Loyal Xbox 360 owners who have managed to climb into the Gamerscore stratosphere will soon be able to get some sort of benefit for their efforts, when Microsoft opens up its Reward Challenge program later this month, with smaller awards available for users who haven't logged as much time on their console.
Comcast and Facebook are partnering up to gather and share user-created videos in a new television series. Starting in March, Facebook users can submit video diary segments which will be viewable on both Facebook and Comcast's Ziddio.com site. The videos will also be viewable on Comcast's ON DEMAND service. Some of the best videos will be used in a new television series called "Facebook Diaries".
Microsoft Casual Games has unveiled a new revenue sharing plan that would let game developers grab a share of in-game advertising money. The new "Ad-Share" program will give a percentage of gross advertising revenues in the form of monthly checks. Microsoft estimates that annual amount could be substantial and thinks the top five MSN Games could pay out $250,000 a year.
Remember all the grief your parents gave you for playing video games? Well now you can tell them that action-based games can actually improve eyesight. According to a University of Rochester study, people who played action games for a few hours each day improved their vision by as much as 20%.
The colorful, outspoken lawyer/activist Jack Thompson, well known for his lawsuits against the companies behind violent video games, is finding himself on the other side of the courtroom, facing allegations of unprofessional conduct and disobeying a judge's order.
The game that spawned a sequel, a pinball game, and two remakes, is now available through the Wii's digital store, as Super Mario World, the title that introduced Yoshi, has been added to the Virtual Console, alongside a Sega Genesis and a TurboGrafx-16 game.
After an unsuccessful release for the Gamecube, Konami's popular Dance Dance Revolution is coming back to Nintendo in a newly announced Wii title, making use of the system's motion sensitive technology with the requisite dance pad to offer a full body experience.
There were many battles being closely monitored during the big holiday shopping season of 2006. The Wii won the battle of the new systems, overtaking the PS3, but the Xbox 360 outpaced them both. However, according to the latest figures from research firm NPD, it's the PS2 that deserves the real accolade, having sold more units during the final month of the year than any other console.
The recent addition of Mario Kart 64 to the Wii's Virtual Console digital download store showed what could be a big flaw in future releases to the Nintendo 64 channel, as technical problems prevented the implementation of part of the game's save mechanism.
Compulsive YouTube watching is forcing many Internet users to skip other chores, but Google would be making a mistake if wanted to cash in by including in-video ads. According to a survey done by Harris Interactive, the vast majority of YouTube viewers would visit less if video ads were included. 73% of frequent viewers would visit less, while 31% of viewers would visit "a lot less".
Microsoft has reacted to accusations of casual game publisher that claimed that Windows Vista is breaking at least 90% of games in the market, mainly due to the operating systems' new security architecture.
The first fully exclusive Sonic game for a Nintendo console is going to make an earlier-than-expected debut, with Sega pushing the release of Sonic and the Secret Rings from February 27 to February 20.
One gamer is dead after he and another online gamer turned their virtual rivalry into a real-life fight. A few dozen players of Lineage II, a popular online multiplayer game from NCSoft, met at a Moscow café and began fighting.
Alex St. John, chief executive of game publisher WildTangent, today blasted his former employer for a half-baked and negligent way of treating the majority of game publishers - small development studios and individual programmers of casual games: St. John claims that at least nine out of ten games do not work with Vista.
Mario Kart 64 is among the list of additions to the Wii Virtual Console for today's new releases, marking the first Nintendo 64 game available for the online store since the console's debut more than two months ago. Also, rounding out this week's installment are three Sega Genesis games.
Musical group Nine Inch Nails has announced a release date for its "Beside You In Time" DVD, which will be simultaneously be released on HD DVD, Blu-ray, and DVD, which they claim is a first for a next-generation music title.
Game designer and Nintendo's Senior Marketing Director Shigeru Miyamoto will keynote this year's Game Developers Conference. The yearly conference gathers some of the world's best game companies and coders, along with hopeful job seekers. In the past, Nintendo has used GDC keynotes to generate buzz and demo some cool products.
