Quote:Complaint Cites Viacom's Lack of Support For "Star Trek" Movie and Television Franchise and Failure To Cooperate With Activision
Santa Monica, CA – July 1, 2003 – Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), a leading developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software products, today announced that it has filed a breach of contract suit against Viacom.
In its complaint, which was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California on June 30, 2003, Activision accused Viacom of breaching its fundamental promise to continue exploiting the Star Trek franchise consistent with its practice at the time the agreement was signed in 1998. “Activision cannot successfully develop and sell Star Trek video games without the product exploitation and support promised by Viacom. A continuing pipeline of movie and television production, and related marketing, is absolutely crucial to the success of video games based on a property such as Star Trek,” charged Activision in its court filings.
However, through its actions and inactions, Viacom has let the once proud Star Trek franchise stagnate and decay. Viacom has released only one “Star Trek” movie since entering into agreement with Activision and has recently informed Activision it has no current plans for further “Star Trek” films. Viacom also has allowed two “Star Trek” television series to go off the air and the remaining series suffers from weak ratings. Viacom also frustrated Activision’s efforts to coordinate the development and marketing of its games with Viacom’s development and marketing of its new movies and television series.
The complaint goes on to state: “By failing and refusing to continue to exploit and support the Star Trek franchise as it had promised, Viacom has significantly diminished the value of Star Trek licensing rights including the rights received by Activision. Moreover, in so doing, Viacom has breached a fundamental term of its agreement with Activision … and has caused Activision significant damage.”
As a result of the breaches by Viacom, Activision has terminated the agreement and filed a complaint seeking to recover the damages it has suffered and will suffer as a result of Viacom’s failure to abide by its agreement, and its stated intention to continue to breach its agreement, and seeks the return of the warrants now wrongfully in Viacom’s possession.
The company expects that the court filing and the termination of the agreement with Viacom will have no material impact on its previously provided first quarter and fiscal year earnings outlook.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted net revenues of $864 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003.
Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia and the Netherlands. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's World Wide Web site, which is located at http://www.activision.com.
The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements.” The Company cautions readers of this press release that a number of important factors could cause Activision’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. These important factors, and other factors that could affect Activision, are described in Activision’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003, which was filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers of this press release are referred to such filings.
Well, it seems that Elite Force 2 is the last Trek game we'll see for a while... not really surprising given how Trek is struggling, but its still too bad.
What's with this? It looks like I'm going to have to spend my entire August paycheck on games. Look at how many good games are supposed to be coming out around late August to early October, according to gamestop:
Mid-Late August:
GBA
Sword of Mana
GC
F-Zero GX
PS2
VF 4 Evolution
Silent Hill 3
Kengo 2
PC
Homeworld 2
Xbox
Otogi
September:
GBA
Mario & Luigi
Mega Man Zero 2
FF Tactics Advance
Boktai
Shining Shoul
Mario 3
Harvest Moon
Onimusha Tactics
GC
Soul Calibur 2 (also on PS2, Xbox)
True Crime (also on PS2, Xbox)
Billy Hatcher
Harvest Moon
PC
Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons...
Max Payne 2
Jedi Academy
Half-Life 2
Doom 3... maybe
Early-Mid October:
GC
Viewtiful Joe
Kirby's Air Ride
Rebel Strike
PS2
Jak II
PC
Deus Ex 2
MoH: Rising Sun
Men of Valor: Vietnam
Xbox
PGR 2
Sudeki
Steel Battalion Online
Can't they space these out a little bit? The early summer is pretty much empty.
You all know the rules, I state a quote from a TC member here and you all have to guess what the context of that statement was when it was said. Whoever guesses right gets to post the next quote.
And here it is!
"Technically, this isn't illegal until I'm finished."
So, was this person a software pirate, or trying to murder someone? Maybe it's just something about sandwitches. Or maybe it's murder, or even attempted killing. In any case, who said it, and in what context?
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger is at a crossroads.
Should he continue as filmdom's handsomely paid Terminator or become a Great Communicator as Ronald Reagan did when he gave up playing opposite chimps to make chumps out of his political opponents?
As the Austrian-born actor flits from interview to interview pushing "Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines," which opens on July 2, the third in the 20-year-old series of movies about machines out to destroy humankind, he demurely declines to deliver a definitive yes or no to the annual question of whether he will say "I'll be back" to his film career or start a new one as a Republican politician.
The plot is simple: As he promotes "Terminator 3," for which he was reportedly paid a whopping $30 million, Arnold is keeping an eye on a Republican-led movement to remove California's unpopular Democratic Governor Gray Davis in a recall.
If enough signatures are gathered by mid-July, the measure could be on the November ballot along with another question: If you recall Davis, who do want to replace him?
Schwarzenegger, who has eyed a political career on and off for years, could quickly mount a campaign and might even win because only a plurality of votes would be needed. Thanks to his fame, he'll go into an election with more name recognition than possible opponents.
"I have heard from both Democrats and Republicans who are close to him that he is definitely interested but 'definitely' in politics is different from 'definitely' in other professions," says one top-level California political player.
"But I think he will do it. His shelf life would be put to the test in a real 18-month-long gubernatorial campaign while in a 90-day-long recall election, he can ride on his name and hope he doesn't get asked any hard questions," the operative added.
FUN SCENARIO
Anyway that's the scenario and that's the one Arnold is having fun with as he drums up publicity for the latest, loudest "Terminator" yet, complete with a female villain who tosses Schwarzenegger from pillar to post.
Ever the perfectionist, Schwarzenegger even put up $1.4 million of his own money to pay for a car chase scene that involves his getting hit with a crane and slammed into a fire truck. The film was over budget until he came to the rescue.
Doing that kind of back-breaking work on a regular basis may be the real reason the man is eyeing the soft life of a politician. But it's not quite like what Ronald Reagan faced as his career dimmed and he wound up playing against a chimp in "Bedtime for Bonzo."
Plus the puns are good. Schwarzenegger can make jokes like "My kids are normal kids. They go to the mall and pass out recall petitions ." Or tell Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" as he did on Thursday that he's going to Iraq to show his film to U.S. troops and "There is no money over there. There's no leadership, pretty much like California."
But talking seriously with a group of journalists the other day, he insisted he isn't thinking about running for governor -- yet. "There is no reality there. There is no recall and I will think about it after promoting 'Terminator' around the world ... and that will take me to the end of July. My mind is not there yet."
Yet when asked by a reporter if a recall movement was not in effect terminating, or at least short-circuiting the democratic process, because an election was held just seven months ago, Schwarzenegger says no.
"There is a question of how the people feel. I think the people feel dissatisfied at what is being done in Sacramento and the way the governor is handling things," he said.
He added jokingly that it might be time for a sequel to another of his famous movies -- "Total Recall."
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Someone vote for this man...at least you cant do any worse
Hey it looks like Nintendo is finally beefing up their advertising. In the past two days I've seen three different Gamecube commercials for games that are coming out this fall; one for Rebel Strike, one for F-Zero GX, and one for some Wrestling game. It's great to see Gamecube ads this frequently (and I don't even watch that much tv), but it's even greater to see them hyping up games a few months before their release like Sony and MS do.
Quote:<b>Max Roivas rumored to believe "this isn't happening."</b>
Hypnotic, a Hollywood production company, has acquired the TV and feature rights to Nintendo and Silicon Knights' critically acclaimed 2002 title, "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem." The three companies have worked together in the past, as Hypnotic was responsible for overseeing the Eternal Darkness Films contest last summer.
Here's a little snippet from the Variety.com article:
"We are thrilled to once again work with Nintendo to extend this brand and its powerful story to the masses," said CEO Dave Bartis. "We are eager to get the project started and to leverage our relationships in both the entertainment and marketing worlds to propel 'Eternal Darkness' to another entertainment platform."
Okay, Hypnotic, listen closely. Eternal Darkness is one of those rare games that, if done well, would absolutely rock as a movie. If you do choose to make it, hire some good actors and spare no expense, and you'll make plenty off of it.
