EA Games division of Electronic Arts said E-rated PC game Motor City Online went gold and will ship Oct. 30 at $39.99. Title allows players to build and race own collection of custom cars with thousands of other players online. Separately, EA updated its official Web site for upcoming PlayStation 2 game James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire with new details. Update included first look at “Cold Reception” first-person action level set in Swiss Alps and “Night of the Jackal” first-person action level set inside and outside British Embassy in Bucharest. Also given was sneak peek of 3 female villains from game -- Twins and Carla the Jackal. T-rated (Teen) game will ship Nov. 13 at $49.99.
Even as Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings (D-S.C.) has indefinitely postponed his hearing on notion of federal govt.’s mandating that all CE devices carry digital copyright protection, hardware manufacturers argued Mon. that no federal intervention was necessary. Govt. standards would “degrade product performance and freeze technology in place,” Computer Systems Policy Project Exec. Dir. Ken Kay said at Mon. news briefing in Washington opposing Hollings’s proposed legislation. Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) Pres. Rhett Dawson called industry-authored DVD copyright protection system “my poster child,” saying that DVD was fastest-selling CE device in history while still providing content providers with copyright protection.
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.
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.
Downloadable plug-ins for Microsoft’s Windows XP will permit PC users to play DVDs and copy MP3 files to blank CDs with Windows Media Player, developer InterVideo said Tues. Xpacks are available for online purchase at www.intervideo.com.
VoiceGenie Technologies and mobile entertainment software company JSmart announced partnership to co-market JSmart voice- activated games running on VoiceGenie VoiceXML Gateway in Europe. Games from JSmart include Head-2-Head Trivia. VoiceGenie Strategy & Business Development Vp Eric Jackson said company, “in the past 2 quarters… has gained significant customers in Europe” for its voice-activation services and “with this partnership, we expect that growth to accelerate.” Interest in voice-activated services in U.S. has trailed Europe, he suggested, saying “unlike North Americans, European consumers are accustomed to usage fees for value-added services.”
Two-tiered DVD pricing is subject of court hearing in Australia this week on lawsuit against Warner Home Video (WHV) by Australian Video Retailers Assn. (AVRA). New WHV policy issues DVDs simultaneously for rental and sellthrough, with higher price to dealers for rental version. Studio has threatened action against dealers discovered to be renting less costly sellthrough DVD, which has different color scheme from rental version. Australian press reports said dealers sued WHV for misuse of country’s copyright law, which makes computer software rentals illegal without content owner’s permission. WHV contends DVDs aren’t merely prerecorded movies but computer software because discs contain digital files for navigation and other functions. Unlike U.S., Australia doesn’t have First Sale Doctrine that permits purchaser of copyrighted material to dispose of it without content owner’s permission, such as for video rentals.
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.
Sony is shipping version of Cli? handheld PC that doubles as 4-function remote control for more than 20 brands of A/V receivers, DVD players, TVs, VCRs. PEG-T415 ($299) has extended reach of Cli?’s infrared port -- previously used for exchanging data between handhelds -- to 15’ and added software containing product codes. Number of product codes available and how much of Cli?’s 8 MB memory they consume weren’t available at our deadline.
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.