Wednesday, Jul. 16, 2008

The Buzz On Business

SENSITIVE SIDE OF THE WII REMOTE: The Wii Remote is getting in touch with its sensitive side. Nintendo unveiled Wii MotionPlus at the E3 Business and Media Summit on Tuesday. The new accessory plugs into the base of the Wii Remote and will provide more intuitive motion controls. Wii MotionPlus is scheduled for release next spring and will come packaged with "Wii Sports Resort," which will feature beach-themed activities such as frisbee throwing and jet skiing. The company also showed off music simulator "Wii Music" and the WiiSpeak room microphone. Games announced for the Nintendo DS include "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars" and "Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades."

MOVIE DOWNLOADS FOR PS3: Sony has raised the curtain on a PlayStation 3 movie download service. The company announced at the E3 Business and Media Summit that it has launched a downloadable movie service featuring films from such studios as Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. The standard and high-definition videos can be downloaded to the console and transferred to a PlayStation Portable. Rentals will cost $2.99 to $5.99. Purchases cost $9.99 to $14.99. Sony also announced it will sell an 80-gigabyte PS3 model for $399 beginning in September. Among the new games are "God of War III" and "Massive Action Game," which will allow as many as 256 players to battle online.

BEER GIANT MOVING TO CHICAGO: MillerCoors officials say the headquarters for their new joint venture will be in downtown Chicago. The company chose not to settle in Milwaukee, where SABMiller PLC's Miller Brewing Co. is based, or in Golden, Colo., the home of Molson Coors Brewing Co. MillerCoors President Tom Long said Tuesday that the company chose Chicago for its employee talent, transportation and business resources. MillerCoors began operating a combined entity July 1, a day after the companies announced the closing transaction to combine their U.S. and Puerto Rico operations. The deal was aimed at helping them compete against Anheuser-Busch Cos., which has about half the U.S. market. Anheuser-Busch agreed this week to be acquired by Belgian-based InBev SA for $52 billion.

VOLKSWAGEN WILL BUILD PLANT IN TENNESSEE: Volkswagen picked Chattanooga, Tenn., over sites in two other states for a new U.S. assembly plant expected to create about 2,000 jobs. Volkswagen Group of America Inc. said it will produce a new midsize sedan designed specifically for the North American consumer and invest $1 billion in the economy. Sites in Alabama and Michigan also were considered for the plant, which is part of Volkswagen's strategy to increase its presence in America. Volkswagen, Europe's biggest automaker, closed its last U.S. production facility in 1988. The company statement said the plant near the Georgia and Alabama borders would create 2,000 direct jobs and "add a significant number of jobs in related sectors." A statement from parent Volkswagen AG said the company approved as much as $991.4 million to build the facility, with a capacity of 150,000 cars a year. It plans to start production in 2011.

BEE NEWS SERVICES

Figuratively Speaking

19: Percentage of workers who report that they have taken office supplies for personal use in the past year, according to a Spherion Workplace Snapshot survey

22: Of those who admit to having stolen office supplies, percentage who felt guilty or regretted the act

74: Percentage of workers who think it is wrong to take office supplies

50: Percentage increase in the number of stay-at-home dads over the past decade, according to the Census Bureau

64: Percentage of fathers who say being a stay-at-home dad is more challenging than their career, according to an Adecco USA Workplace Insights survey

71: Percentage of mothers who agree

JOHN MacINTYRE,

UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE