 30th October, boasting a 13 percent increase in revenue and a massive 152 per cent increase in net income compared to the same period in 2004.

The Entertainment Software Association has announced that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the implementation of Michigan's violent game law.

Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Universal Games, has announced the launch of its award winning World of Warcraft MMO in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau regions.

In-game advertising company Double Fusion has announced a successful round of financing which closed at USD 10 million. In addition, Geoff Graber, former GM at Yahoo! Games has been appointed as the company's new CEO.

Continuing its restructuring of senior level management and re-assessing its publishing strategy and internal infrastructure, Atari has announced the appointment of three new members to its board of directors.

UK-based independent games developer Blitz Games has announced the appointment of its 150th staff member, expecting to increase its already substantial workforce by an additional 25 per cent in the following six months.

While sports still dominate the all formats top ten, the leading football titles have been pushed from the top spots by new releases, with <i>Star Wars Battlefront II</i> climbing five places to take the number one position.

City of Heroes creator NCSoft has announced the financial results for the third quarter of its 2005 fiscal year, revealing higher revenues than the same period last year, but a 10 percent decrease in net profits.

Having recently secured the publishing rights to a number of high profile titles from developer Firaxis Games, Take-Two Interactive has announced its acquisition of the studio, which will now form part of the 2K Games publishing label.

Furthering the company's move into the MMO arena, British publisher Codemasters has announced a partnership with Turbine Inc to become the online service provider for Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach.

Chicago-based Midway Entertainment has announced its Q3 financial results, which show net losses in line with the company's recently revised guidance on both the quarter and the full fiscal year results.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer has revealed the company's plans to dominate the marketplace with a range of high definition products, including the forthcoming next generation console, the PS3.

Digital distribution provider, Boonty, has announced the appointment of two key members to the executive management team of its US division, as the company continues to expand its operations.

To coincide with the release of Fumito Ueda's Shadow of the Colossus, SCEE has announced its intention to re-release the original cult classic Ico on PlayStation 2 next year.

Following Atari's Q2 financial results, which showed revenue losses of USD 25.2 million, Infogrames has posted similarly concerning financial results, but remains confident in its long term sales strategies.

Peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz has revealed its financial results for the second quarter of its 2006 fiscal year, revealing a 19.5 percent downturn in gross profits compared to the same period in 2005.

Demonware has announced its unique in-game advertising solution, DNA, which will enable developers and publishers to implement context-aware in-game advertising and target specific audiences through player profile data.

Vivendi Universal has posted its third quarter financial results, beating analyst expectations thanks to a doubling of revenues from its games division, fuelled by the success of World of Warcraft.

The first major study into Australia's gaming habits in six years, Game Play Australia 2005 has highlighted an incredibly diverse market and renewed calls for a change in the official classification of mature videogames.

Adding to an already impressive line-up of new releases for the start of 2006, Nintendo of Europe has announced a distribution deal with Capcom to bolster its post-Christmas European release schedule.

British educational organisation Nesta Futurelab has released a new handbook for educators and games industry figures, encouraging the use of videogames as an innovative learning tool for UK schools.

Funcom has announced its intention to float the company on the Oslo Stock Exchange, which the board of directors hopes will cement the firm's ambitions of becoming Europe's largest developer and publisher of Massively Multiplayer Online games.

Codemasters has announced the return of its legendary football franchise, Sensible Soccer, which is currently in development with original game creator Jon Hare, for PC and current generation consoles.