LucasArts Entertainment started shipping Teen-rated title Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader for GameCube at $49.99.

Top-selling PS2 game for week ended Oct. 20 was Capcom’s Devil May Cry, NPD TRSTS report said. Top 5 was rounded out by Madden NFL 2002 from Electronic Arts (EA), Spy Hunter from Midway, Silent Hill 2 from Konami of America, NHL 2002 from EA. Despite increasing installed base of Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance (GBA), Pokemon Crystal for Game Boy Color was top-selling portable game for week, NPD said. Rest of top 5, however, was rounded out by GBA titles. Continued strong results for Pokemon handheld titles for Nintendo game systems comes as 13,000 sq. ft. Pokemon store is slated to open in N.Y.’s Rockefeller Center Nov. 15 despite fact that sales for other Pokemon-related products have slowed. NPD also said top-selling videogame console accessory for week was 8 MB PS2 memory card from Sony Computer Entertainment.

Electronic Arts (EA) started shipping E-rated (Everyone) PC game Motor City Online at $39.99. Title was developed by EA Seattle. Consumers must sign up for EA.com online account to play game at monthly rate of $9.99 after receiving first month free. Redwood City, Cal., game maker also began shipping T-rated (T) Xbox game Cel Damage, developed by Pseudo Interactive, at $49.99. GameCube version of latter title is to ship next month.

Looking to extend life of 7-year-old original PlayStation platform, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) this week ships $129 LCD screen attachment for PS One. SCEA Senior Sales Vp Jack Tretton said $199 bundle combining LCD and PS One (currently priced at $99 as standalone) also is planned for “post-Christmas.” He stressed this wasn’t part of move into handheld market dominated by Nintendo GameBoy, saying: “I consider it to be portable. I would not consider it to be a handheld.” Indeed, unlike GameBoy, PS One and LCD still require external power source.

FCC Chmn. Michael Powell named interagency team to review EchoStar-DirecTV merger Thurs. as companies began regulatory process with SEC filing outlining parameters of deal and laying groundwork for what’s expected to be rigorous antitrust review. Cable Bureau Chief and future head of Media Bureau Kenneth Ferree will head FCC group that also includes Senior Counsel James Bird; FCC Chief Economist David Sappington; Cable Bureau Assoc. Chief Barbara Espin; Chief; Office of Engineering & Technology Deputy Chief Julius Knapp; International Bureau Satellite Div.’s JoAnn Lucanik; Cable Bureau Deputy Chief Royce Sherlock; Office of Plans & Policy economist Donald Stockdale; International Bureau economist Douglas Webbink. Powell said he tried to include experts on issues involved and he was “confident” review would be “thorough, fair and timely.” He said that he expected transaction to be “rigorously scrutinized” by FCC and that team would “expedite” review process.

Tremor Entertainment shareholders approved merger plan making Burbank Xbox videogame developer subsidiary of New Systems. If deal is finalized, Tremor will become public company and New Systems will change its name to Tremor Entertainment. Tremor is under contract with Microsoft to create original action fantasy game under Microsoft label for Xbox. Title is scheduled to ship next fall. Tremor CEO Steven Oshinsky said: “With the approval of the Tremor shareholders now in place, we have entered the final regulatory process to complete the merger which we expect will occur in the next 30 days. Tremor is now tracking its 2nd year of more than 100% growth in revenue with 2002 estimated at [$2.9 million], up from [$1.3 million] in 2001, and $502,205 in 2000. Becoming a public company is now essential to our growth, as game development become more capital intensive in terms of time and personnel required.”

Universal Interactive (UI) started shipping E-rated (Everyone) title Spyro: Season of Ice for Game Boy Advance at $39.99. Game was developed for UI by studio Digital Eclipse Software. UI said Spyro the Dragon “franchise has sold more than 8 million units worldwide.”

Rent-a-Center (RAC) tentatively agreed to pay $12.2 million to 4,600 female employees as part of proposed settlement of sex discrimination suit filed year ago. Margaret Bunch had filed suit in Dec. 2000 in U.S. Dist. Court, Kansas City, alleging sex discrimination began shortly after Renter’s Choice purchased RAC from Thorn Americas in 1998. RC later changed name to RAC. Settlement covers female workers employed between April 19, 1998, and Oct. 1. Second suit on similar grounds, filed by Claudine Wilfold in Aug. 2000, still is pending in U.S. Dist. Court, St. Louis. Wilfold and 18 other plaintiffs are seeking $410 million in damages. RAC Pres. Mitchell Fadel said proposed settlement was in “best interests” of company “given the costs and uncertainty of litigation.” Gene Graham, attorney for Bunch and others, termed agreement “a fair and favorable resolution of claims that have been vigorously contested.” In addition to monetary settlement, RAC must: (1) Adopt policy against gender discrimination and provide employee training on subject. (2) Eliminate weight lifting requirements. (3) Modify internal procedures for reporting gender discrimination. (4) Add “more comprehensive” recordkeeping for employment applications and promotions.

Commercial TV broadcasters no longer will demand that cable must-carry apply to both analog and digital signals during transition to DTV, backing off from position supported by consumer electronics industry as way to spur DTV set sales. That was decision of NAB TV board in conference call Thurs. reached, we're told, after board members realized that after 4 years of demanding dual must-carry from cable “has gotten us nowhere [in Congress or at FCC] and it was time for a change.” New position was approved by NAB Exec. Committee last week and was adopted after several months’ work by Digital Task Force headed by Michael McCarthy of Belo.

Top-renting videogame for week ended Oct. 28 was Take-Two Interactive Software’s Grand Theft Auto 3 for PlayStation 2 (PS2), Video Software Dealers Assn. (VSDA) said Thurs. Game, which earned $620,000 in its first week on VSDA’s top 5 chart, was one of 4 PS2 games on list. Only game in top 5 not for PS2 was Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 for Nintendo 64 at number 4, which earned $250,000 in week for total of $2.72 million since Aug. 23 street date. Rounding out top 5 were: Capcom’s Devil May Cry ($460,000 for week, $740,000 since Oct. 17); Midway’s Spy Hunter ($250,000, $1.17 million since Sept. 25); Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 2002 ($220,000, $2.04 million since Aug. 14). Grand Theft was only new game in top 5.