NEws Continued (Sorry Mods)

Samba

US PC Sales figures for May
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/riseofnations/news_6030262.html



The overall rankings for the month of May show that it was a strong period for new PC releases, as five of the top six games are new.



This Month / Last Month / Title / Publisher / Average Price
1 / * / The Sims: Superstar / EA / $29
2 / * / Grand Theft Auto: Vice City / Rockstar / $45
3 / * / Enter the Matrix / Atari / $47
4 / 3 / The Sims Deluxe / EA / $41
5 / * / PlanetSide / Sony Online / $48
6 / * / Rise of Nations / Microsoft / $50
7 / 2 / Command & Conquer: Generals / EA / $46
8 / 4 / The Sims: Unleashed / EA / $28
9 / 1 / Delta Force: Black Hawk Down / NovaLogic / $38
10 / 5 / Battlefield 1942 / EA / $47
11 / 12 / SimCity 4 / EA / $41
12 / 6 / Zoo Tycoon / Microsoft / $26
13 / 9 / Diablo II / VU Games / $21
14 / 15 / RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 / Atari / $28
15 / 8 / Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos / VU Games / $39
16 / * / RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: Wacky Worlds / Atari / $25
17 / 10 / Mall Tycoon / Take-Two / $19
18 / 11 / Battlefield 1942: Road to Rome / EA / $19
19 / 20 / Backyard Baseball 2003 / Atari / $19
20 / * / Medal of Honor: Allied Assault / EA / $33

The lists above rank games according to retail sales.





LEGAL:
Legal US: Video Game Players Association Supports IDSA
http://www.gamerfeed.com/index.php?story=3596



The Video Game Players Association (VGPA) announced its support of the Interactive Digital Software Association's (IDSA) decision to challenge the recently enacted Washington state statute seeking to ban the sale to minors of certain video games. According to the new law, Washington State HB1009 says that any retail outlet caught selling a video game that depicts violence against law-enforcement officials to anyone under the age of 17 will be fined $500.



The IDSA filed the lawsuit along with co-plaintiffs the Washington Retail Association, the Video Dealers Association, the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, the International Game Developers Association, and Hollywood Video. In addition to pointing out that the recent legislation offers no definition of the term "public law-enforcement officers" to which it refers, the lawsuit argues that the Washington statute is a content-based restriction on the dissemination of fully protected expression.



Early last week, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that video games are a constitutionally protected form of expression with the same First Amendment status as art, books, film, and music.



Publisher News:
Publisher news: Atari sold 2.5 Million of Enter the Matrix (worldwide)
http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=11192&mode=thread&order=0, www.gamespydaily.com



Atari reports that it has sold through 2.5 million copies worldwide of Shiny Entertainment's Enter The Matrix for various platform. The game has been available for little more than a month in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Atari allowed the press to review the product only after it had become available, thus making most-effectively use of the hype around this game



Atari has announced that they claimed a whopping 18.4% share of the videogames sales for the month of May. According to the NPD Group, this makes them the #1 ranked publisher for the month (vs #6 and 5.4%MS Value last year).



Apparently, this success is largely attributable to the hype surrounding The Matrix. Their Matrix Reloaded tie-in, Enter the Matrix, was the top-selling title on all three next-gen consoles. Additionally, Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 ranked #1 on the PSone, thereby resulting in Atari's achieving a clean sweep of all consoles.



Thanks to this very strong May 2003 performance, Atari is now ranked #4 overall for the year to date (from January to May). Last year, at this time, they were only #13 -- quite an improvement







No plans for Sega buyout, says Microsoft CEO
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=pub&aid=1812



The fallout from Sega's ill-fated merger plans continues, with Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer commenting to a conference in the USA that the company has no intention of buying into the Japanese publisher.

Even after Sega very publicly rejected approaches from Namco and Sammy last month, rumours of interest from Microsoft continued to persist.

This, presumably, will lay to rest any talk of Microsoft making a bid for Sega - but the prospect of a deal with EA remains on the table. This would not be a buyout, however (Sega president Hisao Oguchi has stated publicly that the company will be restructuring itself independently), and would most likely be a sales alliance aimed at improving Sega's standing in the USA along with EA's standing in Japan



Marketing:
The World Of PlayStation 2 Brought To Indianapolis
http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=11207&mode=thread&order=0



PlayStation will bring the PlayStation Patrol to Indianapolis. The PlayStation Patrol is a 40-foot long vehicle, featuring 17 PlayStation 2 interactive kiosks. The vehicle is set-up to play all of the hottest and best-selling videogame titles available for the PS2. The PlayStation Patrol Scout, a PlayStation 2 branded Hummer H2* vehicle new for 2003, will accompany the PlayStation Patrol and help spread the news that the PlayStation Patrol is in town. Coupons will be available for a $5.00 discount on any PlayStation or PS2 game.

Mr E

Originally posted by Samba
LEGAL:
Legal US: Video Game Players Association Supports IDSA
http://www.gamerfeed.com/index.php?story=3596

[...]

PlayStation will bring the PlayStation Patrol to Indianapolis. The PlayStation Patrol is a 40-foot long vehicle, featuring 17 PlayStation 2 interactive kiosks. The vehicle is set-up to play all of the hottest and best-selling videogame titles available for the PS2. The PlayStation Patrol Scout, a PlayStation 2 branded Hummer H2* vehicle new for 2003, will accompany the PlayStation Patrol and help spread the news that the PlayStation Patrol is in town. Coupons will be available for a $5.00 discount on any PlayStation or PS2 game.

I know you mean well, Samba, but if you are going to regurgitate news here from other websites, please:

1. Post news thats relevant to Irish gamers (see above!)
2. Keep 'em all in 1 thread!
3. Do a bit of formatting to remove all the blank space!

Nice idea, but think it through first, and do a bit of editing!

- Dave.

Samba

Aye, apreciate what your saying, ill do that tommorow, Copy n Paste .


I received it as an email, it's a nice little summary, handy if you don't want to go trawling through sites!.



Oh and for those who like their shootemups I would reccomend Hunter Reckoning, Some v.cool Weaps.... a bit repetitive in gameplay and not much skill required, but good fun all the same .