Westwood Studios is giving away more than 180 prizes through Nov. 16 -- 9 prizes each weekday -- to Yuri’s Revenge tournament ladder players. Prizes include Web cameras and Westwood merchandise, Electronic Arts publishing division said.
Multimedia product developer Vialta reported $9 million loss for 3rd quarter ended Sept. 30, vs. $7.7 million loss in same quarter year earlier. Company, which recently started shipping ViDVD players to national accounts, said greater loss was from $1.1 million in additional amortization expense and write-off of certain investments. CEO Didier Pietri said company believed “this is an opportune time to introduce a multimedia player to the consumer marketplace,” citing intent-to-buy surveys showing that half of existing non-DVD owners expected to purchase DVD player in next 12 months.
THQ began shipping PC game Rugrats: All Growed Up at $29.99. Calabasas Hills, Cal., game maker said that in E-rated adventure game, Rugrats characters appeared as preteens for first time. Title was based on recent 2-part episode of TV animated show Rugrats.
Hasbro returned to profitability in its 3rd quarter ended Sept. 30, game and toy maker said Mon. as it posted $50.6 million (29? per share) net income. Company earned $13.8 million (8?) in same quarter year ago before going on to finish 2000 with $23 million loss for year and $58.4 million loss before charges for 4th quarter. Hasbro started major restructuring process but still posted losses for first 2 quarters of this year. Hasbro Chmn. Alan Hassenfeld said his company was “very pleased that we achieved our goal of cumulative profitability for 2001 by the end of the 3rd quarter and we continue to believe we are on track to be profitable this year.” He said Hasbro’s “strategy of focusing on expense reductions and growing our core brands is continuing to pay dividends.” COO Alfred Verrecchia said cost savings in quarter were “primarily attributable to” company’s current “cost reduction program and the sale of Hasbro Interactive and Games.com.” But revenue in 3rd quarter decreased to $893.4 million from $1.1 billion year ago. Company’s strongest selling products in quarter included Dusty My Talking Tool Bench and Disney Monopoly. Hasbro also said it “had good initial response to Harry Potter trading card games, E-Kara -- hand-held karaoke system -- and Monsters, Inc. products.
Samsung will ship plasma display panels for consumer market starting with 42W in first quarter 2002, Mktg. Dir. James Sanduski said. PDP, price for which hasn’t been set, will be followed by 50W, he said. New 42W and 50W monitors, which already are shipping for professional applications, have 852x480 and 1,366x768 resolutions, respectively. Monitors will have connections on back, but require separate TV tuner. Samsung also will weigh 63W for consumer applications, but $30,000 price is likely to prove formidable barrier, Sanduski said. “We offer it first in the commercial market and we're studying whether we can fit those in on the consumer side as well,” he said. At same time, Samsung has halted shipments of 50W rear-projection set based on Displaytech’s 0.78” ferroelectric LCD microdisplays. “The quality is there, but the question is consistency,” Sanduski said. “Being a semiconductor you should have very good consistency in overall performance characteristics from sample to sample, but that hasn’t been the case with the panels themselves.” Samsung had planned also to ship 43W, but shelved that product in favor of 50W. Samsung shipped limited quantities of 50W this summer before stopping shipments in Aug. and plans to resume delivery in 2002, Sanduski said.
MGM’s worldwide home video revenue soared 35% in 3rd quarter ended Sept. 30, spurred by 200% rise in unit shipments of DVD, company said Mon. Studio shipped 4.1 million copies of Hannibal on DVD and VHS in Aug. and 1.4 million copies of Silence of the Lambs, which was re-released with Hannibal.
InterVideo shipped 2 new XPack plug-ins that Fremont, Cal., PC audio and video software maker said extended capabilities of Windows Media Player (WMP) for Windows XP platform. DVD XPack at $14.95 includes XP-compatible DVD decoder enabling DVD playback in WMP, while MP3 XPack at $9.95 adds ability to rip CDs into high bit rate (96-320 KB) MP3 digital audio files. InterVideo also is selling bundle including both at $19.95. XPacks are being sold online at company’s Web site, www.intervideo.com. Current versions are available only in English for now, but company said “other languages will follow later this year.”
U.K. court denied CD counterfeiter’s appeal for reduction of 30-month prison term. Appeals court said sentence was appropriate in case of John Gleeson, convicted on 19 counts of unauthorized possession of trademarked goods under 1994 Trademarks Act for producing copies of commercially available CDs.
Disney’s classic animation Dumbo was to make DVD debut today coinciding with movie’s 60th anniversary.
Differences and similarities abound between Matsushita HDTV- caliber dual-layer recordable disc proposal that starred at recent CEATEC show in suburban Tokyo and rival DVR-Blue system showcased at same event year ago.