Rob Fahey (Page 98)

EA's Burnout 3: Takedown has achieved remarkable success in the Japanese market, with the PS2 version going in at number two in the software charts with first week sales of around 32,000 units.

Microsoft has announced its financial results for the three months ended September 30th, revealing that the Home and Entertainment division which houses the Xbox project saw a nine per cent rise in revenues.

British publisher Codemasters has announced the appointment of a new chief executive, with current managing director Nick Wheelwright stepping up to the new role at the privately held company.

The Game Boy Advance SP is set to be released in China for the first time later this month, with Nintendo and iQue rolling the platform out in 21 cities across the giant market on October 27th.

The latest figures from NPD show Nintendo's Pokemon Fire Red topping the US sales chart for September, leading from Microsoft's Fable at number two and stablemate Pokemon Leaf Green at number three.

Sony has confirmed that Gran Turismo 4 has slipped in Europe, and will miss the holiday season, with a Q1 2005 launch now planned due to delays to the localisation process for the long-awaited title.

Rockstar's PS2 title Grand Theft Auto San Andreas has become the latest high-profile game to be leaked onto the Internet significantly ahead of its release date, with copies in circulation six days before its US launch.

Leading publisher Electronic Arts has announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30th, showing that the firm met its projections for the period, but has issued conservative guidance for the December quarter.

British development group Lionhead Studios has announced that it has signed a deal for several million pounds of investment from a consortium of venture capital groups, which will be used to fund future product development.

Wrestling entertainment group WWE has filed a lawsuit against a number of parties including THQ and Jakks Pacific, alleging that the WWE videogame licenses that they hold were obtained through bribery.

Microsoft has announced that pre-orders for Xbox-exclusive title Halo 2 have passed 1.5 million in the United States alone, breaking videogame records and guaranteeing first-day revenues higher than any movie in history.

Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 4 has displaced EA's FIFA 2005 from the top of the all-formats chart, racking up the third best sales week ever for any title in the UK and comfortably beating last week's FIFA 2005 figure.

Two new GameCube hardware bundles will launch at the start of November in the UK, with customers being offered a choice of Mario Kart: Double Dash bundled for free, or Pokemon Colosseum for an extra UKP 10.

The end is finally in sight for one of the most reported-on game development processes ever, with publisher Vivendi Universal Games announcing that Valve's Half-Life 2 has gone gold and will ship on November 16th.

The Consumer Electronics Show has confirmed that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is set to give a pre-show keynote speech in Las Vegas on January 5th next year - with a public announcement of Xbox 2 widely expected.

British publisher Eidos has announced that key PC title Championship Manager 5 will miss its planned release slot this month, and may even slip into the New Year, following speculation last week over the status of the game.

Mobile entertainment publisher Digital Bridges has announced the appointment of Shigeru Ota as vice president of business development, with a view to expanding the firm's presence in the key Japanese market.

The first suggestion that Sony may be forced to delay the launch of PSP has come from Sony Computer Entertainment network systems boss Izumi Kawanishi, who told a Japanese publication that the schedule depends largely on game publishers.