Her Interactive announced that the NANCY DREW game series, developed by Her Interactive and published by Her Interactive and DreamCatcher Games, is ranked the No. 1 PC Adventure franchise in unit sales, according to the NPD Group Inc.
Helping boost the NANCY DREW franchise into the No. 1 spot are two new titles, NANCY DREW: CURSE OF BLACKMOOR MANOR and NANCY DREW: THE SECRET OF SHADOW RANCH, which are ranked three and four respectively.
The Art Institute of California - San Francisco announced it has remodeled its curriculum for interactive design in response to technology advancements and changing opportunities in the multimedia field. The school is now enrolling for its upcoming classes in the program starting January 10, 2005.
The new curriculum in "Interactive Media Design" will arm students with skills needed to enter the interactive graphics, digital marketing and Web development industries. The program is offered at both the Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science levels.
Virtools, a leading provider of interactive 3D authoring tools, announced a technology alliance with Softimage. Thus, anyone developing interactive content with Virtools for industrial, Web or game development use can now export characters, scenes, objects and animations created with SOFTIMAGE|XSI software directly into the Virtools Dev 3 environment, using the new Virtools exporter (public beta stage) for XSI software.
Lifemode Interactive, the facial animation and lip-synching software developers, will be participating at the CGI Festival 2004 in Leeds (Nov. 9-10, 2004, at the Royal Armouries Museum) and London (Dec. 7-8 at the Business Design Centre). This marks the first 3D graphics show in the U.K. since Digital Arts World nearly two years ago.
MGM Consumer Products and Interactive, has launch the STARGATE SG-1 "Get In The Game" sweepstakes. This contest offers STARGATE SG-1 fans the chance to have his or her likenesses scanned and used as one of the characters in the first STARGATE SG-1 videogame.
To participate in the sweepstakes, participants need to register at www.mgm.com/contest.do between Aug. 24 and Sept. 24, 2004, 12:00 am PDT. A random drawing will take place on Sept. 27, and the winner will be announced by e-mail.
Those who would like to play with the pretty Halle Berry version of CATWOMAN from Warner Bros. Pictures theatrical can get their paws on the new videogame from Electronic Arts available in stores now for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance and PC CD-ROM.
Atari Inc. has announced that it has shipped 2.5 million units of its highly anticipated DRIV3R to retails outlets worldwide. Since DRIV3R hit store shelves on June 21, 2004 in the U.S. and June 22 in Europe and Australia, consumer demand has been extremely strong.
"Our worldwide shipment is right in line with our plan for DRIV3R," said Bruno Bonnell, chairman/ceo of Atari. "The global DRIVER fan base is as robust and passionate as ever, as indicated by retail reaction in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France and other key territories."
Akira Matsumoto will take over as vp/gm for Buena Vista Games, Asia Pacific, the global interactive entertainment arm of Disney Consumer Products on July 1, 2004. He replaces Shuji Utsumi, who will be leaving the company to pursue personal interests.
CgA World 2004 heralds India's first international show dedicated to computer graphics, animation and interactive techniques. CgA will be an international expo on the latest computer graphics and animation technology and solutions. The event hopes to pull a large gathering of 2D and 3D application tools, engineers and developers. STUDIO SYSTEMS, the magazine for special effects, graphics and animation, will be the organizer of CgA. The event will attract buyers from the entire spectrum of applications of graphics and 2D / 3D animation.
Lectures and intense workshops will cover essential subjects to be considered during the development/pre-production phase for interactive entertainment projects. During the seminar in parallel up to ten selected projects will be provided with several face-to-face consulting sessions designed especially to the needs of their project.
MILIA is the leading global forum for the interactive industries. Now in it
sagas writing interactive fictioniTV Workshopheaded by Raimo Lang, YLE
Santa Barbara International Film Festival will present the 6th Annual Digital Days, an interactive showcase and forum featuring screenings, presentations, seminars and classes. Highlighting state-of-the-art digital moviemaking and multimedia, Digital Days 2004 will provide youth and film enthusiasts with an up-close and hands on experience with the latest digital software and computer technologies. Industry veterans and digital arts professionals will take part in several forums and interactive discussions.
In what Atari calls a "convergence first" between Hollywood and the interactive entertainment company, the videogame publisher announced it has retained Ridley Scott Associates (RSA) the commercial production company owned and run by legendary filmmakers Ridley and Tony Scott to produce an original three-minute live-action film inspired by the upcoming game, DRIV3R. The film short, which is the first of its kind in the videogame industry, is titled, RUN THE GAUNTLET, and will be the core component of both the DRIV3R Website, www.DRIV3R.com, and an extensive marketing and advertising campaign for DRIV3R being launched globally by Atari, beginning in late January.
RSA, the producers of several of the original series of short films on BMWFilms.com, is in post-production on RUN THE GAUNTLET, written and directed by RSA's Sean Mullens, and inspired by the characters, plot and action of DRIV3R. The third installment in the DRIVER franchise, DRIV3R casts players once again as the original Wheelman undercover cop Tanner who must infiltrate a global cartheft ring in an action-packed adventure that features Hollywood-caliber production values and a gripping, narrative storyline.
Mel Alcock has joined Fox Kids Europe (FKE) as exec director of commercial sales to oversee the generation of advertising sales and sponsorship revenue for all Fox Kids channels and online and interactive operations throughout Europe and the Middle East. Alcock will work together with Fox Kids local Managing Directors and Sales Directors.
Communication Arts Magazine announces the deadline for their Ninth Interactive Design Competition--January 15th, 2003.INTERACTIVE DESIGN COMPETITIONEnter the most prestigious design competition for interactive media, the ninth annual Communication Arts Interactive Design Competition. Any interactive project created for digital distribution on the World Wide Web, CD-ROM, interactive kiosk or handheld device is eligible.
Bringing Virtual Figures to Life and Creating Convincing Animated Characters for Film and Television.
A unique, interactive, intensive 2 day advanced character development workshop conducted as part of the Psychomechanics European Training Tour. This seminar dynamically introduces participants to the pre-production and production processes which, in derivative applications, have been utilized in the most internationally successful animated U.S. films of the past 5 years.
General Electric is known for being on the conservative side, so it must have done some serious thinking when it recently chose how best to re-brand itself. It chose Blitz Digital Studios (www.blitzDS.com) for its online re-branding, using the well-known interactive marketing agency to bring fun and clarity to staid GE product areas such as aircraft engines, resin plastics and wind power. Blitz, undaunted, came up with lively animated interactive games for these areas, which can be seen at http://geimaginationatwork.com.
Milia 2003 is the world's interactive content marketplace for interactive entertainment, broadband Internet, wireless media and interactive television. The 2003 edition marks Milia's 10th anniversary, and the event has moved to March 2003 to occur alongside MIPTV, the flagship international event for television programming.
Barry Diller has resigned as co-chairman/CEO of Vivendi Universal Entertainment to end investors' concerns about him also being head of USA Interactive. USA Interactive just unveiled plans to buy control of online service Expedia.com in a deal valued at $3.3 billion. Most of Diller's investments rest with USA Interactive where he is CEO/chairman. "My executive role was never intended to be permanent," Diller said in a statement.
Broadcaster CBBC in England debuted NELLY NUT on Monday, March 3, 2003, the children's channel's first totally live interactive animated on-screen character, which hosts a weekday 7-9:00 am breakfast show. Nelly Nut is a nine-year-old bundle of energy, smart, sassy and strong-minded who never leaves her trusty teddy bear friend, Miss Bunny, far behind.
Continuing its expansion into the European market, Isreal-based media company Pyramedia has sold its Media Interactive Technology (MIT) system to Swiss broadcaster Star TV. This is another big sale for Pyramedia, which recently sold its MIT software to Nickelodeon U.K. In addition to the MIT system, Star TV acquired Pyramedia's animated interactive game show ELY AND LILLY, which is scheduled to broadcast in German beginning December 21, 2002 on Star TV's weekend kids' line-up.
HOW magazine invites you to enter the 4th annual HOW Interactive Design competition. The categories include DVDs, kiosks, CD-ROMs, Web sites and -- new this year -- motion design. All winning work will be featured in the August 2003 Interactive Design issue of HOW. Plus, one Best of Show winner will receive a $1,000 gift voucher from outpost.com, and 10 Outstanding Achievement winners will each receive $100 gift vouchers.
Click 3xi, the interactive design division of New York-based Click 3x, recently designed a series of interactive television games that teach young children about science. Developed for the Crayola Kids Club, an interactive television service from the Hallmark Channel and Crown Interactive, Click 3xi designed the interface and provided scores of computer-animated elements illustrating the outcomes of all the potential choices that can be made during game play. The studio worked hand in hand with the Hallmark Interactive staff, who designed the game architecture and handled the programming.
Animation and interactive entertainment company Unbound Studiosrecently took home the gold. The Gold Broadcast Design Award forEducational Websites, that is. Unbound won for Sesame Street's MUSICZONE Website, which combines animation, interactivity and structuredlearning of music for a pre-school audience. Using the charm andhumor of the Muppets, Unbound designed and worked closely witheducators to fashion an engaging site that combined Macromedia'sFlash and Director programs with Beatnik audio to create operas and
