Arcade-style racing game Kinetica was released for PlayStation 2, Sony Computer Entertainment America said Tues. Company said Kinetica was its first title fully developed internally.
Activision set Oct. 30 ship date for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 for PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Titles, which Activision said currently are in production, will list for $49.99 and $39.99, respectively.
EMA Multimedia completed original interface design and multimedia production on Tony Hawk Inside Out CD-ROM for Maverick Records. Cross-platform CD-ROM is accompanying Music From and Inspired By Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 soundtrack that starts shipping today (Tues.). Interactive design and production studio EMA, based in Century City, Cal., said bonus CD featured exclusive footage of title skateboarder’s career highlights and exclusive preview of Activision videogame Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.
Full program of events sponsored by Assn. for Independent Music (AFIM) will be featured at NARM convention next March 9-12 at San Francisco Marriott. NARM Pres. Pamela Horovitz said “preserving the vitality” of independent music market was “very important to the music retailing community” that NARM served. AFIM Chmn. Clay Pasternak said trade groups would continue to maintain separate hq and memberships, but combining trade shows into single convention “seemed to be a great idea” because of their “natural synergy.”
DirecTV Broadband signed multiyear sales pact with Verizon, extending previous 2-year agreement. Under agreement Verizon’s Advanced Data will expand coverage to sell DirecTV DSL service in Dallas, L.A., Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tampa. Previously, Verizon, which also has sold DirecTV entertainment-based satellite service, covered major East Coast cities from Me. to Va. While DirecTV Broadband officials declined comment on number of DSL subscribers gained, CEO Ned Hayes said that company served “tens of thousands” on East Coast. DirecTV Broadband, which operated as Telocity before it was acquired by Hughes Electronics in April, also has agreement with Qwest Communications.
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) plans to buy 19% stake in Japanese game maker Square as part of Yen 14.9 billion ($124.4 million) deal. Sony, which currently holds no stake in Square, will buy 11.2 million newSquare shares at $11 each. Deal, expected to close Oct. 26, would make SCE 2nd-largest shareholder in Square. Companies plan to collaborate on online games as well as titles for Sony’s PlayStation 2.
Ultra CompactFlash line of high-speed storage cards was introduced Mon. by SanDisk. New cards are designed to be used by advanced photographers with high-performance digital cameras that require advanced cards to quickly shoot many high-resolution images, Sunnyvale, Cal., company said. New card has sustained write speed of up to 2.8 Mbps, which SanDisk said was more than twice sustained write speed of company’s standard CompactFlash products. They also are fully compatible and interchangeable with all CF digital cameras, CF card readers and adapters, company said. New cards are available in 128, 192, 256, 384 and 512 MB at prices of $100-$500, representing slight premium over standard CF cards. Company said it would start shipping new cards “immediately in the U.S. and worldwide, with the exception of Japan, which will start shipping next month.” SanDisk Senior Worldwide Sales and Mktg. Vp Nelson Chan said: “The technology behind SanDisk Ultra CF cards employs advanced controller algorithms to enhance the performance for use in the latest generation of… new high-megapixel digital cameras.” Camera manufacturers that indicated they would be supporting new SanDisk cards included Canon and Nikon.
Right Start (RS) funded purchase of retailer Zany Brainy (ZB) by issuing preferred stock to Athanor Holdings and Kayne Anderson Investment Management, according to SEC filing. RS issued 11,919 shares of Series E convertible preferred stock to Athanor that can be converted into 8.3 million shares at $1.43. Kayne Anderson was granted 2,200 shares of Series G preferred that can be converted to 2.2 million shares at $2.50. Athanor also gained right to name 3 people to RS board. To accommodate conversion, RS said it would file proxy asking shareholders to approve expanding number of common stock outstanding to 75 million from 25 million. On fully diluted basis, Athanor could control 40.5% of RS’s outstanding common before effect of employee and director options is factored in. In acquiring ZB earlier this year, RS paid $11.7 million cash and issued 1.1 million shares and assumed $85 million in liabilities. RS, which operates 68 stores in 13 states, has said it would maintain ZB as standalone chain of 175 stores in 34 states. In buying ZB out of bankruptcy, RS closed 12 stores and plans to construct “boutiques” inside ZB outlets with its mix of developmental toys for infants and toddlers.
Aug. DTV dollar sales to dealers climbed 69.2% to $243.89 million from $144.12 million in same month year earlier, CEA said. Figures include DTV-ready sets and those sold with integrated decoders. For year’s first 34 weeks, dollar shipments of DTV were up 101.5% to $1.34 billion from year ago. Total TV shipments in Aug. were down 4.5% because analog set sales fell 21% to $508.92 million from $644.09 million. For year, total shipments fell 6.6% on 20.9% drop in analog sales to $3.98 billion from $5.03 billion.