Industry News
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The nominees for the second annual Power Retailing Awards have been announced by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA). 22 stores have received nominations in four categories: “Outstanding Store,” “Outstanding Store Design,” “Outstanding Marketing,” and “Outstanding Organized Play.” The winners in each category will be recognized at the GAMA Dinner on Tuesday, March 15 at the GAMA Trade Show.
The awards were created last year to recognize excellence in game retailing. The awards being presented cover stores that were in operation during 2010. Any store that specializes in hobby games, including both dedicated game stores and stores that combine games with other lines.
Anyone can nominate stores for the awards through GAMA, though stores that won an award last year cannot be nominated for the same category this year. A volunteer judging committee reviews the nominations and chooses the best store in each category. Click on the 'Read more' link below to see the categories and this year’s nominees.
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Illegal BitTorrents Account for 11.4%
A study by the U.K.-based Internet research firm Envisonal reports that 23.76% of worldwide traffic on the net involves pirated content. In the U.S. the figure was lower with an estimated 17.53% of traffic involved in piracy. Video streaming accounts for between 27% and 30% of U.S. traffic, but only 1.52% of that is illegal.
The Innovation Policy Blog reports that the difficult to police BitTorrent traffic accounts for 18% of worldwide bandwidth use, with at least 11.4% of that figure devoted to copyright infringing activities. Of the 2.72 million torrents that Envisonal investigated, two-thirds were illegal. Of the10,000 most popular BitTorrent transactions, 35.2% were copyrighted films, 14.5% was TV shows, and nearly 7% was games.
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A new Dungeons and Dragons movie based on Book of Vile Darkness is in production for Syfy, according to Wizards of the Coast.
Like Wrath of the Dragon God, which was released on DVD in 2005, Book of Vile Darkness is being produced by Zinc Entertainment.
Like Wrath of the Dragon God, which was released on DVD in 2005, Book of Vile Darkness is being produced by Zinc Entertainment.
Book of Vile Darkness, written by Monte Cook, is one of the very few D&D sourcebooks released by WotC marked for mature readers.
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Toy giant (and WotC parent) Hasbro announced that its Q4 2010 sales did not meet expectations, and were down vs. the previous year. The company said that its Q4 sales were $1.3 billion in 2010 vs. $1.5 billion in 2009, due to declines in U.S. and Canada net revenues (international revenues were up). It attributed the decline in revenues to a decline in U.S. consumer demand late in Q4.
As a result of the Q4 sales decline, Hasbro’s full year sales were also down in 2010 vs. the previous year. Earnings are still expected to be up (due to expense control) by a modest amount.
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Borders has retained bankruptcy (and restructuring) counsel Kasowitz Benson, Torres, & Friedman to advise the company as it attempts to restructure its debt, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company is trying to stay out of bankruptcy court, according to the report.
It would not be unusual for a company to hire bankruptcy counsel even if it hopes not to file, so that it can conduct its business in such a way so that if it does have to file, it has taken the proper steps. Bankruptcy counsel can also advise the company on how to use the threat of bankruptcy to extract concessions from its creditors.