The Stinger Report

The Stinger Report

Asian Market Free-For-all
Restructuring and mergers are now commonplace within the Asian amusement sector, the Stinger reporting that Atlus will merge with Takara (the latter is owned by the Konami Group). Meanwhile Namco confirms their largest AM arcade project in Osaka. Other news includes the possibility of rekindled Sammy-SEGA merger talks, while game publisher Bandia and Nintendo are in merger talks, aiming to finish what SEGA failed to complete -all supporting the upswing in market fortunes as SEGA announces raised revenue projections.

The Re-Released Mania
Video amusement industry shows an interest not only for Retro "classic" titles, but also the resurrecting of titles that come from the recent past of development looking towards the re-releasing of games less than ten years old, hoping that a content hungry operation sector will look more favourably on once discarded releases, with the available list and also reveals some possibilities for consideration.

Euro Touchscreen & Pinball Shake-up
European development of touchscreen hits a speed bump: the market leader is faltering while competitors hope to move up. A number of sources reveal thinking behind changes at PhotoPlay, and the possibility of an attack on their market share. At the same time TAB is brought into focus regarding their strategy to expand a 250 unit penetration of their Virtual Pinball system after 12 months, and the loss of America¡¯s IT touchscreen system now focusing on its future, similarly to uWink now linked to selling assets out of the industry.

Simulator Problems for Disney (Part 3)
ETC, maker of Disney's new "Mission: Space" deluxe ride experience, attempts to rain on the Grand Opening of that very piece at Walt Disney World. Did Disney try to alter the facts about possible involvement by NASA as the originators of the attraction? Squabbles over safety monitoring are now claimed as a factor in the collapse of the Disney-ETC contract, prompting legal action by ETC. The Stinger Report having originally broken the lawsuit manages to get further details on this rocketing legal row.

The Stinger Report (in brief) is provided to Highwaygames by Kevin Williams, the publisher of "The Stinger Report". To read the full articles and information, please visit www.thestingerreport.com