Category: Business

Microsoft has announced that it will delay the launch of its next-generation console Xbox in Japan until 2002. Xbox will still release 800,000 units in North America on November 8. The Japan launch will now coincide with the launch in Europe. Japan represents one third of the US$20 billion videogame market. Insiders say the delay is due to difficulties in developing games for the Japanese market, which favors simulation and role-playing games, as well as problems ensuring that all tech components work together correctly. Xbox will sell for US$299 in North America.

Nintendo has announced that it plans to delay the launch of its next-generation console GameCube, which gives Microsoft's Xbox a two-week leg-up on the highly coveted holiday buying season. GameCube will be released on November 18, where as Xbox is scheduled to launch on November 8, 2000. Nintendo says the move is to meet consumer demand and avoid glitches like Sony had with PlayStation 2 last year. "The change really was to make sure we avoided somebody else's misstep," said Peter Main, vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America.

Due to its increasing debt, the International Museum of Cartoon Art will be leaving Mizner Park in Boca Raton, Florida. Its US$3.8 million building will be put up for sale to pay off the museum's $2 million debt and preserve its collection of more than 200,000 pieces of comic strips, editorial cartoons and other works. The museum is looking into several locations for a new home, including New York and Connecticut, where it was originally founded in 1972 by BEETLE BAILEY creator Mort Walker.

Oakland, California-based technology company Digital Element, with the help of NewTek and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under the auspices of the Department of Energy's Nuclear Cities Initiative, has been working to open up "Closed Cities" in Russia. These cities do not appear on maps and up to now have been strictly military R&D and production sites. Digital Element trainers and engineers have helped form new Russian software development teams in Snezhinsk and other closed cities to help the towns integrate into the Western market.

Brilliant Digital Entertainment Inc., a leading developer of 3D technologies for the Internet, reported their financial statement for the second quarter ended June 30, 2001. The firm posted that their net revenues rose 162% to US$652,000 over $249,000 from last year. Revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2001 were $1,042,000 compared to $436,000 for the same six-month period in 2000. Brilliant Digital reported a net loss of $1,219,000, or $0.08 per share, for the second quarter ended June 30, 2001, compared to a net loss of $4,452,000, or $0.30 per share for the second quarter of 2000.

Pixar Animation Studios announced their financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2001. For the quarter, Pixar posted earnings of US$8.8 million, or $0.17 per diluted share. These results compare to earnings of $8 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues for the quarter were $16.7 million, compared to $18.3 million in the year-ago quarter. Pixar also announced that it is raising projections for 2001 from the previous range of $0.40 to $0.55, to a new range of $0.50 to $0.58.

TechnologyHelp, Inc. has completed a second round of funding and officially changed its name to Cinemetrix. The new round of financing came from Vanguard Atlantic, a New York-based venture capital firm. Terms of that transaction were not disclosed. George Gagliardi, president and chief executive officer, said, "We are now positioned to expand the sales and marketing of our technology and know-how to clients who understand the power of professionally produced TV-quality presentations.

Paul Villadolid, a former senior vice president at Walt Disney Television, and Larry Hess, a former software engineer at special effects house Digital Domain, have formed Rebel Arts, a technology and software developer with a proprietary server platform designed to handle massive multiplayer online games. The technology is designed to handle in excess of 100,000 simultaneous users. Strategic partners AMD and Linux NetworX are providing Rebel Arts with critical support, including the AMD-760 MP dual processor chipset and Linux NetworX's Evolocity cluster server system.

The Walt Disney Company has reported earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 2001. Pro forma revenues and segment operating income for the quarter decreased 1% and 7% to US$6 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively, from the prior-year quarter. "In a soft economy, Disney's overall performance continues to be solid," said Michael D. Eisner, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. "Our studio has added yet another quarter to a year of strong growth.

Electronic Arts announced its results for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2001. Consolidated net revenues were US$182 million compared to $154.8 million for the same quarter last year, an increase of 18%. On an as-reported basis, consolidated net loss and diluted loss per share were $45.3 million and $0.33, respectively, compared to a net loss and diluted loss per share of 42.3 million and $0.33, respectively, in the same period of the prior year.