BizSpots: Namco Bandai, Fonix, Xfire, IGA

New sales VP brings fashion to Namco Bandai
The ebb and flow of corporate management seems to be focusing on marketing VPs of late. Last week, Take-Two announced the departure of Erik Whiteford, marketing VP of its 2K Sports label. Today, the American arm of Namco Bandai has sent word it has filled its vacant commerce-dealing VP slot by appointing Andrew Lelchuk to the position of executive vice president of sales and marketing. Lelchuk's prior experience extends outside the gaming sector, as his most recent employment was chief operating officer for Ocean Pacific Apparel. In his new role, Lelchuk will oversee the company's sales and marketing projects, as well as further brand awareness for the publisher's properties.

Nintendo gets Fonix hook-up
Fonix Middleware, better known as the enabler of coherent conversations and prepubescent, expletive-laden diatribes over Xbox Live, today announced it would be bringing its voice-recognition technology to the Wii as part of Nintendo's Third Party Tools program. The agreement will give game developers access to Fonix's VoiceIn Game Edition and VoiceIn Karaoke Edition. The two programs pave the way for voice commands and karaoke functionality to be implemented in Wii games. Fonix now counts all big-three console makers among its customers, and its VoiceIn technology will also be incorporated in Epic's Unreal Engine III.

Xfire fires off ESWC
Vying for maximum attention on the global scale, gaming leagues have been enlisting the services of broadcast outlets in masse. Europe's Electronic Sports World Cup is no exception, as today Xfire announced it would be serving up the tournament's grand final through its game-community networking service. Xfire users will have have access to the official ESWC press conference, where participants in the tournament will be on hand to answer questions. Xfire will also host matches for gamers to square off against the professionals during the event. The ESWC grand final takes place this year in France, and will run from July 5 to July 8.

In-game advertiser injects Cyanide, Morpheme, and Staggan
IGA Worldwide, better known as the in-game advertiser that sparked controversy with EA's Battlefield 2142 last year, today announced partnerships with development studios Cyanide, Staggan, and Morpheme to provide dynamic advertisements in a number of each developer's respective games. Cyanide's Pro Cycling Manger and Staggan's United Football will both receive in-game billboards, while the Eidos-owned Morpheme will see both in-game billboards and video clips before and after several of its newest casual-market-oriented games. Games by Morpheme so far slated to receive the in-game ad treatment include Finger Frenzy and Dawn of the Bod.