Rob Fahey (Page 115)

One of the most anticipated titles for Christmas 2004 is set to make its European debut at the Game Stars Live consumer games show in London this September, it has emerged, with Pro Evolution Soccer 4 playable for the first time at the event.

Atari's Driv3r has stayed at the top of the UK sales charts for a second week, despite a decline in sales of some 17 per cent, while only two new titles entered the All Formats Top 40 as the flood of new titles at the end of June abated.

Mobile phone giant Nokia has announced details of its N-Gage Summer Tour, a promotional event which is visiting cities across Europe to give gamers a chance to try out the new N-Gage QD device and a range of new software.

Square Enix Ltd, the recently reorganised European division of the giant Japanese publisher, has announced that massively multiplayer title Final Fantasy XI will be available across Europe in September.

There was further bad news for troubled publisher Acclaim in its latest round of regulatory disclosure documents, as the company admitted that it has lost the rights to the Turok franchise and Major League Baseball.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has given an extensive talk on the state of the industry to the Japan Economic Foundation - including evidence from sales figures which he claims prove that online gaming is not yet an important factor.

Magazine publisher Future Network Plc has issued a trading statement detailing rising revenues in the first half of this year, and has extended its global deal to publish Official Xbox to 2011 - the longest deal of its type ever to be signed.

Publisher Acclaim has announced its full-year results for the twelve months ended March 31st, revealing a net loss of $56.4 million and a major decline in revenues - along with a warning that the firm may face bankruptcy in the near future.

A number of key new software releases surged to the top of the Japanese charts this week, almost doubling the overall software sales over the previous week and ending a seasonal slump which had lasted for almost a month.

Publisher Vivendi Universal Games has finally confirmed the existence of a PC version of its critically acclaimed Xbox first person shooter, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.

Following on from Square Enix' oft-repeated commitments to focus more strongly on Europe, the firm has formally announced a number of changes to its subsidiary here - most notably the appointment of a new European CEO.

A programmer working for Vivendi Universal Games' Knowledge Adventure division, Neil Aitken, has filed a lawsuit against his employer - claiming that the publisher falsified timesheets to avoid paying overtime to him and his colleagues.

A new report from Banc of America Securities has predicted that Christmas competition in the games market will be much more intense than last year - with even industry leader EA expected to lose 2 to 4 per cent market share.

SCEA has issued a statement reaffirming that the company is on track to launch the PSP on schedule, responding to comments from analyst P.J. McNealy who argued that technical and business problems could cause the launch of the device to slip.

A spate of title cancellations in the massively multiplayer market has claimed its latest victim, with Electronic Arts ceasing development on Ultima X: Odyssey, only weeks after the project was moved to the Redwood Shores campus.

The next-generation Xbox will enjoy stronger local software support in the Japanese market, according to Microsoft's Tokyo game development division boss Norman Cheuk, who said that much of the studio's current work is purely positioning.