Round-Up: Pachter Maintains Majesco Sell, New LucasArts VP, D&D Online in Japan

Today's news round-up looks at Michael Pachter's gloomy outlook for Majesco in 2006, a new vice president of global marketing and sales for Lucasarts, and the arrival of a D&D MMO in Japan, along with the latest product news, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has issued guidance on video game publisher Majesco Entertainment, maintaining a Sell rating due to expectations of a weak first quarter. The analyst predicted revenues of $15 million; Majesco will issue official results after the close of the market on Monday, March 13th. "Majesco has struggled recently and we believe that it will remain challenged in FY 2006," said Pachter. "We are hopeful that recent management changes will position the company to achieve profitability, but given the lack of near-term earnings visibility and liquidity constraints, we are maintaining our Sell rating." - LucasArts, the video game publisher originally founded by George Lucas, has named Nancy MacIntyre as its new vice president of global marketing and sales. MacIntyre was previously the senior director of Star Wars Galaxies, and has also served as vice president of marketing for Atari. "I can’t imagine a more exciting company in the videogame industry to work for right now," said MacIntyre. "LucasArts is hot off what was by far its most successful year ever in 2005, and this new position offers me the welcome challenge of playing an even bigger role in continuing this unprecedented momentum." - Turbine Inc., publisher of Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, has announced a deal with Sakura Internet to distribute the D&D-based MMORPG in Japan. Sakura will handle marketing, distribution, and operation of the game within Japan, with Turbine contributing to the title's localization. "Sakura has a rich online history and tradition in Japan and we are tremendously excited to be in partnership with them," said Turbine president and CEO Jeffrey Anderson. "We see the Japanese market as an exciting opportunity for the title." - The latest posts on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a horrific homemade controller for Death Crimson on the Saturn, a little somethin'-somethin' called Calderoids, and the first installment of our new column, Game Ads A-Go-Go, taking a look at some of the less memorable video game adverts from the early 90s. - Also updated today: product news on Avid Technology's Softimage: Face Robot, as well as the latest Gamasutra job postings, including positions from Vivendi Universal, High Moon, LucasArts, Spark Unlimited, Bethesda, The Collective, Crank Pants Games, Datascope Recruitment, Terminal Reality, and WMS Gaming Australia.