video games

This Week's Top Games Are...

Oct 16, 2007 12:05 AM CDT

This Week's Top Games Are...

GamePro gives top marks to latest Tony Hawk and Avatar

(Newser) - Want great games for your console? Here are this week's winners, as awarded by GamePro.com:

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, the skateboard legend's latest for all major platforms except PC
Avatar: the Last Airbender—The Burning Earth, a multiplatformer sequel to the Nickolodeon-inspired original

Parents Believe Kids Are Too Plugged In

Oct 11, 2007 3:53 PM CDT

Parents Believe Kids Are Too Plugged In

A third thinks children spend too much time online, but do they really?

(Newser) - American kids are spending more time than ever in front of the computer, and the trend makes some parents queasy, CNet reports. Three-quarters of Americans age 12 and up spend an average of 8.9 hours online a week, a new study finds. And the numbers will keep rising, as...

Cyber Game Olympics Vie
for Mainstream

Oct 7, 2007 7:02 PM CDT

Cyber Game Olympics Vie for Mainstream

'E-sport' competitors hope to break geeky stereotypes

(Newser) - The 700 gamers in Seattle this weekend aren’t lonely basement-dwellers, say World Cyber Games planners: They're gifted athletes competing in “e-sports.” Organizers hope that such sportsmen will claw into the mainstream and bypass other fringe athletes like poker players and competitive eaters. “The goal is to...

Halo Makers Cut Microsoft Cord

Oct 5, 2007 1:12 PM CDT

Halo Makers Cut Microsoft Cord

Bungie Studios returns to independence

(Newser) - Microsoft is parting ways with Bungie Studios, masterminds behind the Halo video-game franchise, which it acquired in 2000. The software giant announced the news just one day after proclaiming that “Halo 3” had eclipsed the $300-million mark in global sales. Though Bungie goes independent, Gates-led Microsoft will maintain an...

'Halo 3' Hits $300M in Sales

Oct 4, 2007 4:11 PM CDT

'Halo 3' Hits $300M in Sales

Microsoft hoping franchise will help it win the console wars

(Newser) - Video-game phenomenon "Halo 3" earned more than $300 million in global sales during its first week, Microsoft announced today. Although specific figures were not released, the Wall Street Journal reports, the game surely also drove up sales of its Xbox 360 console, which previously had been flagging in competition...

'Halo 3' Disk Comes Scratched

Sep 26, 2007 12:46 AM CDT

'Halo 3' Disk Comes Scratched

Limited-edition packaging can harm media

(Newser) - A limited-edition package for Microsoft's 'Halo 3' may be scratching the game disks, AP reports. The latest installment of the famous shoot-em-up franchise appears to be well on its way to huge sales, but with its new Xbox 360 suffering from news of bugs in recent months, the scratched disks...

Halo 3: Believe in Big Sales for Microsoft

Sep 25, 2007 7:03 AM CDT

Halo 3: Believe in Big Sales for Microsoft

Gamers turn out in droves for video game's midnight release

(Newser) - Wired predicts a surge in sick-days today as gamers who picked up some of the 4 million preordered copies of Halo 3: Believe when it went on sale at midnight skip work after all-night sessions. Crowds at the Manhattan release party—one of 10,000 nationwide—held up traffic...

Gamers Hold Tight for Halo 3

Sep 22, 2007 2:50 PM CDT

Gamers Hold Tight for Halo 3

(Newser) - The final installment of the video game juggernaut Halo hits stores Tuesday, and rabid fans are expected to blow away sales records along with pesky invading aliens. Halo 3 will be released at 12:01 a.m., Reuters reports, with hype and sales receipts expected to rival that of Harry ...

5 Worst Video Game Deaths

Sep 21, 2007 7:57 AM CDT

5 Worst Video Game Deaths

Five Most Painful Video game Deaths

(Newser) - Not all video game deaths are created equal. MSNBC selects the top five most gruesome:

Spine ripped out: "Mortal Kombat"
Sawed to pieces: "Gears of War," "Doom," "God of War," "Star Wars"
Stomped to death: "Duke Nukem"

Sony Delays Answer to ‘Second Life’

Sep 20, 2007 1:28 PM CDT

Sony Delays Answer to ‘Second Life’

Former trailblazer's ‘Home’ won’t drop now until spring

(Newser) - Adding to a string of setbacks, Sony today delayed the release of its competitor for virtual world touchstone "Second Life," until next spring. The interactive world "Home"—made for PlayStation 3—has been demonstrated several times, the AP reports, and was to land before year’s...

Wii Are the Champions

Aug 24, 2007 3:29 AM CDT

Wii Are the Champions

Nintendo game console outsells Sony and Microsoft combined

(Newser) - Vdeo gamers were reaching for the Wii-mote in July after buying up an impressive 425,000 Nintendo Wii consoles—more than twice the sales of either X-Box 360 or Playstation 3. It was a strong month for video games as a whole, with console sales more than doubling since...

Man Treats Virtual Wife Better Than Real One

Aug 11, 2007 8:49 AM CDT

Man Treats Virtual Wife Better Than Real One

Second Life getting in the way of first lives

(Newser) - A man who spends up to 20 hours a day playing the virtual-reality video game Second Life may be getting more fulfillment from his online wife than his real one—and his non-cyber-spouse isn't feeling fulfilled at all. Ric Hoogestraat, a 53-year-old ex-teacher, says his virtual matrimony is only a...

Microsoft
Drops Price
of Xbox 360

Aug 7, 2007 8:55 AM CDT

Microsoft Drops Price of Xbox 360

Trims $50 in wake of Sony's cuts to PlayStation3

(Newser) - Microsoft is shaving $50 off the price of Xbox 360 video game consoles in the US, just a month after Sony dropped the price of its PlayStation3 by $100. Both have faced unusually strong competition from Nintendo’s hot Wii, Reuters reports, and want to boost preholiday sales. Premiering in...

Xbox Guru
Quits Microsoft

Jul 18, 2007 6:16 PM CDT

Xbox Guru Quits Microsoft

Redmond claims charismatic exec's departure unrelated to warranty woes

(Newser) - Microsoft's former entertainment honcho Peter Moore has decamped, the company confirmed today, after a four-year tenure highlighted by the release of the wildly popular Xbox 360. The announcement comes two weeks after Microsoft answered persistent Xbox hardware defects with a massively expensive warranty extension.

Text Messaging Steers
Teens Into Trouble

Jul 18, 2007 4:47 PM CDT

Text Messaging Steers Teens Into Trouble

More than a quarter admit to texting while driving

(Newser) - Text messaging is growing into a serious hazard for young people, ABC reports. A new study showed that teens are texting at rates that border on addiction—some sending thousands of messages a month. Most alarmingly, however, a full 28% of teens admitted to texting while driving, a dangerous practice...

Nintendo Dominates Industry Show

Jul 12, 2007 4:24 PM CDT

Nintendo Dominates Industry Show

Reeling competitors can't monkey with Wii's success in console wars

(Newser) - The video game industry met for its annual E3 trade show this week, and the word is Nintendo's got game. While Sony and Microsoft scramble to restart, beset by slumping sales and expensive hardware woes, the Wii is humming along to acclaim and soaring profit margins. Other companies even pared...

Japanese TV Is Losing to Wii

Jul 11, 2007 5:29 AM CDT

Japanese TV Is Losing to Wii

Nintendo system steals prime-time audiences as families play together

(Newser) - Ratings are plummeting for Japanese prime-time TV shows as audiences increasingly turn to playing games on Nintendo's Wii system. Wii, which dominates the nation's $30B video games market, has stolen TV's "golden hour," thanks in part to parents who are choosing to share family time on Wii's...

Top 10 Video Games to Play With Your Date

Jul 6, 2007 12:04 PM CDT

Too Much Action Gives Gamers Wiiitis

Couch potatoes report shoulder, wrist injuries from Nintendo's addictive Wii

(Newser) - If you're suffering from tennis shoulder but the only tennis you've been playing is virtual, it could be too much Wii. The Nintendo video game with the innovative motion sensitive controller is putting a strain on players' wrists and shoulders—a condition one physician diagnosed as "wiiitis."

Wii Will Rock You, But for How Long?

May 28, 2007 5:16 PM CDT