New Games: Half-Life 2: Episode 1 from Electronic Arts moved up one to become the best-selling PC game in the U.S., according to NPD Group data for the week ended June 10. World of Warcraft from Vivendi Games -- the previous week’s top seller -- fell to #2… Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for PS2 was again the #1- rented videogame in the U.S., according to preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended June 18… Nintendo of America said its DS game New Super Mario Bros. sold more than 500,000 units in the U.S. alone during its first 35 days on sale. It boasted “that’s a sellthrough rate of more than 20 every minute since the game went on sale May 15.”
According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) administrative message, effective June 15, 2006, the International Trade Administration (ITA) discontinued the suspension of liquidation for countervailing (CV) duty purposes for certain lined paper products from India.
According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) administrative message, effective June 13, 2006, the International Trade Administration (ITA) discontinued the suspension of liquidation for countervailing (CV) duty purposes for certain lined paper products from Indonesia.
(a) The AD cash deposit for China exporters who received a separate rate in a prior segment of the AD proceeding will continue to be the rate assigned in that prior segment (except for Eurasia whose AD cash deposit rate has changed in this AD review to the China-wide rate);
Cumulus shareholders tendered more than 15 million shares in the company’s modified Dutch auction tender offer to buy up to 11.5 million shares for $11.50, the company said, leading to a preliminary proration factor of about 74%.
New Games: Parental watchdog groups, politicians and other videogame critics will likely have a field day with THQ’s upcoming game The Sopranos, based on the hit HBO TV show of the same name. A demo of the game provided by THQ in N.Y. this week showed that the title, like the show, will have wall to wall violence, profanity and nudity. The company said the game will ship for PS2 at $39.99 and Xbox 360 at $59.99. The demo Consumer Electronics Daily saw didn’t include voice work by actors from the series but the company said the show’s cast recently completed voice-overs that will be added for the final version. Other upcoming 2006 games spotlighted by THQ included SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from Krusty Krab for PS2 and GameCube at $39.99, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS at $29.99, PC at $19.99 and Wii at pricing to be determined. Associate Brand Mgr. Sam Guilloud said the Wii version will ship in Nov., the month Nintendo’s next console is widely expected to ship. But Nintendo hasn’t announced a specific launch month -- nor has it even confirmed that the system will ship in every major market this year. The game wasn’t demonstrated on a final version of the Wii console, but Guilloud said the company had received final development kits for the console and is confident the game will be finished in time for Nov. release. Also demonstrated was Cars, based on the current hit animated Disney/Pixar animated movie of the same name. THQ is releasing versions of the title for all major platforms. Guilloud said the game will be THQ’s first children’s title for the 360 when it arrives in Nov. He added that a Wii version is expected to ship in time for the DVD release of the movie late this year… In its first week available, the PS2 version of Take-Two Interactive’s PSP game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was the top-rented videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended June 11. The PS2 version of THQ’s Cars, meanwhile, was #2 in its first week. Activision’s X-Men: The Official Game for PS2 -- the previous week’s #1 title -- dropped to #4… Midway Games said it acquired the publishing rights to select titles from Epic Games’ catalog of existing Unreal PC games including Unreal and Unreal Tournament. The terms weren’t disclosed. Midway also said it plans to publish Unreal Anthology for PC -- the first compilation of Unreal and Unreal Tournament titles -- this fall at $29.95 in the U.S. Included will be Unreal, Unreal II: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament and Unreal Tournament 2004. Midway will also publish Unreal Tournament 2007, the companies said.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the preliminary results of its third antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty administrative reviews for certain softwood lumber products from Canada, as follows:
On June 6, 2006, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5441, the fiscal year (FY) 2007 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), etc. (See ITT's Online Archives or 06/09/06 news, 06060905, for BP summary.)
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping (AD) duty new shipper reviews as well as the following countervailing (CV) duty administrative review:
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued a final report to the President in connection with its investigation of proposed modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) that are expected to take effect on January 1, 2007.