For video gamers, the fall season is both a blessing and a curse. While many high-quality titles debut around this time each year, there are only so many dollars to go around.
It's oh-so enticing: you find a copy of a brand new game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on a pirate site and the temptation to download it is too strong.
The early hours of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" take gamers around the world and back again, but the new game's story hits close to home.
Given the extraordinary anticipation swirling around "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," the follow-up to the 13 million-unit-selling military shooter game from 2007, living up to the hype might seem like an impossible mission.
Those on the fence about which video game console to buy might be tempted by Sony's recent introduction of the higher-capacity and slimmer new PlayStation 3, with a $100 price cut to $299.
Two new sci-fi video games cast you in the futuristic role of a space marine who must face off against deadly creatures.
It's been a busy few years for Dan Rosensweig. As president and CEO of the Guitar Hero division of game publisher Activision Blizzard, he's watched the music-genre video game industry explode.
Nintendo said it is cutting the price of its popular Wii video-game console by $50 to $199.99.
The fourth quarter of 2009 for the music and video game industries is shaping up to be all about the Beatles. And both could use some "Help!"
To thank him for letting them spend the last two hours of their workweek playing video games on the company dime, Kevin Grinnell's employees often single him out and shoot him in the head.
For video gamers, the fall season is both a blessing and a curse. While many high-quality titles debut around this time each year, there are only so many dollars to go around.
It's oh-so enticing: you find a copy of a brand new game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on a pirate site and the temptation to download it is too strong.
The early hours of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" take gamers around the world and back again, but the new game's story hits close to home.
Given the extraordinary anticipation swirling around "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," the follow-up to the 13 million-unit-selling military shooter game from 2007, living up to the hype might seem like an impossible mission.
Those on the fence about which video game console to buy might be tempted by Sony's recent introduction of the higher-capacity and slimmer new PlayStation 3, with a $100 price cut to $299.
Two new sci-fi video games cast you in the futuristic role of a space marine who must face off against deadly creatures.
It's been a busy few years for Dan Rosensweig. As president and CEO of the Guitar Hero division of game publisher Activision Blizzard, he's watched the music-genre video game industry explode.
Nintendo said it is cutting the price of its popular Wii video-game console by $50 to $199.99.
The fourth quarter of 2009 for the music and video game industries is shaping up to be all about the Beatles. And both could use some "Help!"
To thank him for letting them spend the last two hours of their workweek playing video games on the company dime, Kevin Grinnell's employees often single him out and shoot him in the head.
Imagine taking the best characters and elements of your favorite fictional universe and weaving them into a new story that captures the imagination of fans.
With the big three gaming-system makers all previewing new or upgraded motion-sensing controllers this week, a new arms race is under way in the video game industry.
They've revolutionized music for nearly five decades. Now, some of the Beatles songs are about to hit video-game consoles.
Millions of people download 99-cent games for their iPhones. An increasing number of Web sites offer free online games. And consumer spending is down amid a global recession.
Microsoft Corp. on Monday unveiled its answer to the Nintendo Wii.
Millions of people download 99-cent games for their iPhones. An increasing number of Web sites offer free online games. And consumer spending is down amid a global recession.
When Navy snipers rescued an American cargo-ship captain last month from Somali pirates, it sounded like something from a movie.
It took a while but video game sales might finally be feeling the effects of the slow economy. The industry that's often been hailed as recession-proof has posted some dismal sales numbers recently.
Even when consumers curb their spending, they have a hard time letting go of their favorite vices. Sales of guilty pleasures such as chocolate, cigarettes, and alcohol usually stay strong during downturns. Now it might be time to add videogames to the recession-proof roster: Last year the industry's overall U.S. sales jumped 19% to $21 billion, according to NPD Group.
Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, look out. Your traditional video game console business model may be in danger.
Kellee Santiago wants to tap into the kinder, gentler side of gaming.
Most fans picturing rapper 50 Cent operating a joystick would probably envision the hip-hop star blasting away opponents in his latest video game release, "Blood on the Sand."
Be excited, but be scared. A world of mind-blowing possibilities is suddenly being thrust upon the world of video gaming.
When the name of the game is escape, one gamer's boredom is another gamer's boon.
Many Americans are finding ways to trim their holiday budgets this year, but reports are showing that buying video games is one place consumers are not cutting back.
There's general agreement that Sony stumbled out of the gate with the PlayStation 3.
Google Inc., the leader in online search and advertising, is muscling in on video game territory -- though it won't exactly be in the form of a shoot 'em up game
Katherine Graden doesn't really like shoot-'em-up video games. She prefers games on her Wii system that test her fitness and agility --the ones her guy friends tease are her "sissy games."
After making a ton of money in the advertising business, Michael Sepso and Sundance DiGiovanni decided six years ago that it was time to goof off. How did these two guys, then in their late 20s, pass the time? They played a lot of "Halo."
"Are you ready?" shouts Josh Ball, manager of GameStop No. 1,782 in Euless, Texas, near Dallas. He's standing before more than 100 fidgety young men and women lined up in the strip-mall parking lot outside his store. They've been here for hours in the warm spring air, waiting for midnight when the latest version of Grand Theft Auto - the ever controversial hoodlums-and-pimps videogame - goes on sale. It's getting close to the appointed hour, and these people can barely contain themselves.
Looks like Take Two Interactive Software co-founder Ryan Brant, the video game industry's enfant terrible, is launching his second act. And it sure looks like an interesting one.
The reviews are in for "Iron Man," and they aren't great. One critic calls it "unmoving." Another says it's "crappy." Then there is the one who argues that the superhero saga offers only "aneurysm-inducing frustration."
It's official. Grand Theft Auto IV is a video game blockbuster, with gamers around the world buying up more than 6 million copies of the gritty, urban action title in its first week of sales.
Who would win in a fight: a police-killing, rampage-driven thug or a superhero encased in a technologically superior suit of armor?
Matt Selman grabs an early copy of the new videogame and is enthralled
The fourth installment of the controversial video game "Grand Theft Auto" goes on sale worldwide Tuesday with expectations that it will break sales records.
The fourth installment of the controversial video game "Grand Theft Auto" goes on sale worldwide Tuesday with expectations that it will break sales records.
The biggest story in the videogame business this year has been the way Activision and Electronic Arts, the industry's two dominant powers, are gobbling up smaller competitors that have developed hot-selling games. Activision, publisher of the billion-dollar Guitar Hero series, is seeking approval to join forces with Vivendi Games, maker of the bestselling World of Warcraft. Meanwhile, giant EA, purveyor of Madden NFL and other sports franchises, is making a $2 billion hostile play for Take-Two, which owns Grand Theft Auto.
The uncertainty that confronts consumers and investors in the U.S. is staggering. There's the price of gasoline, which creeps higher almost daily; a housing market that month after month gets gloomier and gloomier; and the conflict in Iraq that has cost the U.S. an estimated $3 trillion.
Think of online video game addiction and what probably comes to mind is a socially awkward adolescent. But teens are not the only ones who get addicted.
On a Tuesday night in a San Francisco nightclub, Torrie Dorrell makes a very personal revelation to the gathered crowd: "I'm a full-on gamer, and my husband hates me."
Ted Owen, CEO of Santa Monica-based GGL Global Gaming (GGL), has told Fortune he has signed a deal to make video gaming an official welcome event of this summer's Beijing Olympics. A Chinese official confirms it.
A gray-and-red-spotted lizardlike creature with two heads peers at me from the computer screen through eyes located, Cyclops-style, in the center of each forehead. It lets out a howl and bounds off its marbleized perch into a prehistoric forest. That was probably a howl of embarrassment. This poor creature has arms stuck around its ears, raised up and flapping comically in the wind, like a Hell's Angel riding a chopper with impossibly high handlebars. So much for intelligent design.
Three critically acclaimed first-person shooters won top honors at the video game industry's most prestigious awards show
The $19 billion merger announced Sunday of Activision with the gaming division of French media company Vivendi creates a company that Bobby Kotick, soon to be its CEO, says is unlike any that came before.
Sick of children's games? If you're looking for something that's not on your kids' list, these are some of our favorite games that have come out this fall.
Nintendo, thanks to the Wii, its groundbreaking game system, is not just the toast of the video game industry. It has also been a hot stock on Wall Street.
"The Simpsons Game's" most notable trait is that it's funny, so funny that I can't believe how often I actually laughed out loud at the wonderfully produced cutscenes that have been made for the game, despite how weird it is seeing Simpsons animation in HD.
When Bobby Kotick took over Activision in 1991, the once-thriving videogame company was nearly bankrupt. Kotick, a college dropout and serial entrepreneur, threw himself into resuscitating the business. He shored up the company's balance sheet, selling furniture to pay down debt.
For all the hype about Microsoft's Halo 3 video game, 10 times as many people have played the hit online game Diner Dash.
Not only is Microsoft Game Studios' "Halo 3" the most eagerly anticipated video game of the year -- it achieved a milestone of a million preorders two months ago -- but this action sci-fi series has become a cultural phenomenon, spawning novels, comics, action figures and a top-secret project with Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson ("The Lord of the Rings. The Return of the King").
Some people might call 17-year-old Joshua Hanson one the luckiest people on the planet. Others might call him crazy.
In yet another embarrassing delay for Sony, the company is delaying the launch of its "Home" virtual world for the PlayStation 3, initially planned for later this year, until next spring.
Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it will pipe advertisements into a slate of popular sports video games from Electronic Arts Inc., including its best-selling "Madden" football franchise.
Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday the head of its gaming business, Peter Moore, would leave the company to join Electronic Arts Inc., the world's biggest video game publisher.
Remember the Electronic Entertainment Expo -- that action-packed madhouse of a video game conference that was once the industry's biggest event of the year? It took place again this week, only this time it was much smaller, tamer and, overall, a big snooze-fest.
Sony Corp.'s $100 price cut for the PlayStation 3 is not enough to turn the fortunes of the game console, which has suffered a slow start, an executive of game software maker Konami Corp. said.
Cadillac tried a novel approach last year to get young male car buyers excited about its tricked-out V-Series Collection luxury vehicles. Rather than make its pitch through magazines, TV commercials, or online display ads, the automaker took its campaign to the Xbox 360.
Christmas really does come in July for video game geeks. The industry's biggest event of the year, the E3 Media & Business Summit, will take place during July 11 through July 13 in Santa Monica, California.
The generation that grew up with "Pac-Man" and "Pong" are now having children of their own. And across the nation, fathers and their kids are finding the virtual worlds of video games a popular place to bond
If you listen closely, you might just be able to hear a confused video gamer struggling to find the single-player story mode in "Shadowrun," the latest video game published by Microsoft Game Studios.
With the video game version of "Spider-Man 3" and its theatrical counterpart hitting the United States on Friday, we're not just seeing the continuation of a hugely successful movie franchise.
A year ago it looked like game over for Nintendo's storied console business. The Kyoto-based gamemaker--whose Nintendo Entertainment System ushered in the modern age of videogames--was bleeding mar...
Take-Two Interactive Software, the troubled maker of the popular Grand Theft Auto series of video games, has said that it might consider a sale.
The boss battle at Take-Two Interactive Software is over - with the leaders brutally squashed, then discarded. It sounds like a storyline straight out of "Grand Theft Auto," but in this case, it was corporate Darwinism at work.
Bracing for a shareholder revolt, the maker of the "Grand Theft Auto" video game said Monday it is considering new corporate strategies, including the sale of the company.
Strange things are afoot in the land of Azeroth. The most powerful humans, orcs, and night elves have grown restless, for many among them have explored all the known kingdoms, from the city of Tyr'...
The hot-button topic of used video game sales is moving toward center stage once again, as Circuit City has begun selling previously-owned titles online and in select stores.
In the gaming world, being first to market has its advantages, but it also has some downsides. With its Xbox 360, Microsoft has staked itself a year lead over archrival Sony in the next-gen gaming wars and, just as importantly, the battle for living-room dominance--these powerful minicomputers also do double duty as digital media hubs. In those 12 months, Microsoft has managed to sell several million consoles, work through some hardware glitches, upgrade the system's internal software, and bring out a full selection of accessories as well as a few signature games, including the company's own smash hit, Gears of War. But that year has also given Sony time to polish its more ambitious--and pricier--PlayStation 3.
As U.S. video gamers prepare to stampede into electronics retailers across the country, here's all you need to know about Sony's PlayStation 3.
Turn on your TV this week and you may see a striking commercial: An animated baby doll sits in a white room looking at a small black box. It coos with delight. It laughs with an adult's demented ca...
Electronic Arts may be the video game sector's dominant player. But that hasn't made the past year much fun for shareholders.
With the PlayStation 3 launch date less than one month away, Sony is finally answering some of the lingering mysteries about the video game system.
The video game industry is taking a page out of TV's script.
Director Peter Jackson, who won an Academy Award for his "Lord of the Rings" films, is adding another title to his resume: video game mogul. The filmmaker and Microsoft Wednesday announced a partnership to launch a development studio and collaborate on a new "Halo" game.
Things are getting a bit more Unreal in the video game world.
Psst. Want to know a Wii secret?
LOS ANGELES (CNNMoney.com) - Despite the fact that its latest installment was released seven months before the show, "Grand Theft Auto" was king at E3 2005.
LOS ANGELES (CNNMoney.com) - Gamers hoping to mark their calendars for the launch of Nintendo's new gaming system are going to have to wait a little longer.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A major video game conference this week could prove pivotal for a multibillion dollar war over high-definition DVD standards brewing in Hollywood.
TOKYO, May 7 (Reuters) - With the launch of its PlayStation 3 video game console six months away, Sony Corp. is gearing up for an all-out battle to put the electronics and entertainment conglomerate back on a growth path.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Video games aren't just for sullen, antisocial teens. And big media companies have taken notice.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - While there aren't quite as many mysteries at this year's E3, there's plenty of anticipation. The video game industry's annual trade show may have revealed plenty of next generation secrets in 2005, but it left just as many unanswered questions.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - As it prepares the coming out party for the PlayStation 3, Sony has taken steps to keep PlayStation 2 in the spotlight. And on Thursday, the company dropped the price of the video game machine from $149 to $129.
Mention Epic Games to a hardcore gamer and their eyes glaze slightly as they begin rhapsodizing over a particularly memorable kill in "Unreal Tournament". Mention the company to anyone else, though, and you'll likely get a blank stare.
SAN JOSE (CNNMoney.com) - Nintendo's next generation video game system is going to rely pretty heavily on the past.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The company behind "Grand Theft Auto," arguably the most controversial video game franchise on the market, is working on a new game for Microsoft's Xbox 360 - table tennis.
Amid all the hand-wringing and debate over violence in video games, there's one point of view not often heard: a call for even more carnage and mayhem.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Things haven't been going well for Atari for quite some time now, but they've just taken a turn for the worse.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - I've known for years that the video game industry appealed to people who hadn't seen their teens or 20s in a long, long time. After all, I was living proof. But I remember precisely where I was when the reality was driven home.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Despite a disappointing holiday season, video game sales around the U.S. reached an all time high in 2005.
The Xbox 360, a video game console and one of the hottest gifts in 2005, sold out so fast and so early that it may have inadvertently created a drain on the $25 billion gaming industry, according to a news report.
Top video game maker Electronic Arts Inc. warned that quarterly profit and revenue would be "well below" earlier estimates due to lackluster holiday sales that it blamed on shortages of the Xbox 360.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Who would have thought in a year where we saw the launch of two new major gaming systems and announcements about two more that the story of the year would be about a beverage?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Interesting factoid about the Nintendo Revolution controller: It's smaller and lighter than you might think.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - While Microsoft's Xbox 360 is one of the hottest gadgets of the holiday season, the rest of the video game industry isn't faring well.
Electronic Arts decided it couldn't beat Jamdat, a publisher of videogames for cellphones, so this week it made the largest acquisition in its history, paying $680 million for the Los Angeles-based game-maker, the biggest player in the burgeoning $2.6 billion market for games on mobile phones.
MICROSOFT XBOX 360
It was the first crime of its kind in China: Last year a 40-year-old man used a real knife to stab to death a younger man who had borrowed his virtual sword from an online videogame and sold it for $870. There are no laws in China protecting virtual property, so Qiu Chengwei, the man whose sword had been stolen, got no help from the police. Instead he tracked Zhu Caoyuan to his one-room apartment in Shanghai and, in the presence of Zhu's girlfriend, plunged a knife into his heart. The crime earned Qiu a death sentence. It also sent shivers through China's fast-growing and increasingly controversial gaming industry, which has been accused of causing obsessive and sometimes violent behavior. Nowhere has that backlash against videogames been more keenly watched than at the Shanghai headquarters of Shanda Interactive Entertainment, China's biggest gaming company. Shanda specializes in online role-playing games that draw thousands of players together in their virtual worlds. Although it doesn't operate the gam
For Microsoft, this week's launch of the Xbox 360 is the biggest thing since Windows 95. For the man leading the charge, it's also a chance for revenge against Sony's PlayStation mastermind.
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