Fleischer Studios, King Features and SureSource have launched the all-new official Betty Boop online store, accessible at www.bettyboop.com. The store will feature a wide array of Betty Boop merchandise, including fashion apparel, hard-to-find collectibles and memorabilia. SureSource Inc. designed the new online store and will manage store operations in collaboration with King Features and Fleischer Studios.
Atari and Zombie Inc. have announced the completion of development on SHADOW OPS: RED MERCURY, the highly anticipated action game for the Xbox. In the game, players control Frank Hayden, a special forces operative hand picked to track down and destroy the stolen "Red Mercury," a secret substance that threatens the world with nuclear annihilation. The title is expected to be available in North America on June 15, 2004 and in Europe on June 18.
Electronic Arts has announced the ULTIMA ONLINE 7th Anniversary Edition, commemorating the game's historic seven-year run. The special version of the longest-running online game is in development and scheduled for release this summer.
"We are very proud and excited about UO's upcoming seventh birthday, a record in the online gaming world," said Anthony Castoro, producer of UO. "To celebrate, we want to give our players the total UO experience plus a few unexpected surprises."
Activision Inc. has announced that, through a licensing agreement with Spider-Man Merchandising (a 50/50 limited partnership comprised of Marvel Enterprises Inc. and Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc.), the company will develop and publish videogames based on the 2007 feature film SPIDER-MAN 3. Activision is currently developing console and PC games based on SPIDER-MAN 2 that are scheduled for release in North America timed to the film's launch on June 30, 2004.
UGO Networks (www.ugo.com), a leading online magazine for guys, is teaming with a group of Hollywood film producers to create three shorts set at the E3 Expo. The short films -- DREAM GIRL, CREATION and A.D.D. MAN SAVES E3 will take a humorous, irreverent look at the world of videogames and the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Emmy-winning producers Ian Sander and Kim Moses; Dark Light Pictures; Greg McClatchy of Motor Ent.; FilmworksFX and director Stuart Acher participated in the creation of the shorts.
For your 3D art gallery viewing pleasure check out the recently launched 3D CG Art Gallery. Titled VR-FX Galleries, this online gallery specializes in 3D CG art only. The site claims to be the only one that promotes the work of 3D artists and pays the artists royalties.
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.
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.
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.
Buena Vista Games has announced that it is developing a videogame based on Walt Disney Pictures' first fully animated 3D feature film, CHICKEN LITTLE and live-action epic CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. The games will be published by Disney Interactive for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, handheld and PC platforms. The first CHICKEN LITTLE title is slated for debut in summer 2005 to coincide with the release of the film in theaters. The first NARNIA game will hits shelves in fall 2005.
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.
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.
NVIDIA Corp. and Epic Games announced the first public showing of the new game engine Unreal Engine 3 at this week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Unreal Engine 3 is the first game engine to take full advantage of Shader Model 3.0 -- a key feature of Microsoft DirectX 9.0 -- enabled only by the NVIDIA GeForce 6 Series of graphics processing units (GPUs). Created by Epic Games, Unreal Engine 3 advances lighting and shadowing capabilities, shader effects and editing tools.
Malibu, California-based JAKKS Pacific Inc. announced that it has signed a worldwide license with Lucasfilm Ltd. to produce TV Games products based on the STAR WARS franchise. The STAR WARS TV Games lineup is slated to launch in fall 2005, and is expected to retail for approximately $20.
Codemasters, the U.K.-based computer and videogame developer and publisher, used Kadaras MOTIONBUILDER to produce TOCA RACE DRIVER 2: THE ULTIMATE RACING SIMULATOR. Codemasters was able to save tremendous production time and money on its latest dynamic game due to MOTIONBUILDER's extremely fast realtime interaction, robust tools (such as control rigs and motion blending) and seamless integration with other 3D packages.
Mark Ramshaw looks at the realtime 3D asset and coding trends in the U.K. videogames industry at the moment.
Can't you wait to see DreamWorks' SHREK 2 movie, you can play the videogame now from Activision, available on PlayStation2, Xbox or GameCube for a suggested retail price of $49.99. The Game Boy Advance and PC versions are available for a suggested retail price of $29.99.
Hash Inc. has created the A:M Films Website as a repository of animations created with its 3D character animation software Animation:Master. A:M Films can be viewed in any web browser that supports QuickTime at http://AMFilms.hash.com
Mary Ann Skweres talks with the developers of the role-playing game Sudeki about their creative and technical processes.
The new videogame, PLAYBOY: THE MANSION, from Groove Games and ARUSH Entertainment, published under license from Playboy Enterprises, will be available on the PlayStation2 for the 2004 holiday season.
Under development at Cyberlore Studios, PLAYBOY: THE MANSION combines intriguing social interaction, party-throwing simulation and empire- building challenges in the gaming experience. This marks the marks Playboy's entry into videogame.
The Pixel Priestess looks at how the world of VFX fits into its sister (brother?) universe of games.
The U.S. Army has struck a deal with French gaming firm Ubisoft to bring its combat training game to Xbox and PlayStation 2, reports the AP. This new development pact will be an offshoot of the Army's popular multiplayer online PC game, AMERICA'S ARMY, which was launched in 2002. The videogame is scheduled to hit shelves in late 2005 or early 2006.
Henry Turner investigates the advancing and detailed production of gaming cinematics.
America Online has contracted Denis Thomopoulos of Hippo Works to transform his comic strip, IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE! into weekly cartoonlets. Highlighted by environmentally conscious messages, the Webtoons feature the comic adventures of Simon the Hippo, Peep the Bird and friends.
Hippoworks.com is a leading environmental 'edutainment' company. In addition to AOL, clients include ConEdison, EarthDayNY, The Lightspan Network, Whole Foods, and KidsRegen.org. For more information visit http://www.hippoworks.com or contact denis@hippoworks.com
