POLITICS

Revamped Merida Initiative Clears Capitol Hill. Two weeks ago we said: "It remains to be seen if the final bicameral version will rein in conditioning enough that the Mexican government will agree to resume work on the initiative." It now looks like counternarcotics aid package known as the Merida Initiative will end up helping to shore up Mexico's war on drug trafficking after all... 

ECONOMY 

Core Inflation Pops The Five-Mark. Silencing critics that had charged the Bank of Mexico jumped the gun last week by raising interest rates, this week's first-half June inflation report vindicated the central bank. The headline index ballooned to 5.28 percent in the first half of June, up from 5.07 percent at the end of May, and the highest in several years. Worse yet, the core index...

BUSINESS

Seeking Precedent. The Supreme Court asserted jurisdiction over three lawsuits in which private individuals are suing banks. The justices said they already are mulling five similar cases, and by grouping all eight together, they will be able to establish a precedent for judging bank-related suits, regardless of how the rulings go. Previously, circuit judges had ruled in favor of the plaintiffs for millions of pesos, including vast sums of interest that frequently drew from towering interest rates in decades-old contracts. That has led, the court said...

CORPORATE

Slowdown At Silao. General Motors will idle its Silao factory for at least three weeks to compensate for bloated inventory on US dealer lots, the company said. The automaker is targeting the production of trucks and SUVs. The original plan was to halt output of the Chevrolet Suburban, Avalanche, Silverado, and Cheyenne, and the Cadillac Escalade EXT and GMC Sierra between Jun. 30 and Jul. 11, but as it turns out ...

IN BRIEF

he Rohm and Haas company of Philadelphia inaugurated a new $20-million chemical plant in Quertaro. The new plant -- which the firm bills as "high technology" -- covers nearly 1 million square feet.

INDUSTRY RESEARCH

Mexican Video Game Industry Nears $1-Billion Mark
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- As tens of thousands of visitors descended upon the Western Hemisphere's largest video game event last month, the Electronic Game Show in Mexico City, the buzz was about more than the latest game titles. The Mexican video game industry is exploding, attracting major new marketing investment and luring global game publishers to establish local offices. In fact, according to a new report from Americas News Intelligence, the industry could be worth $1 billion by the end of the decade.

"The results of our research flies in the face of the image of Mexico as an insignificant consumer market plagued with piracy," says Phung Pham, lead analyst on the report. "There is a booming gamer population and despite problems with piracy, a substantial level of legitimate business. And video game publishers are finally starting to take note."

One particularly interesting phenomenon identified in report is the emergence of young, unmarried gamers, or YUGS, as the authors call them. It is common in Mexico, they note, for young adults to live with their parents until their first marriage - translating into a high level of disposable income. In 1995, women married at the age of 20, and men at 23, on average. But just one decade later, women are now married at the age of 25 and men at 28 - resulting in up to a decade of cash-flush YUGGIES of prime gaming age.

The full report includes consumer and demographic background, first- and third-party analysis, industry trends, forecasts, and detailed data on hardware and software unit sales, revenue, and market share.

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