Rob Fahey (Page 158)

The Japanese software sales market seems to be picking up slightly after a major slump in the past few weeks, with a number of new releases reinvigorating sales, including Nintendo's latest addition to the Hamtaro franchise on GBA.

Following the announcement of two new additions to the PlayStation family in the form of PSP and PSX, <b>gi</b>.biz takes a close look at Sony's place in the games industry as its strategy to conquer the living room continues to take shape.

UK developer Argonaut has been hit today by the cancellation of publishing deals for two key titles, Malice and Orchid, while poor retail performance of Kung Fu Chaos has prevented the commissioning of a sequel.

Publisher Take 2 Interactive has announced its financial results for the three months ended April 30th, showing record sales and profit thanks to the launch of several successful titles - and, of course, strong ongoing sales of Vice City.

Movie studio Spyglass Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against Bam Entertainment, alleging that the struggling publisher owes it over $260,000 in royalties for its Reign of Fire videogame.

Troubled publisher 3DO came a step closer to bowing out of the game entirely today, with a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Californian court, and is now hoping for a sale of the company to rescue it.

UK mobile games developer IOMO has acquired mobile gaming studio Covert Operations for an undisclosed sum in one of the first internal consolidation moves within the mobile development sector in the UK.

Atari's movie tie-in Enter The Matrix is at number one in the UK sales charts again this week, and there are new top ten entries for EA's The Sims Superstar and Def Jam Vendetta, and Konami's Silent Hill 3.

The PlayStation 2 hardware is to be integrated into a new home media device from Sony's consumer electronics department, codenamed the PSX, as the Japanese giant struggles to extend the success of its games division to other operations.

Online retailer Play.com has reacted to forthcoming PS2 pricecuts on continental Europe (which will not apply to the UK) by cutting the price of the console to £129.99, £40 cheaper than the official RRP.

Incoming Sega president Hisao Oguchi has confirmed that the company is in talks with Electronic Arts over a sales alliance in North America which would further the Japanese company's overseas ambitions.

Last week's article on the new legislation in Washington State which bans the sale of violent games to minors caused a strong response from both sides of the argument; here's one letter from a reader presenting the other side of the debate.

Atari is claiming today that Enter The Matrix has already sold a million units in the USA and Europe after only a week on sale, representing 25 per cent of the four million units which the company shipped to retail last week.

UK developer Kuju Entertainment has been chosen by Konami to develop an original home console game for the giant Japanese publisher, making it the first European development team ever to sign a major game with the company.

Sega Europe has announced that Gem Distribution will be handling the distribution of its titles to independent retailers and certain multiples in the UK and Ireland, resuming a relationship with the retailer which includes the launch of Dreamcast.

Legal documents filed as part of litigation between Matrix co-creator Larry Wachowski and his estranged wife have revealed financial details of the deals struck by Infogrames and Monolith to create games based on the hit movies.

International press freedom lobby group Reporters Without Borders has protested against the detention and deportation of European journalists covering the E3 trade show in Los Angeles last week.

Nintendo has reported a 36.8 per cent fall in net profit for the year ended March 31 due to poor sales of GameCube hardware and games - but the company still posted a 67.72 billion Yen (€494 million) annual profit.

Focus Enhancements, a company which supplies specialist video chips for the Xbox, has received the first order for its components from Microsoft - indicating that the software giant is expecting sales of the console to pick up.