| Holiday shoppers storm local stores seeking deals on nation's busiest retail day
Bundled up in coats and giggling, Mary Ann Schewe and her sister Louise Harris tried their best Friday mornng to squeeze a luggage set and two buggies full of holiday presents into the back of her Mercury Grand Marquis. "I can't buy anything else," Harris said, standing in the Target parking lot. "My son was supposed to meet us in his truck." Like thousands of other shoppers across Middle Georgia, the sisters left their homes in Jones County before dawn to take advantage of Black Friday sales. Schewe said they started at Wal-Mart at 4 a.m. and had marked items off their lists at Goody's and Old Navy in hopes that the line outside Target would get shorter as the morning wore on. She said the line of shoppers waiting to get into Target stretched all the way to Dick's Sporting Goods on the other end of Eisenhower Crossing when they first arrived.
SPECIALS: The Pokemon Trading Figure Game
Now we've gotta spin' em all! Discuss it in Talkback! If you're a Penny Arcade reader, you've probably learned of the Pokemon Trading Figure Game. Gabe has been hawking it for a few weeks now. In fact, that's how I first learned of the game, and I swore on my dead lizard's grave that when I saw the game on the shelves of the local comic shop, I'd give it a shot. So barely more than a week ago, that day came, and I bought everything I'd need for a two-player game. And then—and this is the magical part—I got my wife to play with me. The Pokemon Trading Figure Game (TFG) is tough to understand without actually playing it. Each player has three (or six) Pokemon, and a Trainer figure. The players lay out a map, on which the action takes place.
Virtual world becoming kids' play
Webkinz is the latest "must-have" plaything for children across the United States and Canada - a cuddly soft toy which has a virtual website twin. Buying the toy, sold for $10 (about R65) and up, gains the proud owner access onto the website ( www.webkinz.com) where they have to care for, dress, entertain and generally pamper their virtual pet. .
Zimbabwe: Zim Select Beat SA Composite XI
ZIMBABWE Select turned on a spirited show at the weekend when they beat South Africa Composite XI by 10 wickets at Sedgars Park in Potchefstroom. The match was in the first of the three four-day cricket matches in the Supersport Challenge against the SA Composite XI that was chosen by that country's National Selection Panel. .
Nintendo Kicks Off the Holidays with Two New Nintendo DS Bundles
Starting Nov. 23, Nintendo gives the holiday season a fresh blast of color with the launch of two special-edition Nintendo DS(TM) bundles. Each pairs a custom-color Nintendo DS system with one of the platform's hottest titles. The new Gold edition comes with The Legend of Zelda®: Phantom Hourglass, while the Metallic Rose Nintendo DS comes with the "Best Friends" version of Nintendogs(TM). (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071120/LATU038-a) (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071120/LATU038-b) (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050516/NINTENDODSLOGO) "Nintendo DS remains the portable system of choice for gamers," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Our new bundles will be collector's items for current gamers while offering an attractive way for people new to video games to play with style." With its dual screens, touch-screen, amazing franchises and innovative games, Nintendo DS has been a cornerstone of Nintendo's efforts to expand the world of video games to new audiences and to get as many people playing as possible.
Hot toys '07 | Retailers stocking shelves
The first trick-or-treater is barely out the door, and Christmas is already on retailers' minds. Aisles down from the costumes and candy corn are fake fir trees and candy canes. And Columbia-area merchants are quickly stocking shelves for wide-eyed children — and adults. Traditional dolls and character plushes, such as Fisher-Price's Tickle Me Elmo and Ganz's Webkinzs, are expected to sell big in Columbia, along with the new video console wonders of PlayStation 3, Xbox and Wii. The Consumer Electronics Association found that households with Internet access will spend an average of $172 on electronic toys for their children. In fact, the Guitar Hero III video game and controller set that retails for about $100 has been named an overall top seller this Christmas by Toys "R" Us.
From an Iranian Childhood of More Work than Play, a Tycoon Rises
Were you to talk to Isaac Larian about his childhood in Iran, he would not wax nostalgic over childhood games or playthings. In fact, he would tell you that when his friends and cousins played or went on vacation, he did “constant, hard work" helping his father run a retail textile business. Today, Larian is president and chief executive of the largest privately held toy company in the world, MGA Entertainment, based in Van Nuys, California. (The ranking is based on market share comparisons.) On November 17, Larian was named national Entrepreneur of the Year at a ceremony in Palm Springs, California, for his “innovation, financial success and personal commitment" in building a world-class business, according to Ernst & Young, the accounting firm that sponsors the annual award.
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