Lone Ranger Dies

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Lone Ranger Dies - (LOS ANGELES, California) -- Chicago-born Clayton Moore, better known as television's Lone Ranger, has died in a Los Angeles hospital of a heart attack at the age of 85. Moore's depiction of a Texas ranger who vanquished bad guys and then yelled "Hi-Yo Silver, Away" as he rode off into the sunset became a national institution in the 1950's, the heyday of the cowboy movie. Moore, who once said the Lone Ranger role was the only job he ever wanted, starred in the popular series with his friend, Jay Silverheels, who played the Lone Ranger's faithful sidekick, Tonto.

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Japanese videogamers look beyond Pokemon

Reuters/Variety By Jon Herskovitz

TOKYO (Variety) - The Next Big Thing is gearing up in Japan.

After unleashing ``Pokemon'' on American children, Japanese videogame developers are busily readying an onslaught of new products for international consumption, including ``Digital Monster,'' or ``Digimon,'' from toymaker Bandai, and ``Monster Farm,'' based on a popular game by the same name for Sony's PlayStation.

The country has always had a highly competitive and varied animation market: In a typical week in 1999, over 50 different animated shows aired on Japanese network television. What's different now is the formidable clout that Japanese videogame developers have acquired.

``Pokemon,'' at first a game for Nintendo's GameBoy, got made into a TV series and then two movies. In Japan, over $1 billion in ``Pokemon''-related licensed goods and other merchandise have been sold.

Soon, games will be released that boast high-quality animation comparable to the likes of ``Toy Story.'' Japanese hardware manufacturers continue to enjoy a stranglehold in the global videogame console market.

``Japanese makers have the de facto standard in the videogame hardware market, and tens of millions of dollars are spent on developing games that will succeed in the world market,'' said Toru Yamada, a producer in the character-licensing department of Japanese advertising giant Dentsu.

``There have been successes with 'Super Mario' and 'Donkey Kong,' but what you will see now is an ever increasing array of impressive characters coming from the Japanese videogame market.''

Yamada said the new Japanese products will be supported by a broad base of media; they will have characters international enough to cross borders; and they will be proven winners on Japanese television and in character-goods marketing.

Topping the list of the new games are a pair of animated products that use a monster theme.

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