Category: Games

THQ Inc. has released SCOOBY-DOO! for Game Boy Advance, based on the live-action/CGI movie coming to theaters on June 14, 2002. Players will explore locations featured in the movie, searching for clues to complete missions and ultimately, solve Spooky Island's big mystery. The environments for the game were inspired by actual movie stills and artwork. THQ will also be releasing SCOOBY-DOO! NIGHT OF 100 FRIGHTS, for PlayStation 2 and GameCube, later in 2002.

Digital content and design studio Super-Fi has recently completed an original online game and a series of online trading cards for tvland.com, the classic TV cable channel's Website. Both the game and the trading cards are part of tvland.com's BATMAN Website, promoting the classic live-action series that originally aired from 1966-68. TV Land currently airs BATMAN daily at 7:00 pm. Super-Fi worked in collaboration with tvland.coms creative director Michael Gaylord and head producer Steven Wishnoff to ensure the aesthetic integration of the game and trading cards into the BATMAN site.

At the 2002 E3Expo, children's video game publisher NewKidCo International Inc. unveiled their 2002 line up of next generation games based on properties in their catalog of licensees. New video games scheduled for release in 2002 include: titles based on both TOM AND JERRY and E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL for PlayStation2, GameCube and Game Boy Advance; DORA THE EXPLORER: THE HUNT FOR PIRATE PIG'S TREASURE for Game Boy Advance; THE SUPER STOO-PENDOUS WORLD OF DR. SEUSS for Game Boy Advance; and MUPPET PINBALL MAYHEM for Game Boy Advance.

Neighborhood friends ED, EDD N EDDY will soon be searching for jawbreakers on Game Boy Advance. Los Angeles-based videogame publisher Crave Entertainment has signed a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to develop a Game Boy Advance title based on the Cartoon Network series. The title is anticipated to ship in Fall 2002. The game will mirror the three friends' television quest to make money to buy jawbreakers. The object of the game is to help the Ed's win a contest whose grand prize is, of course, a lifetime supply of jawbreakers.

Just one month after slashing Xbox prices in Europe and Australia, Microsoft has followed suit in the U.S., marking down its Xbox game console to $199, $100 less than it was originally priced. Sony and Nintendo have also announced discounts to their next-generation consoles. Sony's PlayStation2 will be available for $199 (down from $299), while Nintendo's GameCube, always the lowest priced of the three, will now be priced at $149, $50 less than before.

Classic Disney characters meet FINAL FANTASY in Square Co., Ltd. and Disney Interactive's new project KINGDOM HEARTS for Playstation2. KINGDOM HEARTS follows the story of 14-year old Sora, who meets Donald Duck and Goofy, the protectors of the Disney Castle. Sora, Donald and Goofy join forces to find Sora's friends and King Mickey and save the universe from evil. More than 100 Disney characters appear in the game including characters from ALADDIN, TARZAN, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE LION KING and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

Game developer THQ Inc. has joined with Disney Interactive and Pixar Animation Studios in a publishing agreement that grants THQ exclusive interactive rights to the next three Disney/Pixar animated feature films, FINDING NEMO, THE INCREDIBLES and CARS. The worldwide deal extends through 2008 and includes all game systems manufactured by Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft as well as PC/MAC. FINDING NEMO, debuting summer 2003, is the first property that will be transformed for gaming platforms.

As part of their master publishing agreement with Nickelodeon, interactive software publisher THQ Inc. is in development on FAIRLY ODDPARENTS! for Game Boy Advance. Based on the Nickelodeon animated program starring Timmy Turner and his trouble-making, magical godparents, FAIRLY ODDPARENTS! for Game Boy Advance is scheduled to ship November 2002. The player will control Timmy, who enters the world of his favorite comic book hero, the Crimson Chin.

TDK Mediactive, Inc. has signed an exclusive three-year, renewable worldwide licensing agreement with Jim Henson Interactive, a division of The Jim Henson Company. TDK now has exclusive rights to develop and publish games based on many of the Muppet characters including Kermit, Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear for next-generation consoles, Game Boy Advance and PC platforms. TDK will reveal their gaming plans for the Muppet characters at the E3 Expo, May 22-24, 2002.

Interactive entertainment publisher Infogrames, Inc. will ship its first DRAGON BALL Z video game for Game Boy Advance, DRAGON BALL Z: LEGACY OF GOKU on May 14, 2002. The popular DRAGON BALL Z series airs in the U.S. on Cartoon Network, averaging more than 1.5 million viewers per show. The new game encapsulates the show into an interactive experience that puts the DRAGON BALL Z world under control of the player. Developed by Webfoot Technologies, Inc., DRAGON BALL Z: THE LEGACY OF GOKU will be available nationwide on May 15, 2002 for a suggested retail price of $29.99.

Seamus Blackley, co-creator of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox, resigned Monday, April 22, 2002, less than a week after the company slashed prices on the game console in Europe and Australia. REUTERS reported Blackley intends to launch a new game-industry startup and says his resignation was not related to Xbox's sluggish sales. But just six weeks after its debut, Microsoft has reduced prices for the Xbox game console in Europe and Australia. Effective April 26, 2002, the Xbox will sell in Europe for 299 euros (US$266) or 199 pounds (US$288), and in Australia for A$399 (US$215).

NewKidCo International Inc. has entered into a worldwide multi-year agreement with Nickelodeon to publish video games based on the Nick Jr. show DORA THE EXPLORER. The agreement grants NewKidCo the rights to create interactive products for all leading video game systems. The series follows Dora, a young Latina who lives inside a computer and uses her knowledge of English and Spanish to communicate with her friends, overcome obstacles and reach her goals. The series currently airs 11 times a week, both on Nick Jr. and as part of CBS' weekend programming.