CNM Short Takes

Retail Council responds on video games surveyThe Retail Council of Canada’s Kevin Evans responds to a Decima Publishing/Decima Research poll on video games and regulation: The fact that a majority of parents want to see labelling on video game boxes that provides information about the content and age appropriateness of a game is encouraging and mirrors our own research. That is why the retail and game manufacturing industries have been promoting the ESRB ratings system, which now extends to virtually all of the games sold in the Canadian market today. Retail Council of Canada, in conjunction with the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) and the Electronic Software Association (Canada), has piloted a successful self-regulation model in British Columbia. Commitment to Parents was launched in collaboration with the B.C. government in November of 2001. Participating retailers voluntarily refuse to sell "M" rated games to customers under the age of 17, and commit to educating parents on the ESRB rating system. One measurement of the program’s success is that the B.C. government soon plans to repeal the Video Game Act, which was passed but never proclaimed by the previous NDP government in B.C. Recently, RCC’s Board of Directors instructed staff to roll Commitment to Parents out nationally. We are working with ESA Canada and major retailers on implementation, and are currently engaged in a dialogue with officials in Ontario and Manitoba where video legislation is currently being drafted. We believe Canadian parents and our children can be most effectively assisted in this area by government and industry working in partnership to ensure inappropriate gaming material is not sold to minors. I would be pleased to provide you with more information and context at your convenience. Yours truly, Kevin Evans Vice President, Western Canada Retail Council of Canada Universal tracks more than half-million tries at Hip downloadUniversal Music reports that more than half a million attempts were made during a five-week stretch from March 30 to May 7 to download the new Tragically Hip single Vaccination Scar, according to a media release by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. In all, more than 2.8 million attempts were made to download songs by the Hip during the same period. Legal downloads numbered under 1,000. A media release quotes the band’s frontman Gord Sinclair as saying, "Any reasonable person will be staggered by the disparity in those numbers. The grim economic reality aside, it shows how widespread the practice of downloading music has become. Don’t get me wrong. Anything that gets people into music is okay with me, but at some point people have to recognize their role in the creative process. To me it’s an ethical question. If you hear something you like, go out and support the artist. Tell your friends, see a show and buy their records. Your support helps the artist continue to create and it funds the discovery and development of new artists and new music. If you do your part, we’ll all benefit." The same media release quotes other well known Canadian music stars with similar messages, including Jann Arden, Kathleen Edwards and The Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson. New media business pitch on at Digifest 2004The New Media Business Alliance and Digifest 2004 have teamed up to give interactive content companies a chance to pitch their projects to a group of commissioning agencies and companies. The pitches were to take place on May 14 at the Digifest 2004 festival. Pitches will be made to Sympatico.ca’s John McLarty and Wendy Sexmith, Ted Brunt and Kim Wilson from CBC.ca, Marblemedia president Mark Bishop, and a wireless/mobile content participant who was yet to be named at press time. A roundtable discussion was also on schedule on the topic of The Evolving Digital Content Market. Hip Interactive revises guidanceHip Interactive Corp. has announced that it is revising previously announced earnings expectations by approximately $2.9 million as a result of "certain accounting errors recently uncovered and arising in the second and third quarter of the current year." New agency in B.C. to target economic developmentThe Innovation and Science Council of British Columbia (ISCBC) and the Advanced Systems Institute of B.C. (ASI) have announced plans to merge into a new Crown agency, the B.C. Innovation Council, to centralize the government’s technology development and commercialization programs. Cindy Lum, former CEO of ISCBC, has been appointed the new Crown agency’s chief operating officer. A media release notes that the new agency will "foster provincewide economic development and enhance B.C.’s ability to compete on a global scale by providing one-stop point of access and support to high technology companies, educational institutions, technology industry awareness groups, federal science and technology agencies and university research labs." In addition to supporting applied research and commercialization of science and technology, the new council will take over the administration of the province’s Science and Technology Fund from the Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development. The merger is expected to be completed by this September. Twenty Canadian firms get E3 exposure at Telefilm boothFirms from across Canada were showcased at the Telefilm Canada booth at the E3 show held in Los Angeles May 12 to 14. The firms were: Adventus Interactive (Nova Scotia) Arc-9 Interactive (Nova Scotia) Beyond FX (Quebec) Brighter Child (Ontario) Budget Monks Productions (British Columbia) Bug Tracker (Quebec) CREO (Quebec) DC Studios (Quebec) DECODE (Ontario) Digital Leisure (Ontario) Enzyme Testing Labs (Quebec) Firetoad Software (Alberta) Galilea (Quebec) Looking Glass Interactive (Manitoba) Manitoba Film and Sound (Manitoba) Mistic Software (Quebec) Quazal (Quebec) Sarbakan (Quebec) Transgaming Technologies (Ontario) Wave Generation (Quebec) Microsoft, Nortel team up for education project in P.E.I.Over 30 grade nine students from Prince Edward Island have been using their after-school hours to create business ideas using television, film, new media and enhanced information technology. The Youth in Business and Technology Program sees the students hone their technical skills with direct program instruction at the Atlantic Technology Centre, three rural Island IT centres and schools, as well as through online distance education using Microsoft’s Class Server and training provided by Nortel Networks Corp.’s Kidzonline. The program will conclude next month when two teams of students visit Nortel’s Ottawa facilities. In other P.E.I. news, Technology PEI has registered the domain name http://www.gameplan.ca. The site will launch June 1 as a strategic marketing and economic development initiative designed to grow the video game and interactive media sectors in P.E.I. One of GamePlan’s primary goals will be to match skilled media production workers with local companies offering employment. TechPEI has also taken a lead in bringing a team from Holland College, the University of Prince Edward Island and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, along with representatives from Magnet Mobile Media, Trapeze Animation Studios and Power Post Production to this year’s edition of E3. Price drops for consoles drives higher video game salesACNeilsen Canada says a drop in the price of video game stationary consoles in the first quarter of 2004 helped drive a 31% rise in unit sales of consoles to $97 million. Video game accessories posted a 25% increase in sales over the same period. Video game sales and related equipment reached $165 million in the first quarter, up 22% compared with the first quarter of 2003. The top seller in the quarter was Electronic Arts’ NHL 2004 for the PS2, followed by Nintendo’s Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle for the company’s Game Cube. EA rounded out the top three with its Need For Speed Underground title for the PS2. D-Box works with AZ universityD-Box Technology Inc. has formed a partnership with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona to adapt its Odyssee motion simulator system for use in pilot training, according to a May 11 media release. "This cooperative venture could give rise to a new field of applications for Odyssee motion simulation technology," reads the release

CNM Short Takes

Broadcast | May 14, 2004

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Broadcast | May 14, 2004

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