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Pojo's Friday News Page
for May 7th, 2004

World's Best MAGIC: THE GATHERING Players Headed To E3 Expo for All-Star Tournament

RENTON, Wash. --(Business Wire)-- May 5, 2004 -- The world's best MAGIC: THE GATHERING(R) players will gather at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles May 12-13 for the prestigious MAGIC Invitational. The invited players, with combined winnings of more than $500,000 playing in MAGIC tournaments, will duel on MAGIC(R) ONLINE(TM) terminals at the Wizards of the Coast booth (West Hall #2240). Show attendees are invited to watch the pros in action and pick up tips and strategies for their own MAGIC ONLINE game.

The Invitational is the MAGIC all-star game, bringing together the very best MAGIC players in the world to compete and share their tips and strategies with more casual players. The Invitational winner will take home a unique, highly coveted prize: the opportunity to design a MAGIC card in his likeness. Wizards of the Coast will fly the sixteen invited players to Los Angeles for live competition May 12-13 during show hours. The 2004 MAGIC Invitational players will be traveling to E3 from across North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
 - Full Story

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New Expansions for Magic: The Gathering Digital

New card sets are uploaded approximately every four months, offering players endless strategies to add to their digital decks. The newest expansion, DARKSTEEL, will be available for demo at E3. On the heels of E3, Wizards will release the FIFTH DAWN expansion. - Full Story

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Baldur's Gate Coming to Mobile Phones

SAN MATEO, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- May 6, 2004 -- Atari, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATAR), a leader in interactive entertainment, and Sorrent, Inc., a leading creator and global publisher of mobile entertainment, today announced the signing of a multi-year licensing agreement. Atari, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATAR), under license from Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS), allows Sorrent to develop and publish wireless games based on Baldur's Gate, the popular franchise owned by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS).

"We're extremely pleased to create and publish Baldur's Gate on mobile phones," said Greg Ballard, president and CEO of Sorrent. "There's already significant anticipation for this game among fans of the series. This agreement further enhances our portfolio of entertainment applications to meet the demands of today's diverse mobile audience."  - Full Story

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WWE Smackdown Vs Raw - First PS2 details!

www.Smackdown5.com, the World's leading wrestling games site, has revealed the very first details about three exciting new WWE games:

WWE SmackDown! Vs. Raw – Scheduled for release exclusively on PlayStation 2 for holiday 2004 - Two of the biggest brands in Sports Entertainment will face-off this holiday season. Developed by Yukes, WWE SmackDown! Vs. Raw takes the top-selling, critically acclaimed SmackDown! franchise to the next level with added features and improved graphics.

WWE WrestleMania 21 - Scheduled for release exclusively on Xbox in early 2005 – WWE WrestleMania 21 will adopt a new developer, Studio Gigante. Using the power of the Xbox, the game will feature stunning visuals with several new game modes. WWE WrestleMania 21 is set to launch with the biggest WWE event of the year, WrestleMania.  - Full Story

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Game handhelds to take spotlight at E3

Story last modified May 6, 2004, 9:52 AM PDT

New hardware will grab the spotlight next week, as the video game industry gathers for the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in Los Angeles. While the major game machine makers are unlikely to spill the beans on their new living-room consoles, Sony and Nintendo will each show off new handheld players.

Sony's PlayStation Portable, introduced at last year's E3, is likely to be the star attraction. The company is expected to announce pricing, game selection and other details for the high-end portable game player.  - Full Story

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PS2 price cut chatter emerges, Sony Europe stands firm

Following Sony's rather gloomy predictions on the amount of PS2s it's going to ship this financial year, analysts in the US have been queuing up to predict that Sony will be forced to announce a price cut at this year's E3, or else lose significant sales to Microsoft's Xbox.

With the PS2 retailing for $179 in the US, it's currently the most expensive of the three major consoles and analysts are suggesting that Sony will come under pressure from game publishers to make the cut in order to stimulate software sales. Some analysts are even predicting that this month the Xbox, which currently retails at $149, will actually outsell the PS2 for the very first time in the US. - Full Story

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