Sega

On movie screens this fall, Tom Cruise will compete with Robert De Niro. On television, Tim Allen and Kelsey Grammer are duking it out. In record stores, R.E.M. will square off against Michael Jackson.In the world of video games, this season's clash of the titans is between Sonic the Hedgehog and Donkey Kong.The season's expected hit titles -- Sega of America's "Sonic and Knuckles" (due in stores today) and Nintendo of America's "Donkey Kong Country" (due Nov. 21) -- both purport to radically advance video-game technology.

Dunking with authority and shooting the lights out from three-point territory usually require serious height and ball-handling skills. But you don't have to be 6-foot-11 to keep your shots from being blocked with the latest crop of NBA-inspired video games: EA Sports' NBA Live 2002, Sega Sports' NBA 2K2 and Microsoft's NBA Inside Drive 2002. These $50, NBA-sanctioned titles allow you to pass, post up and take it to the hoop no matter what your real height, speed and physical shape because you'll probably be playing crouched in front of your television set. At their best, they're as exhilarating as a Michael Jordan comeback.

Leedmark is mum on report it's for saleIf you have about $13 million to spend and want to buy a really big store, the word on the street is that you might find an eager seller in Glen Burnie.Leedmark, the giant "hybrid market," will "neither confirm nor deny" reports that it is being shopped around, said spokesman Edward Segal. But some in the retail industry say that French investors who control the combined grocery and discount store might pull the plug.Earlier this year, the store's parent, New Eldis Corp.

Among the millions of American children who melt their minds staring blankly at 16-bit video game screens, there's one lad whose obsession with scoring a hat trick, running with Sonic the Hedgehog or mortally wounding Goro the half-dragon man-beast has given him national renown.The ability to manipulate the little plastic controls on his Sega Genesis game system has earned Fred Doughty, 17, of Baltimore, the title of World Champion in Blockbuster Video's 1994 World Video Game Challenge. The international competition, sponsored by Blockbuster Video, took place last weekend in Fort Lauderdale, Fla."

FDIC proposes S&L stock rulesA second federal agency proposed rules yesterday aimed at limiting windfall profits for insiders when depositor-owned savings and loan institutions offer stock to the public.Under pressure from Congress, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. joined the Office of Thrift Supervision in cracking down on abuses when the so-called mutual S&Ls go public.The rules are aimed at S&L managers who reap excessive gains by setting the stock offering price well below the value of the institution so that it rises rapidly after stock is sold to the public.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Two-thirds of a Hall of Fame threesome floundered and failed yesterday, opening the gate to a new set of challengers to Lee Trevino in the final round of the PGA Seniors Championship.While Trevino was fighting his way to a third-round 71, good enough to retain a three-shot lead, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player drifted back into the pack, all but taking themselves out of title contention.Nicklaus, the defending champion, shot 74 and Player, a three-time winner of this event, had a 3-over-par 75. They were tied at 215, 1-under par and eight off the pace.

A home improvement fair sponsored by the Village of Wilde Lake will be presented from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Slayton House.The fair is part of the Revitalization Project that has begun in the village.The pilot program will address issues facing the aging community.It is a joint project of Howard County, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., Comcast, the Rouse Co., the Columbia Association, NationsBank, Columbia Bank, Wilde Lake Village Board and village residents.The fair will feature contractors offering a variety of services.

In February of last year, a buyer for the Target department store chain called Todd S. Hays frantically looking for video game controllers.The buyer had an ad coming out touting a sale on Sega Enterprise's controllers, but Sega had run out. He needed 28,000 replacements, and he needed them shipped the next day."I called the warehouse and told them don't ship to anyone else today," said Mr. Hays, 27, president of Hunt Valley-based video game accessory company STD Electronics (USA) Inc. He cobbled together a shipment of 23,000 and 10,000 more a week later, and bailed the buyer out.This year, the same buyer came back and ordered 110,000 controllers.

Today is Mortal Monday, and for Daniel Loeb, gore will be very, very good.That's because today's the day Mortal Kombat, the ultra-violent home video game that is expected to become the hottest-selling item in the industry, goes on sale.At Mr. Loeb's store and thousands of other video outlets across the country, people will be lining up to land a copy of the much-hyped game that lets them experience the thrill of tearing off the heads, ripping out the still-beating hearts and holding aloft the bloody spines of their defeated adversaries.

A Domino's deliveryman who had just taken a pizza to a Brooklyn Park home was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday night, county police said.Richard L. Jones, 27, had just delivered a pizza to a house in the 400 block of Seward Ave. about 10 p.m. when he was approached by a man armed with a handgun, police said.Police said the robber drove off in a brown, four-door Cadillac. The robber was described as a black male in his early 20s, standing 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing between 150 and 160 pounds.