Rob Fahey (Page 156)

Publisher Majesco has announced that it is to continue its distribution agreement with Vivendi Universal Games into 2004/05, in a deal which will see VUG publishing 15 Majesco SKUs across multiple different platforms in Europe.

Leading UK retailer GAME has come under fire for breaking the street date of Eidos' latest Tomb Raider title by a full two days - but the company says it was simply responding to moves by its competitors.

Former Nintendo chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi has given an interview with Nihon Keizai Shimbun, with the legendary industry veteran giving his views on a wide range of topics with his trademark bluntness.

Following the promotion of Hisao Oguchi to president of Sega earlier this week, the company has named his replacement at the HitMaker studio - Virtua Tennis producer Mie Kumagai, who becomes Sega's first female studio president.

The full line-up of games due to the shown at Sony's PlayStation Experience 2003 event in London at the end of August has been unveiled, with visitors to the show set to be treated to first looks at over 70 games from 11 publishers.

French publisher Titus Interactive has rebranded its distribution subsidiary as Avalon Interactive, putting the long-standing Virgin Interactive name, once one of the industry's biggest publishers, to rest at last after years of difficulties.

So just how much do the industry's top execs bring home, then?

All of the Asia-Pacific territories where Microsoft sells the Xbox, with the sole exception of Japan, have seen the price of the console and its software slashed this week in an attempt to compete more strongly with the PS2.

It's not just games that miss their release dates in this industry

Four key staff at Blizzard Entertainment, including vice president Bill Roper and the three co-founders of the unit that created popular RPG series Diablo, have left the company in order to pursue new opportunities.

Sony's PS2 Online launch title, SOCOM: US Navy SEALs, has taken the top spot in the UK sales charts for the first time in its third week on sale, knocking Atari's Enter The Matrix out of the number one position.

A team of researchers claim to have found a new way to make the Xbox boot the Linux operating system without using a mod chip, and is threatening to release details unless Microsoft approves an official system for running Xbox Linux.

A group of leading development studios in the North of England have united to form Game Republic, a body aimed at improving their leverage with financiers and government alike.

Atari's Enter the Matrix has entered the Japanese market, with a relatively respectable debut at number three for the title, while Nintendo's Mother RPG series takes the top spot thanks to a resurrection on the GBA.

Sega has officially changed its top executive, with Hisao Oguchi taking the reins of the company from outgoing president Hideki Sato at a shareholders conference in Tokyo on Friday.

Ubi Soft's Pandora Tomorrow, next year

Following weeks of speculation, Eidos has confirmed that Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness will not be out in Europe in time for the end of the company's financial year, and has therefore reduced profit expectations for the year.

Details have been announced of the key public event at the inaugural Edinburgh International Games Festival this August, with the city's Royal Museum playing host to the interactive Go Play Games exhibition.

Ambitious new UK publisher Play It has announced details of its release schedule between now and Christmas, revealing that at least 15 more £9.99 priced PlayStation 2 games are planned by the end of the year.

A number of layoffs at Microsoft's Japanese Xbox operation are once again making headlines, three months after they were originally revealed, as ex-employees complain of poor treatment during the course of the layoffs.

Nintendo's was this week celebrating the second anniversary of the launch of the Game Boy Advance in Europe - with sales of over two million units of the pint sized console and its successor, the GBA SP, in the UK alone.

Online gaming specialists Eurogamer and Terraplay have signed an agreement which will see their technology solutions working more closely together on future projects, starting with SCEE's This Is Football.