Daily News Spin — May 1, 2001 (Tuesday)

Age of Star Wars Empires

Ok, that's not the official name of the Lucasarts game that's using the Age of Empires engine. The new name is Star Wars Galactic Battleground. Lucasarts has posted a couple of screenshots and some concept art here.

Zuxxez buys rights to Topware games

Avault is reporting that Zuxxez Entertainment has purchased the rights to Topware Interactive games. Topware went under earlier in the year due to some legal problems.

Zuxxez is getting their hands on not only projects in development, like a sequel to Earth 2150, but some finished titles as well. They expect to release six titles in 2001, including World War III: BLACK GOLD and Knights & Merchants Gold.

Sony and Microsoft developing handheld gaming devices?

That's what The Register is reporting.

Sony's unit is a PDA-cum-console derived from its Cli� organiser, which runs the Palm OS. By a strange coincidence, Microsoft's unit as also a PDA-cum-console based upon its PocketPC platform, which runs Windows CE.

Games at ON

On Magazine (never heard of it before) has an article about the typical gamer. We're not sure these facts they list are correct, though:

The average gamer, it turns out, is probably you. The vast majority (80%) aren't even kids; indeed, the age of a typical gamer is 28. Nearly half of gamers are women. Lots of people even play at work � in fact, among those who do, a recent ON MAGAZINE poll found that 1 in 10 admit to playing as many as 10 hours a week on the job (and that's just the honest ones). Somewhere along the line, video games went from being a hobby for teenage shut-ins to the next great American pastime. Sixty percent of Americans � around 145 million people � play video games. They spent over $9 billion on them last year. That's more than they spent on going to the movies.

We really don't think half the gamers are women, unless they count the women playing the free card games online.

On also has an article about limiting the amount of time children spend gaming and another article about one mother's obsession with videogames. Finally, they have an article about EA's Harry Potter game, but not much is revealed.

Hasbro's back in the game, sort of

Ananova has a story about a new electronic game that Hasbro is marketing. POX lets children unleash killer virii to conquer their opponent. Yes, that's right, Hasbro's idea of a fun game involves children playing with germ warfare. Strange.

Furby creator Hasbro is launching POX in the US this month.

Players store libraries of "DNA" on handsets, assembling different combinations with the aim of unleashing the ultimate killer virus.

Hasbro describes it as "a remarkable and exciting breakthrough in game play".

We don't know what to say other than can't we have our kids go back to playing with toy guns?

Games a $10.5 billion industry

CTNow has an article reporting that a new study claims that the interactive entertainment market has grown to $10.5 billion.

The industry also created more than 219,000 jobs and paid $7.2 billion in wages in 2000, according to the study. Retail sales of computer and video game hardware and software totaled about $7.8 billion.

Tripping over the PS2

Trip Hawkins and 3DO are the focus of an article about small game publishers in The Standard. It's reprinted here on Yahoo.

"The only way you're gonna stay small successfully," said Hawkins, "is if you have your own brands." True to his words, Hawkins and 3DO are pushing not only Army Men videogame titles, but also action figures. It�s also talking about a TV show based on the game�s heroes, a squad of army men made of molded plastic.

Hawkins also mentions in the article that 3DO is bypassing the Xbox for now and focusing on the PS2.

How many mutants can you kill in 60 Seconds?

To find out, read our 60 Second Review of Interplay's Fallout Tactics.

3am

Whew, what a day Monday was for news with Daily Radar shutting down. And PCXL online too, which now has the distinction of being one of the few publications that has been cancelled twice.

Interplay's running a promotion to pick a fan-designed character that will be included in Neverwinter Nights. Here's the link.

Meanwhile Bethesda, which has to be reeling a bit from seeing so many of their titles in trouble (Dreamland cancelled; Art of Magic's developers going under) has relaunched their Morrowind website.

Eidos is going to ship a Deus Ex Game of the Year edition which will feature a new multiplayer feature that allows players to create a custom character, the SDK, and an updated single-player feature. No word yet on when the Flying Heroes GOTY edition will ship.

Sierra's starting to promote a game that will star Johnny Drama, a fictional movie star who has become a hero.

Sierra's first Jonny Drama title will focus on Drama's transition from movie star to real-life secret agent - defeating his evil arch-nemesis, Dr. Bumbershoot, and foiling his plans to destroy the world. Drama will be offering Sierra exclusive inside information on his missions.

We guess this is Sierra's answer to EA's licensing of the James Bond films.

Avault's reporting that an expansion and demo for Tribes 2 is in the works.

Gotta love Microsoft. Now they have launched a program that promises prizes to "computer-system builders who report customers ordering PCs without a preinstalled operating system." Break 'em up! We've seen enough.

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