Pulse, the San Francisco-based 3D media solutions company, laid off an undisclosed number of staff members on Monday, September 17, 2001. While an exact number was not revealed, AWN was told that it was less than 50% of the company’s total workforce. The lay-offs were predominately from the administrative sector with some engineering staff also being let go. A spokesperson for the company sees the staff cuts as a positive move for Pulse allowing them a greater ability to reach profitability. The company plans to move toward e-learning, while continuing its current licenses.

Interactive entertainment company Infogrames, Inc. has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with UK-based game publisher, Codemasters. Under the terms of the one-year deal, Infogrames will be the sole distributor of Codemasters' interactive entertainment titles throughout North America. Codemasters expects to publish 17 SKUs between September 2001 and August 2002. The first title Infogrames distributed under the agreement is OPERATION FLASHPOINT, a realistic military action game for the PC.

Midway Games Inc. announced its results of operations for the fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2001.The company also reported preliminary details of its product release schedule for the period September 2001 through December 2002. Fiscal 2001 fourth quarter revenues were $20,215,000 compared with revenues of $24,724,000 in the prior year period.

In a global partnership that includes Disney consumer products, theme parks and resorts, and an array of promotional initiatives, the Walt Disney Company and Kellogg Company announced a new global, multi-year corporate alliance. Kellogg, the world's leading producer of cereal, will have exclusive rights to develop and market co-branded Disney/Kellogg breakfast foods based on Disney characters. In addition, Kellogg will become the "official sponsor of breakfast" at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Paris.

Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation (E&S) has reached an agreement to sell its REALimage business unit, which makes high-performance semiconductor chips for advanced graphics and video applications. The sale is for a maximum value of $12 million, consisting of cash plus future royalties up to $6 million for REALimage technology, other assets and support during a seven-month transition period leading to closing the transaction on April 1, 2002.

The Walt Disney Company and News Corporation have entered an agreement to establish a joint venture company to launch a new broadband entertainment service called Movies.com, which will provide movies and other entertainment content on demand to consumers in the U.S. Movies.com, expected to launch in early 2002, will be available to consumers with enhanced cable systems with on-demand capabilities, as well as all forms of broadband Internet access.

Autodesk announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the software product line from Media 100, a leading provider of digital media products. With this acquisition, Autodesk’s Discreet Division enhances its content creation product portfolio with Media 100’s streaming media software solutions -- allowing Discreet customers to create, distribute, re-purpose and publish media content for consumption via the Internet, corporate Intranets and IP-enabled devices such as cell phones and PDAs.

Walt Disney Internet Group and Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited (Hutchison Telecom) have entered into a cooperative relationship to distribute Disney-branded wireless content under the Disney Mobile brand over Hutchison Telecom's Orange Dualband and CDMA networks in Hong Kong. Available this fall, the Disney Mobile service on Hutchison Telecom will include downloadable content based on Disney's lineup of popular characters, including screensavers, wallpapers, logos, e-cards and ring tones. Orange users will also be able to download the territory's only Disney color content.

Continuing to expand and broaden the scope of his companies’ services, Harley’s House founder Harley Rinzler, has acquired the Los Angeles computer animation, design and visual effects production studio Click 3x. Rinzler has retained the key members of Click 3x, Los Angeles’ creative and production staff, including visual effects supervisor Craig Price who will serve as creative director. Rinzler will operate the visual effects and animation service as an independent entity under the name Playground.

European media company TV-Loonland Group’s net income for the first half of 2001 increased by an additional 80 percent over last year, to EUR 8.2 (approx. USD 7.5) million due to a strong international marketing strategy. The group has already realized more than 60 percent of the EUR 13.3 (approx. USD 12.1) million total net income budgeted for the year 2001. Revenues increased by 39.7 percent to EUR 34.2 (approx. USD 31.1) million, also showing much stronger growth than in the first quarter. TV-Loonland AG continues to operate debt-free.