Main Stories
o WSJ: Microsoft to Cut Xbox Price From $179 to $149
o FTC to Track Consumer Complaints on Media Violence in Movies, Games, Music
o Nokia, Philips, Sony Developing New Wireless Device Interaction Technology
o Creative Commons Launches Music Sharing License, Content Search Engine
o "Unreal" Developer Epic Games Merges With Scion Studios
o TiVo Files With SEC to Raise $74.4 Million in Mixed Shelf Offering
o "March Madness" Drives Fans to Sports Web Sites

o Briefly Noted: T-Mobile - Mobile Jukebox service, Sirius Satellite Radio - Clarion, Sony - PS 2 hard drive launch, Activision Value - Rapala-Normark Group, TVWorldwide.com - Limelight Networks, Lars Liljeryd - Coding Technologies

New York -- The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Microsoft plans to cut the price of its Xbox video game console from $179 to $149 by early April, citing "people familiar with Microsoft's plans." The move is aimed at increasing demand for games in advance of the traditionally slow summer buying season. Microsoft will introduce the discount at U.S. retail chain Wal-Mart, followed by other major retailers, The Journal reported. When asked if Sony would follow suit with a price cut for its PlayStation 2, spokeswoman Molly Smith told The Journal the company has "no immediate plans to lower the price… We will make adjustments when we feel the market is ready." To date, Sony has shipped 70 million PlayStation 2 units to U.S. retailers, compared to Microsoft's 13.7 million Xboxes and Nintendo's 15 million GameCubes.
http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/040318/2233001372_2.html
_____________________________________________

o FTC to Track Consumer Complaints on Media Violence in Movies, Games, Music

Washington -- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced this week that it has expanded its consumer complaint handling system to categorize and track complaints about media violence, "including complaints about the advertising, marketing, and sale of violent movies, electronic games (including video games), and music." The FTC said it has added several new complaint categories to its general consumer complaint form specifically addressing media violence, including "complaints about ads for violent entertainment products airing or appearing in media inappropriate for children; ads containing an incorrect rating for violent content, or no rating at all; cross-marketing of violent entertainment products to children; and the sale or rental of violent entertainment products to children."
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/03/mediaviolence.htm
_____________________________________________

o Nokia, Philips, Sony Developing New Wireless Device Interaction Technology

Hanover, Germany -- Consumer electronics firms Nokia, Philips and Sony this week announced the formation of a joint venture that will develop the use of "touch-based" interactions in consumer electronics, mobile devices, PCs, smart objects and for payment purposes. Based on the RFID technology being implemented by retailers including Wal-Mart to wirelessly track inventory, the touch-based technology from the Near Field Communication Forum (NFC) will allow users to access content and services in an intuitive way by touching smart objects and connecting devices just by holding them next to each other. "The use of NFC technology in consumer electronics devices will increase opportunities for users to transfer data, implement secure transactions and download rich content," said Sony senior executive vice president Teruaki Aoki.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040318/185282_1.html 
http://www.nfc-forum.org
____________________________________________

o Creative Commons Launches Music Sharing License, Content Search Engine

Austin, Texas -- Creative Commons, a non-profit whose goal is to increase the number of freely-usable media works through non-restrictive copyright terms, announced this week the launch of a new music sharing license and Get Content search engine at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. The music sharing license allows musicians to clearly mark their songs as free to download and share while protecting their commercial and other rights. Works copyrighted under the Creative Commons music sharing license will then also be indexed in the organization's new Get Content search engine. In addition to music, the Get Content index also includes video, images, text and educational content whose owners have stipulated that their works may be shared freely and in many cases used in new commercial works or made into derivative works.
http://creativecommons.org/license/music 
http://creativecommons.org/getcontent
____________________________________________

o "Unreal" Developer Epic Games Merges With Scion Studios

Raleigh, N.C. -- Epic Games, a developer of 3D game engine technology and titles including the "Unreal" PC multiplayer game series, announced that it has merged with fellow developer Scion Studios. Scion is responsible for titles including the U.S. Army's multiplayer title, "America's Army," which uses Epic's Unreal Engine technology. Former Scion CEO Michael V. Capps will head Epic's development and production management in his new role as president of Epic Games, while Epic chairman and CEO Tim Sweeney will retain his current roles. "This will increase Epic's ability to develop multiple games, including those in its award-winning Unreal franchise, internally for both PC and console platforms," the company said, in a statement.
http://www.epicgames.com/epic_scion_press_release.html
http://www.scionstudios.com
____________________________________________

o TiVo Files With SEC to Raise $74.4 Million in Mixed Shelf Offering

San Jose, Calif. -- TiVo, a provider of digital video recorder equipment and services, said in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to sell $74.4 million in debt securities, stock and warrants. The company plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes. When combined with another $25.6 million in unissued securities, the total offering will equal up to $100 million.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/040318/tech_tivo_shelf_2.html 
http://www.tivo.com
____________________________________________

o "March Madness" Drives Fans to Sports Web Sites

Washington, D.C. -- Buoyed by the heightened anticipation of "March Madness" -- the nickname for the annual NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament -- Internet sports sites showed large increases in traffic for the week ending Sunday, according to statistics from Nielsen//NetRatings, a provider of Internet audience measurement services. The category of sites drew 20 million unique visitors from home for the week, up 14% from the previous week. Locally, traffic to AOL Sports jumped 69% to 2.1 million unique visitors, while traffic to USAToday.com Sports surged 33% to 660,000 visitors. Other sites showing sharp rises included Sportsline (up 56%), Fox Sports (up 38%) and ESPN and Yahoo Sports (both up 16%). Marc Ryan, the senior director of analysis at Nielsen//NetRatings said that online tournament brackets, real-time game results and timely commentary make the web a strong attraction for March Madness fans.
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com

Top

Top

Top

(Hanover, Germany) Wireless network operator T-Mobile has announced the launch of its Mobile Jukebox, a service that allows users to download song excerpts directly to their 2.5G or 3G cell phones. Designed in partnership with Sony Music and Universal Music Group, the 200 available tracks will be offered in T-Mobile's "Mobile Mix" format, which only allows for tracks from 90 to 120 seconds in length. The company added that it plans to offer full-length tracks as additional 3G handsets hit the market, likely by the end of the year. The service will initially be offered to T-Mobile subscribers in the U.K., Germany and Austria beginning in the second quarter.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N208638C7 
http://www.t-mobile-international.com

(New York) Sirius Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite-delivered digital radio programming, has announced that consumer electronics firm Clarion has shipped its Clarion SIRPNP SIRIUS Satellite Radio plug-and-play receiver to retailers. New York-based Sirius said the device is the smallest receiver available for its service. Clarion will sell the SIRPNP receiver for $99.95, plus $49.95 for a home or car kit, at retailers including Tweeter and Crutchfield.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040318/nyth154_1.html 
http://www.siriusradio.com 
http://www.autopc.com

(Foster City, Calif.) Sony Computer Entertainment America on Friday announced plans for a multi-million dollar marketing campaign to support the March 23 release of its $99 internal Hard Disk Drive (40GB) for PlayStation 2, which will come embedded with developer Square Enix's new title, "Final Fantasy XI." The company will run national broadcast, cable and print ads, which will be supported with online and retail campaigns.
http://us.playstation.com 
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us

(Minneapolis, Minn.) Activision Value, the discount-price PC game publishing label of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based developer, announced on Friday that it has signed an agreement with Rapala-Normark Group, a manufacturer of fishing lures. The multi-year license gives Minnesota-based Activision Value the rights to develop PC, console and handheld fishing games using the Rapala-Normark brand. Activision Value has a similar agreement with outdoors hunting outfitter Cabela's, which resulted in its "Big Game Hunter" franchise.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040319/laf018_1.html 
http://www.rapala.com 
http://www.activisionvalue.com

(Chantilly, Va.) Web-based TV network TVWorldwide.com on Friday announced a partnership with Limelight Networks, provider of a digital content delivery network. Under the agreement, Virginia-based TV Worldwide will provide front-end live streaming and webcast support to Arizona-based Limelight Networks' customer base, while TV Worldwide utilizes the Limelight digital delivery network for its large webcast applications that exceed 1000 simultaneous streams.
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=64609
http://www.limelightnetworks.com 
http://www.tvworldwide.com

(San Francisco) CNET News.com recently featured an article on Swedish inventor Lars Liljeryd, founder of digital audio developer Coding Technologies. The company's unique compression formats are now used by XM Satellite Radio, as well as by cell phone operators in Korea and England. On Friday, European wireless giant Vodafone said it will use Coding Technologies' aacPlus codec as the basis for its new mobile music download service.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023_3-5174929.html
http://www.codingtechnologies.com

Top

Top

Copyright 2004 Digital Media Wire, Inc. All Rights Reserved.