Barnes & Noble said Thurs. that Nov. had been “especially robust month” for its GameStop division thanks to rollouts of GameCube and Xbox videogame consoles and “several hot-selling videogame titles.” Retailer said comparable-store sales for month-to-date through Nov. 24 were up 83.7% from year ago and comparable-store sales for Thanksgiving weekend increased 68.2%. Barnes & Noble said comparable-store sales at its core book retail locations edged up 3.2% in first 24 days of Nov., including 4% increase over Thanksgiving weekend. GameStop sales jumped 8.6% to $199 million in 3rd quarter ended Nov. 3 from $183.2 million year ago, company said, and its next sales report would be released Jan. 10 covering full holiday period.

Latest Philips ax to fall will cut 300 jobs at Philips Research subsidiary worldwide, company announced Thurs. Reductions represent about 10% of subsidiary’s work force and was necessary to adjust to “the lower level of short-term contracts” at Philips parent, company said. It said cutbacks won’t affect longer-term research investments, which are paid for corporately.

Rex Stores said 3rd quarter net income rose to $4.2 million from $2.8 million on strength of strong DVD and digital TV (DTV) sales and income from synthetic fuel limited partnership. Sales increased to $106.6 million from $105.1 million, despite 3% decline in same-store sales.

Zenith is weighing its options in wake of NEC’s decision to lower price of 61W plasma display panel (PDP) to $19,995 from $27,995, spokesman said. Zenith shipped LG Electronics-built 60W in Aug. at $24,999. On industrial side, Information Systems Products Mktg. Dir. Bennett Norell said company hadn’t made final decision on possible price move. “We're evaluating the price changes and seeing if there is room to move,” Norell said. “If the factory is willing to sell it to us at price where we can cover our margins, it’s possible for us. With these new larger screen sizes they [the factory] developed a new line to run them so they have to have some level of production. If the demand is not quite there yet, they may try to ramp up with lower pricing to get things running.” Meanwhile, LG will ship internal multiformat PC recording drive in Feb. at $799. Drive can write CD-R (12x), CD-RW (8x), DVD-RAM (2x), DVD-R (2x) and DVD-RW (2x). It can read CD-ROM (32x) and DVD-ROM (10x). Device has 4.8 Mbps data transfer rate and 95 milliseconds access time for CD, 13.8 Mbps and 100 milliseconds for DVD-ROM, 140 milliseconds for DVD- RAM. It also has 2 MB buffer. LG also is weighing adding DVD+RW recording capability to drive, format that has been championed by Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Philips and others. “If there’s a demand for it [DVD+RW], the factory can do it because they're looking to increase share,” Norell said.

Kunio Sebata, pres.-CEO, Hitachi Consumer Products Group, appointed pres.-dir., new Hitachi Home & Life Solutions subsidiary, effective April 1… Keith Lehmann, ex-MB Quart, named vp-sales & mktg., Phoenix Gold; Stephen Bettini resigns as vp-operations, plans unknown… Appointed at 6th Ave. Electronics: David Birch-Jones, ex-Denon, as mgr. of home theater and custom installation; Bill Kearney, ex-West Maine and E&B Marine, as dist. mgr; Kenneth Grohbrugge, ex-Barnes & Noble, as mgr., human resources… Brian Hurst, ex-Transmeta, appointed gen. mgr. and vp-sales & mktg., National Semiconductor Americas… Amy Friedlander advanced to senior vp-business development, Intertainer.

TDK Mediactive (TDKM) officially jumped on GameCube bandwagon Thurs., saying it expected its first titles for Nintendo’s new console to ship in 4th quarter 2002. CEO Vincent Bitetti said TDKM now had “4 titles in development with more planned and anticipates a strong installed base of machines and increased demand by holiday 2002.” Three of those titles are Dinotopia, Robotech, Shrek. Last previously had been billed as Xbox exclusive. TDKM said 4th game would be announced later. GameCube developers currently under contract with TDKM include Digital Illusions, Prolific Publishing, Vicious Cycle.

Electronics Boutique acquired all outstanding shares of Tradition Svenska (TS), privately held video and hobby games retailer with 11 stores in several Swedish cities. TS also operates e-commerce business via 2 Web sites -- www.tradition.se and www.tradition.nu. Specialty game retail chain said transaction was in cash but declined to disclose specific terms. EB CEO Jeffrey Griffiths said acquisition “supports our ongoing strategy to leverage Electronics Boutique’s reputation and expand the company’s retail base in Europe and other key regions that offer solid growth opportunities.” He said: “From a geographic standpoint, Sweden allows us to leverage our existing retail and distribution infrastructure in Denmark and Norway while complementing retail operations in Italy and Germany.” He said EB planned to retain TS senior management and key employees, and said Louis Triche, senior vp of EB’s international operations, would relocate to Europe to coordinate operations and expansion plans.

Sony Computer Entertainment America began shipping 5” LCD screen for its PS One videogame console at $129. PS One combo featuring game console and screen will become available in early 2002 at $199 for limited time.

AOL Time Warner’s bid for FCC ruling on electronic program guides (EPGs) is “backdoor tactic” designed to “bias” agency’s expected decision on DTV must-carry, Gemstar Chmn. Henry Yuen said in ex parte letter to FCC Chmn. Powell. Yuen said Commission decision allowing TW to strip EPG information from broadcast signals it carried would “bring significant harm” to more than 5 million consumers who bought analog TVs and VCRs that contain EPG capability and would seriously harm competition because manufacturers and retailers no longer would be able to build and sell such sets. Despite its request for declaratory ruling on EPG, TW has “expressed little or no interest” in actually stripping out EPG information, Yuen said, and in fact is contractually prohibited from doing so: “Its aggressive push for a declaratory ruling is obviously not motivated by any real need for resolving any analog carriage dispute… [Its] true intent is clearly about establishing a precedent that will influence future decisions on digital carriage issues.” He said granting TW request now “would be extremely adverse to public policy and prejudice the important issues at stake in the digital must-carry proceeding.”

Nintendo of America (NOA) said that of initial 740,000 GameCube hardware units shipped, about 100,000 went to Canada and Latin America and another 75,000 to U.S. rental and other alternate distribution channels. As of Wed., “virtually all” of about 80% of systems targeted for U.S. retail locations had been sold out, NOA said. But it said “the first of weekly replenishments of approximately 125,000 units are already arriving at stores” -- something backed up by retail sources we have spoken to over last week.