Greek court lets gamers play another day

Stage one in the battle between Greek video game aficionados and the government faction that wants to fine them for playing has gone in favor of the gamers. Two Greek Internet café owners and an employee who were charged with breaking a law banning video game usage in public and private spaces had their case thrown out of court recently, when the presiding judge ruled the law unconstitutional. The controversial law, which the Greek government passed in July in an attempt to crack down on unlawful gambling, forbids anyone from playing video games on PCs, consoles and hand-held devices like Game Boys or cell phones. At press time, the Greek government had yet to repeal the law, which reportedly levies fines of between US$5,000 and US$75,000 on persons who are caught violating it.

Konami back in the Turtles’ fold

Gameco Konami, which grossed over US$500 million in sales of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games in the late ’80s and early ’90s, has signed on for more. Acting on behalf of property owner Mirage Licensing, agent 4Kids Entertainment has granted Konami exclusive worldwide rights to produce and publish multi-platform titles based on the new TMNT toon, which will launch on Fox Network’s The Fox Box block in Q1 next year. Konami’s first TMNT title is scheduled for release in Q4 2003.