Play Meter

.IEUIS BRIEFS
111 Dawn Adorno
According to the New York Time s , Atari ' s n ew chairman , James J.
Morgan , plans to push the company more t oward home computers and ed -
ucationa l tools and to make Atari less dependent u pon game s .
Home
computers now account for approximately 21 percent of sales, while
games bring in 77 percent of revenu es .
Morgan , former e xe cutiv e vice
president of market ing at Phillip Morris Inc ., tol d t he Times , " the
biggest challenge is to transfer the culture of Phillip Morr1s into
a company that got too big too fast and hasn ' t ye t understood how to
be a big company and a successful company ." . . . . . . .. . .. . . .. . .. ... . .. . . .
Video ' s d ecl ining popularity has dampened t h e Tennessee state
legislature ' s h opes t o rai se $4 million by imposing a $100 per year
tax on video games . Jack Sammons , president of the Amusement and
Mus i c Operators of Tennes see , said that the number of ar cades in the
mid - south area of the stat e has d ropped from approximately 250 to
150 since la s t year .
Jerry Porter , manager of Game Sales Company ,
a distributor , est imat ed that income from vid eo games h as dropped 50
percent since last year on the estimated 5 , 500 games in the mid -
south . IIe added that videos ' earnings have dropped nationwide from
approximately $160 per game per week to about $80 .
Home video sys -
tems and the public ' s demand for new e nte rtainm ent are among factors
blamed for the recent decline . Sammons , however , feels that the
induslry will " rebound stronger than e v er , " according to the Memphis
Mid - Sou ch Business newspaper . .. .. . . .. . . . .. . ...... . . . . . . . . .. . .. . ..... .
Bus inesses with four or mo r e vi de o games i n Sunnyvale, California ,
will be considered ente rtainment and require a permit , the council
decided in July .
The permit costs $325 .
Council member Larry Stone ,
who question ed the permit , said , " we ought not to lose sight of the
fact that we are s it ti ng in th e h eart of where tha t induslry began .
I ' m a little bit queasy about too mu ch r egulation in that area . " . . . .. .
In Riv erside , California , the city plan n in g commission denied
a city permit revision to allow the Chur ch of Sciologos to operate
an arcade in its build ing .
Th e church , whi c h broke away from the
Church of Sc i e ntology last fall , was operating the Uni v ersity Arcade
wi thou l the city ' s perm i ssion .... .. . . .... .... .. ... ... .. ..... . .. .... . .
The Ne w Westminster, British Columbi a , council will send a res -
olution this fall to its provin cia l government r eq u esting that it give
municipa li ties the powe r to regulate the use of video games , e s pecially
by teenagers .
The city ' s licen sing and publi c solicitations commit -
tee proposed the resol u tion to aid a local operator who complained of
unfair competition , according to the ci ty newspaper, t h e Columbian .
The city ' s amusement hal l bylaw regulates arcades but not pool halls
or grocery stores . Alderman Sandy Tompson , who opposes the resolution ,
sa i d that the governme nt s hould not try to regulate what people
choose to play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . ... .
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PLAY M ETER. Se pte mber 15. 1983