Welcome to the major leagues of debt. Collateralized debt obligations, almost always referred to as a CDOs, are horrendously complicated deals that often leave anyone without a MBA wondering what was put into these CDOs.

The first thing to understand about bonds, (aka debt) is that bonds are often backed by something else. Think about your home mortgage. If you don't pay your mortgage, the bank can take the house. You end up homeless, and the bank sells the house to pay off the rest of that mortgage. There is something "backing" that mortgage; something lender can fall back on, if you don't pay your bills like a good human being. That's called collateral.

CDOs are one flavor of an entire sector of investing called structured finance, and they are also backed. CDOs, in the simplest concept, are just bonds backed by something else. In most cases, a CDO is backed by a collection of various types of debt. CDOs can be home mortgages, or other types of debt like credit cards, auto loans, and personal loans. Most of these types of debt are usually considered a bit more risky and they don't have the backing that a home loan does. So, if you think it through, you can imagine that CDOs are usually considered a risky investment.

To take a step further, understand that CDOs have multiple flavors within each CDO. These flavors are called tranches. If you've taken French, you might recognize the word, it means "slice" or "portion." Each slice of that CDO you invest in is a little different and carries different amounts of risk.

You could invest in the lowest risk tranche of the CDO, which would provide you lower risk. But, you don't get a good return on that investment. Or, you can be the heroic adventurer of bonds and invest in the lowest-grade tranche of the CDO. You'll make an amazing return, but if the economy even looks at you wrong, you might lose the entire investment.

CDOs aren¿t easy, and are almost always invested in by mutual funds, insurance companies and hedge funds. As an individual investor, you will probably not come across a CDO you can participate in.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Mad Catz to Produce Rayman Raving Rabbids(R) Branded Console Videogame and PC Accessories

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SAN DIEGO, Jul 24, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) ----Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, announced today that it has secured a license from Ubisoft(R) to produce branded accessories based on the Rayman Raving Rabbids(R) series of games. The multi-year agreement gives Mad Catz North American rights to a range of accessories for the Xbox 360(R) videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PC, the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS(TM), Game Boy(R) Advance and the Wii(TM) home videogame system from Nintendo.

"Rayman is one of the videogame world's iconic heroes, and we look forward to bringing the mischievous fun of the game series to a new line of branded videogame accessories," said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. "The addition of the Rayman Raving Rabbids license further strengthens and diversifies what we believe to be the video game accessory industry's most extensive portfolio of brand licenses that already includes all of the major North American professional sports leagues and many of the most popular recent and upcoming software titles."

About Mad Catz Interactive, Inc.

Mad Catz is a global leader in providing innovative peripherals for the interactive entertainment industry. Mad Catz designs and markets accessories for video game systems and publishes video game software, including the industry-leading GameShark video game enhancements, under its Mad Catz, GameShark and Joytech brands. Mad Catz also designs and markets mice, keyboards, headsets, PC gaming controllers and other PC peripherals through its Saitek brand, and develops, manufactures and markets proprietary portable earphones under its AirDrives brand. Mad Catz distributes its products through most of the leading retailers offering interactive entertainment products and has offices across Canada, Europe and Asia. For additional information please go to www.madcatz.com, as well as www.gameshark.com, www.airdrives.com, www.saitek.com and www.joytech.net.

About Ubisoft

Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has teams in 27 countries and distributes games in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2007-08 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of 928 million euros. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.

Rayman Raving Rabbids (C) 2006-2008 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Rayman, Rayman Raving Rabbids, the character of Rayman, Ubisoft, Ubi.com, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and Wii are trademarks of Nintendo.

Safe Harbor for Forward Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements about the Company's business prospects that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information or future events or developments. You can identify these statements by the fact that they use words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "should," "plan," "goal," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: the ability to maintain or renew the Company's licenses; competitive developments affecting the Company's current products; first party price reductions; the ability to successfully market both new and existing products domestically and internationally; difficulties or delays in manufacturing; or a downturn in the market or industry. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other matters can be found in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators.

SOURCE: Mad Catz Interactive, Inc.

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. Stewart Halpern, 800-831-1442 Chief Financial Officer or Jaffoni &
   Collins Incorporated Joseph Jaffoni, David Jacoby, 212-835-8500 mcz@jcir.com