Just how difficult is it to produce, distribute and market an independent animated feature? J. Paul Peszko provides a few answers with the promising Hoodwinked: The True Story of Red Riding Hood, the first independently produced 3D animated feature from the Philippines that screens at Cannes this weekend as a work-in-progress.

Explore the art of gaming as it makes its way in art history at E3Expo via an art exhibition and a multimedia, interactive museum called "The History of Video Games."

There are 16 pieces of artwork selected from more than 120 submissions by a jury of interactive entertainment industry art veterans and experts from the traditional art field to be featured in "Into the Pixel," a juried exhibition of computer and videogame art on display at this year's E3Expo.

Participants and attendees at E3 are obviously in the right game as a new survey reveals that computer and videogames are capturing increasing amounts of Americans' leisure time at the expense of television and movies.

The data from the Entertainment Software Assoc. (ESA) annual consumer survey shows 52% of gamers who are spending more time playing games report watching less television and, as a result, 47% go to movies less, and 41% watch movies at home less often.

Kaydara announced that Ubisoft has licensed HumanIK|Middleware, an advanced in-game character animation and rigging library, for its upcoming release of TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL 3 (working title). With HumanIK|Middleware, Ubisoft will be able to easily embed the same award-winning character animation and rigging technology found in MOTIONBUILDER directly into its game engine. Ubisoft is demonstrating SPLINTER CELL 3 using HumanIK|Middleware at E3, May 12-15, 2004, booth #1046.

Renowned sound designer and mixer, as well as USC alumnus, Gary Rydstrom will deliver the commencement address at the 2004 USC School of Cinema-Television Commencement Ceremony on May 14, 2004 at the Shrine Auditorium. Rydstrom will accept the prestigious Mary Pickford Outstanding Alumnus Award, given in recognition of his innovative and prolific work in film sound.

GameSpot a leading source for information about games, today announced the E3 Hot List, an up-to-the-minute look at the most popular videogames garnering the most interest among males, ages 18-34, for the first day of the show, March 12, 2004.

In creating visual effects for a new Coors Light spot, KromA conjured up the unique visions of a man bent on doubling his pleasure.

Conceived by Chicago agency Foote, Cone & Belding and directed by HSI's Joseph Kahn, the spot centers on a man who gets a new pair of glasses not to see better – just to see more. The glasses cause the man to experience double vision so that when he goes to the beach he sees twice the number of beautiful women. The spot is set to the Jan & Dean tune "Surf City," which includes the refrain "two girls for every boy."

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications has announced it will deliver eleven mobile games from Sorrent on Sony Ericsson's most popular handsets. North American mobile subscribers using the T610/T616 or T630/T637 handsets will be able to purchase such single and multiplayer games as YAO MING BASKETBALL '04 PRESENTED BY FOX SPORTS, FOX SPORTS BOXING, FOX SPORTS FOOTBALL '04, FOX SPORTS HOCKEY '04, FOX SPORTS TRACK & FIELD '04, FOX SPORTS SOCCER '04, FOX SPORTS RACING, SHARK HUNT, 3D SLAM PING PONG, DURATRAX MOBILE RC and WILD 8-BALL. The games will be available in Q2 2004.

Rebecca Ramsey, a producer with broad experience in commercials, feature films, theatrical trailers and broadcast media, has joined Steele VFX as exec producer. Ramsey will supervise the company's production team, oversee in-house production and manage bidding. She will also assist in new business development and will support Steele VFX's expansion effort, which targets growth both in the company's core markets-commercials and music videos-and in motion picture trailers, broadcast promotions and effects work for features and television.

Infinium Labs Inc. will debut its Phantom Gaming Service -- the first end-to-end, on-demand game distribution service -- at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), in Los Angeles, May 12-14, 2004, at Booth 746 in the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center. The new service will offer subscribers a library of titles and make them available any time, day or night. The company plans to provide the service hardware free of charge to consumers who sign a two-year contract for a basic subscription to its flagship online gaming service at $29.95 per month.