I don’t really want to go back and actually give you a hard number on how many times we (or any other outlet) have reported about Atari being threatened with delistment by NASDAQ. Trust me, it’s been quite a few, as this has been brewing for what feels like years. But the Infogrames subsidiary has finally seen itself delisted from the NASDAQ Global Market, which suspends trading of the company’s shares.

Atari plans on requesting a review, according to GI.biz, which could potentially allow for Atari stock to be traded even if the suspension is not ended. The company is expecting to be quoted on the Pink Sheets, which allows for companies that have been delisted to continue trading.

We know that Infogrames has big plans for Atari — or at least the Atari name. How this will affect those plans remains to be seen, but this certainly isn’t going to help the situation for Phil Harrison and company.

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David Gardner, CEO of Infogrames, has been working hard on transforming his company, with the help of president Phil Harrison. Among the list of changes the two are contemplating, dropping the name of Infogrames for Atari is a tempting proposition.

“I’d like to consider that, I think that would be the final mark of the transformation from Infogrames to Atari,” said Gardner. “We have a new board of directors, a new management team that’s less than a year old - so yes, it’s really continuing.

“We like to think of Infogrames, instead of being the tired, old company, we like to think of it as the best-funded, best-branded, most energetic start-up in the history of computer gaming.”

While I think a move to the Atari name would be refreshing for Infogrames internally, I don’t know anyone who would characterize Atari as being the best branded, best funded, or anything else of the sort.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Harrison explained that he and Gardner had been brainstorming ideas for a new company. When the opportunity to take over Infogrames presented itself, it fulfilled everything the two wanted.

“We had a very interesting series of dreams, of discussions, about if we were to create a company, what kind of company would it be, and what direction would it be headed in,” he said. “We got quite a long way down that path, and then, out of leftfield, this opportunity came along.

“When we were evaluating it, we thought about what we would want from a successful company. You’d want people, products, you’d want revenue and cashflow. You’d want some infrastructure, some offices around the world, and it’d be great to have a brand that was a global brand.

“And I tell you, that was the hardest thing when I was trying to brainstorm this, when I was trying to come up with a brand that we could use worldwide - every time I came up with a new name for a games company, I’d Google it and find that somebody had already taken it.

“So when we were looking at what we’d need to create a successful company, and then we evaluated what Infogrames has, it ticked all the boxes.”

Apparently a history of threats to have its most valuable asset delisted from NASDAQ wasn’t one of those boxes.

Yes, it’s happening once again like a bodily function the company just can’t shake – Atari is once again being threatened with a delisting by the hands of NASDAQ. In the past, it’s been due to the company’s declining value and failing to file annual reports on time. This time, it’s a failure of a NASDAQ requirement to have the company’s value reach and/or exceed a value of $15 million for ten consecutive days, which Atari did not do by the March 20 deadline.

Atari has requested a hearing before a NASDAQ panel so that they may appeal the decision, according to GamesIndustry.biz. Given Infogrames’ attempt to acquire the rest of Atari, they might be able to make a solid argument. However, Atari admits that there are no assurances one way or another, so a NASDAQ delisting might be unavoidable at this point.

Things are off to a rocky start for the Phil Harrison Atari era, but I feel confident in saying he’ll be able to help turn things around.

While already the majority shareholder in the company, Infogrames announced this week that it intends to buyout the remaining Atari stock it doesn’t already own. The offer would be for $1.68 per share.

Atari’s board of directors has said that it will take a thorough look at the offer before making a decision. Atari is viewed as a major brand for Infogrames under the new leadership of CEO David Gardner and president Phil Harrison.

I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that this deal will go through (with little to no negotiating on the stock price) and Infogrames will have taken another step forward in their revitalization of the company. I’m excited to see what Infogrames does with Atari and what Phil Harrison has in store for us.

via GamesIndustry.biz

Making his first speech since being named president of Infogrames, Phil Harrison addressed colleagues roughly half a day later. He and Atari CEO David Gardner talked Monday about “the vision Phil and I have been sharing and really enjoy, the idea of the future of a network-centric gaming world.” Harrison had big words for Atari, claiming the company is “the best opportunity that exists in the industry today to redefine, refocus and re-energise an incredible brand, an incredible group of people towards that networked future.”

Harrison wasn’t overly specific when explaining why he decided to resign from his position at Sony, only saying that “the things that excited me the most, the things that turned me on as a gamer, and as a business person, and as a creative person were the future of our industry, the connected community experiences - all the things we’re starting to see emerge that are really exciting players around the world.

“And those are the things I started thinking about in terms of creating a company or getting involved with a company to really shape and direct a business towards that future.”

The two execs seemed very upbeat and tried to get across the fact that they don’t intend to turn Atari into a “big corporate entity,” maintaining that their plans for Atari would be “fun.” The two didn’t even bother to wear suits or ties, prompting Harrison to point out, “As you can see David and I are the suits.” Oh, I see what you did there, Phil.

I must say, I’m very intrigued by Atari now that Harrison is at the helm. Previously, I really didn’t see them as a top tier game developer or publisher. Now, I can certainly see Atari becoming a very important piece of the industry.

via GamesIndustry.biz

Following his unexpected departure from Sony as head of worldwide studios, Infogrames has named Phil Harrison president of the company. He’ll work alongside the company’s new CEO, David Gardner.

“This is the perfect time to join Infogrames and help shape the future of Atari - one of the industry’s legendary brands. As the game business moves rapidly online I believe we have an outstanding opportunity to create amazing network game and community experiences for players the world over.
“I am especially excited to be working on this challenge together with David, one of the most respected leaders and successful executives in our industry,” said Harrison.

This was rumored to be the case, following Harrison’s apparent disenchantment with his former employer. A few weeks ago, we reported on how he was frustrated with his colleagues in Japan who believed there to be no market for social games in Japan – a market Nintendo is now thriving upon.

via GamesIndustry.biz

In a clear attempt to get his point across, Gas Power Games’ Chris Taylor declared, “PC gaming as we know it is dead… secure gaming is the future.” He said this at Dave Perry’s “Lunc with the Luminares,” where Peter Molyneux, Phil Harrison, Chris Taylor, Raph Koster and Neil Young got together to discuss the future of PC gaming.

Taylor’s comments echoed similar sentiments from Koster, who proclaimed, “the web is kicking the console industry’s ass.”

“I actually think Flash is the next-gen console in a lot of ways,” said Koster. “It’s pointing the way to the future more-so than the current generations of hardware, precisely because it is well on its way to becoming completely ubiquitous.”

“There are more Flash installs available in people’s homes and even on mobile devices than all of the sold consoles of the last two generations put together. It is everywhere.”

Koster explains that the major advantage that flash has is that it isn’t reliant on the platform it’s being run on. He said the iPhone is an excellent example of adapting to play a game that might not necessarily be designed with it in mind.

“Part of why the iPhone works is that you’re browsing the web and the web is assuming you’ve got a mouse, and yet on the iPhone it works beautifully with fingers. Somehow it translates.

“It’s interesting because we’re going to be seeing a lot of games that are not going to know what devices they are landing on, as we get more and more devices that are connected.”

I think Taylor’s statements are a bit preemptive. Phil Harrison spoke about digital distribution being the future, which is something I’ve agreed with for some time now, but I wouldn’t quite claim that the PC gaming scene that we know and love is dead.

via GamesIndustry.biz / Gamasutra

It was just days ago that Phil Harrison aired his frustration over his colleagues in Japan who shot down his vision of social gaming. He referred to it as “a very interesting and frustrating thing for me to experience,” noting that he had been “banging the drum about social gaming for a long time, with SingStar, EyeToy and Buzz.”

Sony Computer Entertainment today announced the resignation of Harrison, effective February 29, 2008. Kaz Hirai will see yet another promotion as he will assume the responsibilities of Harrison as head of SCE Worldwide Studios in addition to his current position as president and CEO of SCEI. From the press release:

Prior to the launch of the original PlayStation, Phil Harrison joined Sony Electronics Publishing, Ltd. in 1992, which later evolved into Sony computer Entertainment Europe, and since then, he has made a tremendous contribution to the company playing a strategic role in the launch of four PlayStation platforms, as well as building strong relationships with game developers and publishers throughout the world. Since his appointment to the position of president, SCE WWS, Harrison applied his considerable skill, knowledge and expertise to lead SCE Group’s first party game development as well as aggressively pursuing the development of new online entertainment experiences.

Given the timing of his recent statements, it’s hard to imagine that the two aren’t somehow connected. There’s no word on what his future plans are or if he’ll be doing any sort of exit interviews, but with NDAs and all, we might never know what the cause of his departure was for sure. Wherever he does end up, though, I’d like to wish him the best.

via Evil Avatar

Sony’s head of worldwide studios, Phil Harrison, is understandably frustrated with the Sony execs over in Japan. Long before the Wii came along and made a fortune for Nintendo off of the social gaming scene, Sony had a trio of social games in Europe that were tremendously successful – SingStar, Buzz, and the EyeToy. And despite Harrison’s insistence, Sony execs in Japan were hesitant to adopt social games, stating that there was no market for the genre in Japan.

“It’s a very interesting and frustrating thing for me to experience because I have been banging the drum about social gaming for a long time, with SingStar, EyeToy and Buzz,” he said at GDC.

“And our Japanese colleagues said that there is no such thing as social gaming in Japan – people do not play games on the same sofa together in each other’s homes. It will never happen. And then out comes the Wii.”

“What’s interesting with Nintendo adverts – and they are the same the world over – they always show the view from the television back to the sofa, which is very clever. And what do you see? A family or friends all on a sofa.”

Harrison also said he admires Nintendo’s success and thinks Wii Sports is a truly next generation game. I can understand where Harrison is coming from; Nintendo is clearly dominating the market right now with its casual approach, which is apparently a direction that Harrison wanted to go in. Having your colleagues say there isn’t a market for something – and then being proven completely wrong – is a formula that is bound to get under anybody’s skin.

via GamesIndustry.biz

Doing a top 10 list of blunders from the past year automatically means you’re going to omit countless incidents that are very worthy of being discussed in the conversation, but Next Gen has narrowed down the list to their top 10 blunders of 2007.

Crowd favorites like Nintendo’s apparent disbelief that the Wii would pull an Energizer Bunny and keep on selling and selling, the horrible bargain that was the Xbox 360 Elite, and Jack Tretton’s claim that he would give $1,200 to anyone who could find a PS3 sitting on store shelves in North America for more than five minutes. Penny-Arcade was quick to set up a retirement fund based purely on Tretton’s claim.

Of the ten finalists, my personal favorite came in at #8, which was regarding Sony’s many different PlayStation 3 SKUs, just barely edging out Shane Kim’s disbelief that RE5 for 360 was announced prior to E3 ‘07. All those PS3 SKUs have been released in spite of the fact that Phil Harrison once stated, “I think we wouldn’t take that [multiple SKU] strategy. We wouldn’t’ want to create confusion,” in response to the 360’s (at the time) two SKU setup.

As the image above outlines, that didn’t exactly pan out.

Read the full list here.

Sony, more than any other company, has a history of making statements that are downright stupid/insane/ludicrous. From Phil Harrison to Kaz Hirai to the legend himself, Ken Kutaragi, all of the PlayStation platform leaders have had some head-scratchers come out of their mouths before.

So it seems only natural that Sir Howard Stringer, Sony’s CEO, would get one in before the year was out. And sure enough, speaking with The Guardian about the PlayStation 3’s recent success in outselling the Wii in Japan, he made a bold claim, to say the least.

I’m happy the Wii seems to be running a bit short of hardware. The PlayStation 3 will come into its own because its [high-end games] are infinitely more fun, demanding and exciting.

While I completely understand the need to support the company you work for, what kind of marketing pitch is it to say your games are “infinitely more fun.” That’s an argument you would hear in grade school.

It’s a shame that Peter Moore isn’t still with Microsoft so he could tell us how the Xbox 360’s games are infinitely more fun than Wii’s, plus one.

In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Sony’s Phil Harrison was asked about In2Games’ third party motion control peripherals (here) and the potential for Sony itself to develop anything similar for the PS2.

“Well, I can’t answer your question directly because I’m not familiar with what you’re referring to, but we put USB ports on the PlayStation 2 for a reason, which was to support open technology. So anything that is based around USB can be plugged into a PS2 and could add some unique experience.”

Harrison continued, “We’ve done that well, Buzz controllers, EyeToy, Singstar, but there are others as well coming. We’re by no means done with PS2. We can’t make enough PS2s at the moment, which is a fantastic situation to be in eight years into the lifecycle.”

Considering the PS2’s cheap price point, Sony would be wise to release their own motion control peripherals, since the Wii has proven there is a large market out there for this sort of gaming convention. With an install base of 120 million units, the PS2 could very well steal much of the Wii’s thunder.

Despite the delay of the official release of Home into next year, Phil Harrison claims that the open beta for PS3 owners is still going to hit sometime this year.

Talking about Home, the executive said as far as he was concerned, the release delay meant nothing had changed. He said, “We will still be opening in late November/early December for general beta testing. So, the commercial start of Home will be pushed out later, but you will still get the experience this year.”

Rumors had been circulating that Home was behind schedule, and then at E3 Phil Harrison confirmed that many of the features of Home wouldn’t be available from release. So, considering the entire release was pushed back, expect even fewer features to initially show up in the beta. Or as Phil would say, “bee-tah.”

via Evil Avatar

At Sony’s recent E3 press conference, one of the largest new products on display was their revolutionary new online community, called “Home.” It set the theme for the whole presentation, and they even opened the show with a virtual Jack Tretton taking a stroll around the main square of the community. Later Phil Harrison, president of Sony’s worldwide studios, gave an in-depth tour of Home’s different features. For a start, he showed how the community could even be run on a mobile phone, minus the 3D experience. He then just took a quick picture of the crowd with his phone. After a video presentation of some of the various “spaces” under construction for Home, he stepped into the site to stroll around one of the apartments. One of the first things he pointed out was that the photo he had just taken moments earlier was now framed and hanging on his virtual wall. He also showed how a user could take an in-game screenshot and then upload directly to a website that could be viewed on any browser. Next he demonstrated how any game could be launched from directly within Home by playing some Motor Storm online with some people that were in his virtual apartment. In the process of this, he also revealed an upcoming map for the game, called “Eagle’s Nest.”

He revealed more features later throughout the show, like how you could dress up in different outfits, such as his racing attire and Ratchet costume. He also used the Theater in Home to show off different game trailers. Each game had its own custom room with its own decorations and a video monitor that could bring up the trailer you wanted to watch.

He also discussed five upcoming games that would be available for download over the Playstation Network. The first game, called “echochrome,” he described as having “the least graphics with the most gameplay.” The game’s visuals consisted entirely of line drawings and had the player guiding a little man towards his destination. To accomplish this, you’d have to rotate the 3D sculpture he was walking on to hide obstacles and create bridges. It looked like it would make for some innovative gameplay. The next games he unveiled were Pain, where you try to cause as much collateral damage as possible with a human catapult, Wipeout HD, which was pretty much Wipeout with updated visuals, Warhawk, an online sci-fi shooter, and finally SOCOM: Confrontation.

Online comic Dueling Analogs has a suggestion for Phil Harrison about how to stem the flow of blood from Sony in the wake of the PS3 launch.

Not to bash Sony much but there might just be some merit in this idea.. provided they could actually get ahold of a Wii at this point.

Also check out today’s installment surrounding the recent announcement that Metal Gear Solid 4 would not ship until 2008.