France's Infogrames Entertainment reported its sales figures for the first half of its fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31, tallying sales of US$134.6 million in the US. That mark represents growth of 165 percent, compared with the company's $50.7 million in sales from the same period in 1996.

　　Infogrames acquired distributors Ecudis in France, Bomico in Germany, and Bomico in Holland from Philips Media last July and reports that those distributorships have been doing well. (Ocean of America, Interplay, Electronic Arts, and Activision distribute Infogrames titles in the US.)

　　The company's console and PC games released last year include licensed console titles Smurfs, Multi Racing Championship, and Fighter's Destiny for the N64; V-Rally for the PlayStation; and 5-22, I-War, and Pilgrim for the PC. They also picked up a license to Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes characters.

　　For 1998, Infogrames expects to release Lucky Luke and Asterix for the PlayStation console, Space Circus and Mission: Impossible for the Nintendo 64, Jest for the Nintendo 64 and PC, Outcast and Hexplore for the PC, and (the long-awaited) Heart of Darkness and Snow Racer 98 for the PlayStation and PC.