Consumer News Round-Up: September 9th, 2004

Today's consumer news includes money loss tactics on Pong, some adult-related game character promotions, an important anniversary, and a child-oriented incursion into the 'TV Game' market. - Atari has announced a licensing deal with Alliance Gaming to create a series of slot machines based on classic Atari titles. The games, to be created under the Bally brand, will commence with a Pong-based slot, to be debuted at next month's Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. Other renowned Atari classics such as Asteroids, Centipede and Breakout are likely to take slot machine form in the future. - A number of female videogame characters, including Rayne from Majesco's forthcoming Bloodrayne 2 and characters from Sammy's Darkwatch and VU Games' Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude have banded together to show their 'assets' in the October issue of Playboy Magazine, hitting store shelves this week. Majesco's Laura Heeb commented to CNN Money regarding the pictorial spread: "The Playboy thing is nothing more than just another cool thing we can do with this franchise." - Several online commentators have pointed out that today, 9/9/2004, is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. release of the Sega Dreamcast, originally released on 9/9/1999. Although the Dreamcast is now history, and Sega has bowed out of the hardware market, the release date ranks alongside Mortal Kombat's 'Mortal Monday' as one of the most memorable in recent gaming history. - Toy company Techno Source has announced a deal with Crayola to produce a child-aimed 'TV Game' system, 'specially designed for little hands', called My First TV Play System. Companies such as JAKKS Pacific have led the recent popularity surge of all-in-one 'TV Game' systems, which plug directly into a television. Techno Source also announced a new license with Coleco at the recent Classic Gaming Expo, allowing the company to manufacture TV Play Systems including Coleco Head-To-Head and Coleco Electronic Quarterback.