Data Filter: The News You Need in Easy-to-Swallow Gel Cap Form

Electronic Gaming Business, Dec 3, 2003

News-O-Matic
Whassup?: In 2002, Chinese gamers spent $110 million for online play, up from
$37.3 million the year before. At the recent First China International
Exposition on Online Culture, the director of China's Cultural Market
Department Liu Yuzhu claimed that the potential for growth in the sector was
enormous. The average Chinese online gamer was spending over to $2 a month
to play, up from $1.88 a year before. China Daily reports that the
country's largest online game company, Shanda Networking is looking
issue an IPO via Nasdaq. It claims 170 million registered users.
So What!: Put aside any doubt about this market. China already represents an
amazing opportunity for the industry if it can find a way in. The big winner
in China right now, and a promising partner for software developers, are the
telecom firms, which charge for access. They actually made $830 million from
charges related to gaming last year, almost six times the fees made directly
by game makers. Sony announced that Ape Escape 2 and ICO would be available
at the launch of the PS2 in China, at sub $20 price points.

Whassup?: Computer games get their own art show at the Yerba Buena Center in
San Francisco this January. "Bang the Machine: Computer Gaming Art and
Artifacts" will feature installations involving America's Army, The
Sims Online, and Space Invaders. In many cases, artists will display works
that use game engines and conventions. A five-foot statue of John Carmack
will be made to depict the low-res avatar Camack made of himself for Quake
III. The show runs January 17 to April 4 with details at
http://www.yerbabuenaarts.org .
So What!: Any attempt to legitimate gaming in one way or another is laudable
to be sure. As YBCA describes this show, however, gaming is validated mainly
by how other more established arts make use of it. This is old school
rationalization for a new medium. What is needed are shows that explore the
art of gaming on its own terms, how interactivity revises our understanding
about how art and audience relate or what aesthetic effects are possible
here.

Whassup?: Acclaim's U.K. unit will promote Galdiator: Sword of Vengeance
with what it calls "Bloodvertising." Posters for the game will
appear across the country equipped with red dye cartridges that will release
the faux blood onto the pavements over the course of a week. Worker have been
hired specifically to mop up the spilled blood from these posters.
So What!: Acclaim U.K. has a penchant for outrageous publicity stunts
surrounding its games and a tradition for doing so with little effect. Two
years ago, the company tried to promote the ill-fated Turok sequel by getting
100 Brits to change their names to the game's title as a vehicle for
viral marketing. Turok deservedly bombed regardless, and the early mixed
reviews of Gladiator suggest that yet again Acclaim has put more
imagination in its marketing than its designs.

Whassup?: Specialty retailers GameStop and Electronics Boutique reported
earnings for the quarter ending November 1. GameStop revenues were up 14%
over same year period 2002, to $326 million. EB claimed 15% revenue increase
to $324.7 million.
So What!: Same store comps continue to decline for both companies as hardware
sales remain depressed since last year. It is interesting that both retailers
had strong revenues despite a general dip in game unit sales in October,
suggesting that used games (not metered by sales trackers) may be
contributing more to the bottom line than some supposed.

Whassup?: In its push to ship the multimedia server/recorder PSX in Japan by
the end of this year, Sony admits that it will not be able to include some
features it had promised in announcements it made as late as October of this
year. Gone from the high-priced super-PS2 are playback of DVD RW, CD-R, and
MP3 formats as well as 24x disc writing (now down to 12x). Also missing,
according to reports, will be an internal broadband adapter, which would seem
to be an essential feature for a unit meant to connect to Sony's world
of networked resources.
So What!: Welcome to the iffy world of multi-function devices - in which each
added capability introduces evermore possibilities of delay. Sony has not
announced whether any or all of the dropped features will re-appear in the
worldwide versions of the PSX next year. Regardless, Sony has set a poor
precedent of over-reaching in public that may cast doubt about its ability to
make good on the awesome specs it is touting for next year's handheld
PSP. Anyone who owns a portable CD player knows how unpredictable spinning
media is in a mobile device, and unlike the PSX, the PSP is playing with
technologies that have never been tried on such a compact format.

Whassup?: Researcher and consultancy Alexander Resources argues that gaming
will become the single most important data application in the mobile arena.
While AR weighs in with a modest prediction that revenues will grow from $500
million in 2002 to about $2 billion by 2006, its recent report says that
next-gen gaming phones will fuel a taste for data apps and drive greater
interest in other non-voice services from telcos.
So What!: Sensibly, AR predicts massive consolidation in this sector around a
select few phone manufacturers and a small group of developer/publishers. The
problem of versioning mobile games across so many idiosyncratic handsets, as
well as ongoing difficulties in distribution for this platform will move the
industry towards tight relationships between phone makers and a few
publishers who will push the most popular games. Consumers should be so
lucky. Even at this early stage, there are too many titles for mobile gaming
and they are too difficult for consumers to find.
Top 10 UK Game titles (Week ending Nov. 29)
This Week  Last Week  Title\Publisher
1          -          Medal of Honor: Rising Sun\EA
2          2          Need for Speed: Underground\EA
3          1          FIFA 2004\EA
4          3          Lord of the Rings: Return of the King\EA
5          5          Tony Hawk's Underground\Activision
6          4          True Crime\Activision
7          6          Championship Manager Season\Eidos
8          7          Simpsons Hit and Run\Vivendi
9          11         Harry Potter: Quidditch\EA
10         -          Prince of Persia\UbiSoft

This Week  Last Week  Platform Share %
1          -          P-81\X-15\G-4
2          2          P-74\X-16\PC-5\G-5
3          1          P-72\X-10\P1-6\PC-5
4          3          P-70\X-11\GBA-7\G-6
5          5          P-79\X-11\G-6\GBA-3
6          4          P-75\X-17\G-8
7          6          PC-100
8          7          P-76\X-13\PC-8\G-3
9          11         P-62\GBA-18\PC-8\G-6
10         -          P-98\GBA-2

Source: ELSPA