Troubled games developer and publisher Empire Interactive sparked up 0.5p to 4p after it signed the global publishing rights to Sony Pictures' potential summer blockbuster Bad Boys II via a licence from Sony Pictures Consumer Products. Empire Interactive now has the rights to produce titles based on the lucrative Bad Boys franchise across all the console and PC formats, and the first game is being developed to coincide with a Christmas DVD launch. Investors should not underestimate the potential popularity of the Will Smith / Martin Lawrence vehicle set for release this summer - the film has already had a major marketing kick across the pond including a 'teaser spot' during the recent Superbowl, one of the most crucial advertising events in the States. Last month, a shock profits warning hit the shares, which have fallen from a 52-week peak of 51.5p. Chief executive Ian Higgins warned of wider than forecast losses for the year to December 2002, due to licensing agreement delays with Japanese and Far Eastern publishers of its catalogue of titles, and fourth quarter sales disappointed. Before the warning, house broker Altium Capital expected £800,000 of pre-tax losses for the year, with a narrow profit pencilled in for 2003. Higgins insisted 2002 sales more than doubled and the group had net cash of £2m and a £1m overdraft facility at 31 December.