The PS2 version of Need for Speed Most Wanted from Electronic Arts (EA), in its 10th week available, was again the top-rented videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Jan. 22. But the Xbox version of the game fell to #9 from #3 the previous week. It was the only top 10 game SKU not for PS2. EA had one other game in the top 10: The PS2 version of Madden NFL 06 at #2, up 2 in its 24th week. Activision and Take-Two Interactive each had 2 SKUs in the top 10 -- all for PS2. Activision’s were Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland at #6 (up 6 in its 14th week) and Gun at #10 (down 3, 11th week). Take-Two’s were Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas at #5 (up 13, 65th week) and Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition at #8 (up 16, 41st week). Rounding out the top 10 were LucasArts Entertainment’s Star Wars Battlefront II at #3 (down one, 12th week), THQ’s WWE SmackDown Vs. Raw 2006 at #4 (up 2, 10th week) and 50 Cent: Bulletproof from Vivendi Universal Games (VUG) at #7 (down 2, 9th week). Separately, VUG said it had sold more than one million units of the latter game since its global release in Nov… Most Wanted was also -- in its 9th week -- again the best-selling game in the U.K., according to the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Assn.’s Chart Track data for the week ended Jan. 21. EA had 2 other games in the top 10: The Sims 2 at #3 (down one, 35th week) and FIFA 06 at #5 again in its 17th week. There were no new releases in the top 10. The only other publisher with more than one title in the top 10 was Activision, with 2: Call of Duty 2 at #9 (up 6, 9th week) and Gun at #10 (up 2, 11th week). Rounding out the top 10 were Ubisoft’s Peter Jackson’s King Kong at #2 (up 2, 10th week), Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 5 at #4 (down one, 14th week), Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for PSP at #6 again in its 12th week, Battlefront II at #7 (up 6 , 13th week) and SmackDown! Vs. Raw 2006 at #8 (up 2, 11th week).
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has ordered an investigation (D/N 06-01) of nine household goods moving companies (respondents) to determine whether they violated the 1984 Shipping Act and the FMC's regulations by operating as non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) in the U.S. trades without obtaining licenses from the FMC, without providing proof of financial responsibility, without publishing an electronic tariff, and by failing to establish, observe, and enforce just and reasonable regulations and practices relating to or connected with receiving, handling, storing, or delivering property, etc.
Tiger Telematics’ struggling Gizmondo Europe subsidiary filed for bankruptcy protection with the U.K.’s High Court at the close of business Fri., the company revealed in an SEC filing Mon. A large reduction in staffing is expected, but the company said “the action does not affect any other subsidiary of the company including its United States operations and sales under Gizmondo USA.”
A privacy watchdog group Thurs. sued the Justice Dept. under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), demanding it immediately disclose information on the Bush Administration’s warrantless domestic surveillance program. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) asked U.S. Dist. Court, D.C., for a preliminary injunction requiring relevant material be released within 20 working days of the Thurs. filing. President Bush said DoJ has had a key role in authorizing, implementing and overseeing National Security Agency (NSA) e-spying. Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales and other DoJ officials have tried to justify the program and its legality, EPIC said. In its filing, the group said the debate “cannot be based solely upon information that the Administration voluntarily chooses to disseminate.” On Dec. 16, EPIC sent FOIA requests to 4 DOJ components, hours after the NSA program was outed. The agency told EPIC its requests warranted priority treatment but has failed to comply with the usual FOIA time limit of 20 working days, the group said. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to start hearings on the issue amid calls for an independent counsel, EPIC Open Govt. Project Dir. Marcia Hofmann said: “The debate is happening now. Now is the time that the public needs to be fully informed, not several months from now.”
With CE products quickly emerging as growth category for hard drives, suppliers are moving to increase storage capacities, a Consumer Electronics Daily survey has found.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of its antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of folding metal tables and chairs from China for the period of June 1, 2003 through May 31, 2004.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas publisher Take-Two Interactive asked the SEC for a 15-day extension in the filing of its 10-K annual report as it works to fix serious accounting flaws, the company said Wed. It said it expects to file the 10-K on or before the extended deadline.
The PS2 version of Need for Speed Most Wanted from Electronic Arts (EA) was, in its 9th week, again the top- rented videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Jan. 15. EA had 3 other SKUs in the top 10: The Xbox version of Most Wanted at #3 (up 2), Madden NFL 06 on PS2 at #4 (down 2 in its 23rd week) and NCAA Football 06 at #8 (down 2, 27th week). The only other publisher with more than one title in the top 10 was Activision, with 2: Gun on PS2 at #7 (up 4, 10th week) and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One on PS2 at #10 (down 3, 11th week). LucasArts Entertainment’s Star Wars Battlefront II for PS2 moved up one to #2 in its 11th week. There were no new games in the top 10… Tecmo’s Dead or Alive 4 for Xbox 360 was again the top-rented videogame for GameFly, according to the online game service’s data for the week ended Jan. 16. There were 3 other 360 games in the top 10: Sega’s Condemned: Criminal Origins at #2 again, Ubisoft’s Peter Jackson’s King Kong at #6 and EA’s Most Wanted at #7 (up 2).
The Commerce Department's Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) has posted to its Web site the following five monthly reports containing official November 2005 trade data from the Department of Census for imports and exports of textiles and apparel:
Tiger Telematics combined 2 short-term loans made to its Gizmondo Europe division by shareholders into one note of Pounds 12.68 million due June 30, after an extension agreement was reached, the company said in an SEC filing. One loan had been due Oct. 31 and the other Nov. 30 last year. The company said it pledged as collateral the patents and intellectual property rights of its Smart Adds product and the stock of its Smart Adds subsidiary. Tiger hasn’t announced how many Gizmondos have been sold in the U.S. since they became available late last year after delays. The company also said in the SEC filing that it “has been in preliminary negotiations for a major equity refinancing” but warned “no assurances can be given that it will be able to complete” it. The refinancing would include $50 million from Geneva and London hedge fund groups and an additional vendor credit debt line of about $25 million, it said. Tiger also revealed that its Gizmondo Europe subsidiary “has experienced severe financial pressures from various vendors as its cash flow has been unable to service the requirements.” It said “this has in part been aggravated by a lack of investor funding.” Tiger said it had also “been actively negotiating for further funds from debt and equity sources to assist the cash flow needs of Gizmondo Europe but there can be no assurances that this will be achieved.” Therefore, Tiger said, it “may be required to seek other alternatives for the Gizmondo Europe operations.” Although Tiger negotiated a $5 million bridge loan from an investment firm, the company said it “has not been able to draw down under the facility as of yet nor can any assurances be given that it will be able to draw down on the facility although it is working to achieve this on a daily basis.” Tiger said it completed sales of about 750,000 shares of its common stock Q4 2005 for about $2.2 million total. Other recent setbacks for the company have included the resignation of Carl Freer as chmn., announced 2 days before Gizmondo launched in the U.S. (CED Oct 21 p11). A Tiger spokesman a week later said the company accepted the resignations of Stefan Eriksson and Peter Uf “when it came to light that these individuals had not disclosed to the company criminal convictions in Sweden in the mid 1990s” (CED Oct 28 p9).