Crispy Gamer News

Konami has decided to take control of the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game, according to a statement issued by the company today. Besides being a popular and lucrative trading card franchise in North America and Asia, the Yu-Gi-Oh! brand is also a popular series of cartoon shows and video games.

Konami holds the exclusive rights to the card and video games in North America and various countries in South and Central America and Europe, but before today had a hands-off approach to the trading card part of the license. Kazumi Kitaue, Chairman and CEO of Konami Digital Entertainment, said that taking control of the card game will allow the company to have more synergy between the collectible trading card game and the video games.

THQ, already known for its hit WWE SmackDown vs. RAW series, apparently has enough stroke to even put the fighters of the Ultimate Fighting Championship down for the count. According to a Sports Illustrated report, UFC fighter Jon Fitch has been terminated from the franchise (along with many of his American Kickboxing Academy teammates) for refusing to sign away rights to his image for use in THQ’s upcoming UFC video game.

According to the report, the problem stems from UFC’s requests that fighters sign a merchandising deal giving the UFC rights to use fighters’ likenesses in various licensing deals for life. The issue with Fitch apparently finally came to a head when he was approached with the THQ deal.
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Midway will nearly double its projected loss for the third quarter, based on the “cancellation of future versions of related game properties and associated development expenditures,” the company revealed today. While Midway did not name names in its release this morning, but it did say that its previously projected loss of $0.49 per basic and diluted share would rise to $0.70 per share on a non-GAAP basis (which includes approximately $0.10 of non-cash convertible debt interest expense).

“The resolution of these licensing arrangements on good terms for the company is a very positive step as we continue to review Midway’s involvement with underperforming projects and focus on our core properties,” said Matt Booty, interim CEO and president. “Our fall lineup and strong pipeline of games that tie in to market-leading licenses like DC Comics and TNA Wrestling underscore our strategy of aligning with consumer and entertainment properties that can drive a solid gaming experience.”

In a recent interview, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello vowed that his company would not make anymore crappy licensed games. For my part, I vow not to be snarky anymore. Speaking to MTV, Riccitiello said that his company is not in the business of creating crappy games to exploit licenses. Yes, all those Harry Potter games EA has created were totally awesome.

But all kidding (am I really kidding here?) aside, EA’s line-up of licensed properties is pretty light this year anyway; the company is working on a Littlest Pet Shop game, A Nerf title, a Hasbro console game, A new Harry Potter title, and a Lord of the Rings game. The rest of the company’s line-up are wholly owned franchises (EA Sports, The Sims, products form Pandemic and BioWare, etc), publishing partnerships with companies like Valve and id Software, and new IP’s like FaceBreaker, Mirror’s Edge, and Dead Space.

If anything EA ought to stop exploiting its wholly owned franchises.. like The Sims.

Source: MTV Multiplayer

Electronic Arts has extended its exclusive licensing relationships with the National Football League and NFL Players. The agreements also provide EA access to both NFL Films and the NFL Network. The extended exclusive agreement gives the company the right to create videogames on all conceivable platforms including consoles, PC and mobile phones. The license will now expire in Feb. 2013, which marks the end of the 2012 season.

Some NFLvideo game fans weren”t as delighted about this news as EA is, because it effectively makes EA’’s franchises (Madden, NFL Tour, NFL Street) the only games in town outside of games that are fantasy-based, NFL-free titles. Playing a football game that isn”t based on the NFL is like buying Doctor Thunder from WalMart; it may taste like Dr. Pepper, but there’’s nothing like the real thing.

Lighthouse Interactive announced today that it has signed a licensing agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment America. The publisher licensing agreement gives Lighthouse the power to develop and publish video games for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. The company did not reveal whether or not this license gave it the right to publish PlayStation 3 titles.