The French government now has a short list of bidders for the Hollywood film studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, that it owns. France is reportedly hoping to get between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion to recoup some of the $2.5 billion that Credit Lyonnais sank into MGM. Credit Lyonnais acquired MGM in 1992 when its owner, Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti, defaulted on loans. MGM was later spun off to the holding company, Consortium de Realisation (CDR), under a state bailout of the bank.
Some of the reported bidders of this odd ball situation are: Anglo-Dutch
music and film company PolyGram, controlled by Dutch electronics giant
Philips; Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan of New Regency Enterprises whose backers include Australian media mogul Kerry Packer; The Walt Disney Co., Paramount owner Viacom Inc.; and the NBC television network, owned by General Electric Co.
SEYBOLD EXPANDS IT EXPOSITION TO INCLUDE THE INTERNET
Seybold Exposition, one largest and most comprehensive events for publishing, printing and graphics professionals, will include the Internet@Seybold exposition September 11-13, 1996 with Seybold San Francisco. Internet@Seybold will also be part of Seybold Seminars New York, April 25-27, 1997.
The targeted audience for the Internet@Seybold San Francisco will be Internet business managers, Web developers, Internet Publishers and IS professionals, focusing on the tools, technologies and applications needed for Internet- and intranet-based electronic publishing. Internet@Seybold was developed as a result of the demands for data-intensive prepress networks, as well as the need for Information Publishing Professionals to fully integrate networking and Internet technologies into their creative and production processes.
Internet@Seybold will deliver a full range of educational opportunities including conferences, courses, and full day seminars for its audience of Information Publishing Professionals. Internet@Seybold will also host exhibits from the leading vendors of Internet-related products and services. For further information, call Annick Baudot at 415-578-6834. Companies interested in exhibiting should contact Tom Martin at 415-578-6853.
TWISTER STORMS INTO THEATERS
Are you fascinated by tornados, and do you wonder why tornados almost always hit mobile home parks? Well you can take this fascination and gaze in awe while you nibble on popcorn because the action-adventure movie Twister is coming to theaters earlier than expected. The debut of Twister is slated for May 10, 1996, and will star Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. This Warner Brothers film touts Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Gerald R. Molen as the executive producers. The film is written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin and produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Ian Bryce and Michael Crichton.
TEMPTING TV
There's going to be a new television show that will feature the digital revolution. And, quite naturally, such a show seems to be quite at home coming from one of the publishing leaders within the digital revolution--Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. This show is the result of development and co-production by a new Ziff unit called ZDTV with MSNBC. Topics that will be covered include Internet controls, the latest in technology news, and advice to consumers. The program will be both a cablecast as well as an Internet site. Viewers of the TV show will be able to go to the site for more information on topics of interest viewed in the show. Additionally, scripts, transcripts, more video and information from behind-the-scenes will be available at the site.
PERSPECTIVES
Mudgeon's CyberChat
Due to my constant musings deep within the dark voids of the Inside Games & Entertainment Update offices, I must admit to the making of an error. No, I do not mean baseball, I mean an article I wrote not too long ago. This issue was Volume 2, Number 41, wherein in waxed poetic about the Sony PlayStation. Unfortunately, I called the external connections RGB jacks and not RCA jacks! Yes, my fine friends, there is a difference 'tween the two. My apologies to you and to Sony for this gross error. To make amends, I hereby republish the first portion of that article so that you can obtain the full and correct flavor of my thoughts upon the Sony PlayStation.
I have also decided to reprint my thoughts on Apple Computer's refocus on the digital entertainment industry. Thanks to the likes of , Apple appears to be, once again, staging itself for a major run on game development. This could be cool! Now, back to Zork Nemesis from Activision—-what a dynamite game!
PlayStation Fixation: The Machine, Some Titles, Great Fun!
Toweling my forehead dry of perspiration, I sit quietly for a few moments. A loose strand of hair whips in front of my eyes, saturated with the moisture accumulated from extremely hard play, and awakens me to the realization that my fingers are numb. The experiences of the last few days flash before me as I come to the immediate understanding that I have multiple chores to complete and no time within which to finish them. This, fine folk, is a condition known as PlayStation Fixation.
Unlike many others within the editorial press, I did not rush out to purchase the Sony PlayStation (PSX) when the unit first appeared. Instead, I deemed it necessary to wait until more and more "revolutionary" titles began appearing on retailer shelves. After all, despite the handsome appearance of the unit itself, hardware is merely the outward manifestation of engineering acumen. What any good hardware platform requires is exemplary titles with which the unit may show off any skill sets it possesses.
Mid-January proved to be the most efficacious moment for this purchase, which I must state was far from trivial. As an adult leaning towards the golden side of life, the expenditure of funds for any unit is a strain upon a budget. Therefore, the rewards for such pain must be rather extraordinary. I can honestly tell one and all that the PSX merits such wallet withdrawals.
Yes, the engineering appears to be top drawer. The included PSX controller seems to fit the hand quite well, although I now prefer the ASCII Entertainment Software Ascii Pad PSS with a rounder shape and toggles that enable a variety of play modes--such as slooooooowing down game play to a bearable level for one whose fingers are not quite as agile as they once were in my youth. Final price for the base unit, two controller units from ASCII, two 15 sector memory cards and three games was a tad over $600. The non-inclusion of a TV adapter for those consumers who don't own televisions with RCA jacks is a serious oversight by Sony. Why anyone should have to pay extra for such a necessity is beyond comprehension and truly proves that, although engineering may know their silicon from holes in the ground, marketing is usually quite able to negate good works.
[THE FOLLOWING STUFF IS NEW TO THIS EXAM OF THE PLAYSTATION]
I must thank Kevin Horn of Sony for re-educating me regarding what comes with TVs these days. Yes, granted, most TVs sold in the last five years all possess RCA jacks. These, of course, fit the PSX quite nicely as input receptors for the video and sound. And, for those who still run their older TVs, such as myself, that don't have the RCA input capability, perhaps we have a VCR around the house that we can connect to the TV with the necessary RCA jack input receptacles. That should take care of the problem once and for all. Additionally, many of us now run our TVs through our stereo systems with--yep, you guessed it --RCA jack input. And some of the soundtracks on PSX games are truly mind-blowing when channeled through your stereo system. Yet, for the eight gamers that remain without a stereo hooked up to their TV, without a VCR in their study where they do much of their game work, the lack of RCA jacks can prove to be a dilemma. But perhaps not as much a one as I initially thought.
The titles I have enjoined are, truly, enormous game pleasure givers. Some are quite new, a couple somewhat older in issue, but all found me totally involved. What was quite a feat was the involvement of Pattie Lesser to play against me in the two-player titles, and she, also, lost track of time. That has never happened for Pattie with a PC computer game (although there are two pinball games for the Macintosh that she is absolutely addicted to playing). Yet another proviso does raise a warning--when you note a title is a two-player game at your favorite store, ensure that the two-player status is for a single-unit approach. Several PSX games that clamor their multi-player capabilities require a second unit and a connection cable from one machine to the second in order for two folk to play the game. That connection is called a Link Cable and is really easy to install between the two PSX machines. All I recommend is that you remain cognizant of the fact that some two-player titles will require this linkage.--Mudgeon
