Content aggregation company TvHead unveiled the TvHead Games chan...
Content aggregation company TvHead unveiled the TvHead Games channel for cable TV services. The Los Altos, Cal., company, started by videogame industry executives, said it had signed licensing deals with “major game creators,” and the channel would be provided…
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“as part of a suite of services for cable system operators.” The TvHead Games channel will be “a full-service destination for games enthusiasts that can be deployed as an operator-branded service or as a standalone channel, [and] will offer more than 40 single and multiplayer games at launch in first quarter, 2004, as well as a wide range of community features,” the company said. TvHead said it also would “offer games aggregation services designed to assist cable operators creating their own games services to maximize subscriber use and revenue.” The company said it had signed deals -- terms not disclosed -- with companies including Gamer.tv, Midway Games and PopCap Games. TvHead said it had “the rights to develop a diverse library of brand name titles including award winning online games Diamond Mine and Bookworm, [the] multiplayer game Dinky Bomb and classic arcade hits Rampage, Gauntlet and SmashTV for interactive television delivery.” The company said it now was working with ICTV on development of content for the latter’s HeadendWare centralized digital interactive platform. TvHead CEO Sangita Verma said: “This is the first of several partner [announcements] over the coming months as we rapidly build up our games library.” TvHead Chief Creative Officer Robert Craig, who co-founded the company with Verma, said game revenue via interactive TV was “projected to be as high as $2.7 billion by 2006, [and] interactive television offers cable system operators a way to immediately gain a share of that revenue.” The company said it had “developed patent-pending technologies that enhance interactive television features, including chat and multiplayer gaming.” Verma was gen. mgr. of Midway Games’ handheld business division and dir. of its worldwide syndication. Craig designed and created games for “dozens of gaming platforms starting with the TRS-80 computer, Commodore 64, Atari 2600 and expanding to Internet, wireless, location-based systems and interactive television,” TvHead said, adding that he was “the No. 3 hire at Sony Computer Entertainment, [and] helped launch the PlayStation hardware.” TvHead said Craig started his gaming career in 1982 “when he sold his first TRS-80 game at the age of 17 [and], since then, he has worked with several leading game companies including Atari, Sony, Sega, Activision, Data East and Midway Games.”