Play up
UK sales of computer and video games have grown by 17% so far this year, even before the launch of the Sony PlayStation 2, according to the European Leisure Soft ware Publishers Association (Elspa). Five titles have sold more than 300,000 copies through more than 5,000 retailers monitored by Chart-Track Ltd. Top titles are James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies, Gran Turismo 2, and Pokémons Red, Blue and Yellow.
Elspa says more than 19.2 million units of interactive leisure software sold in the year's first three quarters, compared with 16.4m in 1999. The value of games sales grew by 4% to £453m.
The market has benefited from the Pokémon craze, with almost three times as many Nintendo Game Boy cartridges sold this year.
EA down
Electronic Arts, the world's largest independent games publisher, has reported poor second-quarter financial results. Sales slumped to $220m compared with $339m for the same quarter last year, and the American company made a loss of $35m compared with a $20m profit. Larry Probst, EA's chairman and chief executive, blamed "the seasonally slow summer prior to the introduction of PlayStation 2".
But Activision, a US-based rival, did well: its second-quarter sales grew by 25% from $115m to $144 m, and net profits jumped from $1.1m to $4.3m. The figures were boosted by sales of three hit games: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Spiderman, and X-Men Mutant Academy.
KO bid
Virgin Interactive is offering a £2,000 reward for the capture of the "Lewisham kangaroo". The competition is to publicise Titus Interactive's comedy boxing game, Kao The Kangaroo, to be published for the Sega Dreamcast and PC in November. In the original game, developed in the US by X-Ray Interactive, Kao was called Denis.
Blam!!!
Sky One will break a record at 12.30pm on Saturday when it broadcasts the first in a 13-part series of lifestyle-oriented games programmes, Blam!!! - a record number of exclamation marks for the title of a British TV series. Sky Open subscribers will be able to buy featured games immediately using Gameplay's Idtv store. Non-subscribers can buy at www.gameplay.com/ blam .
BBC2 is producing an eight-part series based on the Unreal Tournament game. Bleeding Thumbs is expected to show around 6pm on Fridays.
