Disney's Cars to become virtual world

Can smash franchise outrace Warcraft?


Never one to shy away from new markets, Disney has announced plans to take its enormously successful Cars film franchise online in the aptly-named World of Cars Online game.

Targeting younger players, the game will let kids create and race cars while interacting with notable characters from the film. Much like other massively-multiplayer games, World of Cars Online will also include basic social networking features.

Basing a virtual world on a three-year old movie might seem like an odd choice, but Cars remains one of Disney's most lucrative and popular properties -- global merchandising sales since its release in 2006 have broken records left and right. The company hopes the move into cyberspace will alleviate the sting of $45 million in first fiscal quarter losses reported by Disney Interactive Studios.

World of Cars Online is set to debut this summer. More information can be found at the official site.





http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/disney-s-cars-to-become-virtual-world/1286169

Analyst: Games to get cheaper (From Yahoo.com)

Could the days of the $60 video game be numbered?
Maybe so, according to statements made this week by video game industry analysts. Stores that cut video game prices over the holiday season might keep their lower prices permanently, Todd Greenwald, an analyst at Signal Hill, said in a release this week. As he put it, "To us, the biggest risk facing all publishers is the demise of $59.99 pricing for front-line 360 and PS3 software titles."

But we still might not be seeing lower prices on brand-new games. "Keep in mind there is a difference between price cuts on older, catalog titles that were released 3-4 months ago, and new, front-line AAA releases. While we may see plenty of more cuts on past holiday titles like Mirror's Edge, Madden, Guitar Hero, Saints Row 2, Prince of Persia, etc, we believe this is old news. What is far more important is where new releases are priced, and how that pricing is holding up," Greenwald said.

If you're a Wii gamer, though, you could be forgiven for assuming that this had already happened. A report from analytical firm EEDAR published this week indicates that median Wii game prices had already declined from $49.99 in 2007 to a present level of $39.99.

Although lower prices might seem like good news for consumers, Greenwald sounds a warning note. Lower prices would eat into publishers' profit margins, he says, as "development and publishing costs would stay virtually flat, while sales would take a 20% hit."



http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/analyst-games-to-get-cheaper/1286173