It was hard to tell with all the flashing laser lights, simulated explosions and costumed characters walking through the Los Angeles Convention Center, but for the Orange County contingent at last week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show, video games are serious business.
Interplay Entertainment Corp., the Irvine publisher that houses Shiny Entertainment, Titus Interactive and Virgin Interactive, touted its 2000-2001 lineup with a promotional movie that combined a spoof on the TV game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and Dr. Evil, the arch-nemesis of kitschy secret agent Austin Powers. The movie featured Interplay’s staff being killed off for giving wrong answers in a game show about the company’s newest titles.
Interplay is working on a slew of releases: a sequel to the fantasy role-playing game “Baulder’s Gate;” a real-time strategy game set in the Star Trek universe; and one of the scariest-looking titles to appear on the computer screen, “Run Like Hell.”
The company is also working on a racing game set in San Francisco called “Motor Madness.” If it sounds similar to Microsoft Corp.’s “Midtown Madness,” it’s probably no accident,the games are remarkably similar.
GameSpy Industries, the Irvine company that links players through game-matching software and web sites, trotted out hotshot female gamer Kornelia Takacs to show a few people that “fragging”,gaming vernacular for killing an onscreen opponent,isn’t just for the boys. Takacs can beat most opponents at male-centered shoot-’em-ups like “Quake” and “Unreal,” a feat that drew the attention and admiration of more than a few convention attendees. But, apparently, Takacs’ appearance went largely unnoticed by convention organizers, who hosted a talk on marketing so-called girl games in the same building.
Blizzard Entertainment, an Irvine game maker that’s part of France’s Havas SA, showed off its upcoming “Warcraft III” sequel and said “Diablo II,” the highly anticipated follow-up to the comapny’s 1997 hit, is in the final testing stages.
And Square Electronic Arts, a Costa Mesa-based venture between Japan’s SquareSoft Inc. and Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts Inc., touted several new titles for video-game consoles, including the latest in its Final Fantasy series, a driving game and a title that simulates the life of a nightclub bouncer.
Other companies at the show included: Brea compact disc duplicator Concord Disc Manufacturing, and Laguna Hills software liquidator Elisa Sales & Distribution Inc. Also on hand was Costa Mesa Internet access provider Epoch Internet Inc., game developer Sunsoft, (part of Costa Mesa-based Sun Corp.), Santa Ana music technology developer Van Koevering Co. and Cypress driving game maker Video System USA.
Every Last Inch
Irvine low-cost computer maker eMachines is selling more swanky real estate,on its keyboards.
Days after saying it would program a music button on new computer keyboards to link to New York-based GetMusic LLC’s site, and a shopping button tied to Sunnyvale-based ShoppingList.com, eMachines is selling the “surf” button on its keyboards to eTour.com, an Atlanta company whose site helps users organize their favorite Internet destinations.
Neither company is disclosing financial terms, but it’s safe to say the deal won’t be eMachines’ last. The money-losing company, hit hard by Wall Street’s recent souring on tech stocks, is set to sell more precious terrain in an attempt to squeeze every possible dollar out of its line of popular but low-profit PCs.
For more: www.e4me.com.
Newport Corp. Gets Dose of Reality
High-flying Newport Corp., an Irvine company that makes testing equipment and automation systems for fiber-optic telecommunications and computer gear, was downgraded by RedChip.com, a tracker of tech stocks.
Just months ago, Newport was a sleepy market underperformer. But the company’s shares have been on a tear since December, based on Newport’s products for the hot fiber-optic market. While Newport’s shares recently have suffered along with other tech stocks, they’re up by more than 50% for the year.
The small-cap research firm stated this month that despite healthy demand among Newport’s fiber-optics customers, shares may be overvalued around $125 per share.
And Newport got some good news Monday when Samsung Electronics Co. said it was ordering $2 million worth of automated laser welding and test and measurement gear from the company.
Different NewPort Appoints CEO
NewPort Communications,no relation to Newport Corp.,has appointed founder Armond Hairapetian chief executive. The former Rockwell engineer founded NewPort in 1996 after becoming frustrated with what he called Rockwell’s slow-footed adoption of high-speed networking technology.
Hairapetian was quick to deflect attention, using his appointment to announce the company’s newest mixed-signal circuitry, a 10-gigabit-per-second transceiver chipset for fiber-optic networks.
For more: www.newportcom.com.
