What if your video-game console, TV, tablet and smartphone all worked together to enhance gaming, movies and TV shows for you?
Do gamers prefer to build or destroy? A look at the combat-intensive themes of most top-selling console games would suggest the latter.
CNN looks at how one man changed the gaming world one block at a time.
The software giant released Kinect for Windows, a $250 motion sensor marketed toward businesses, not gamers.
It was a year of crippling -- and creative -- hacks, a year of blockbuster sequels and (yet again) a year of slinging vengeful birds at corpulent pigs.
"The problem with innovation in the television market is the go-to-market strategy," Steve Jobs told Hillcrest Labs' Dan Simpkins at the D8 conference in 2010.
When Microsoft released the first Xbox nearly a decade ago, analysts considered the then-money-losing endeavor to be a sort of Trojan horse into the living room: a bid to become the home's central media hub.
Microsoft is trying to succeed where Google, Apple and Sony have all flopped: The software giant wants to change the way people watch TV.
"Fruit Ninja," a top 10 iPhone app is coming to Kinect, Microsoft's motion-control system for the Xbox.
Live TV on the Xbox and a more mature second generation of games for the Kinect were among the promises at a Microsoft briefing Monday in advance of the E3 video-game expo.
Microsoft announces new Kinect features, live TV and an exciting new game for XBox 360 at E3 2011.
While the picture quality on your TV has evolved over the years, the way you interact with your TV is still stuck in the Stone Age. That is, the remote control and channel guide still need some serious innovation.
Researchers from MIT's Media Lab demonstrate hands-free Web browsing using Kinect made for Microsoft's Xbox 360.
The world's largest video game companies weren't about to miss an opportunity to get their consoles and hand-helds in front of a cutting-edge audience.
Sick of paying $50 to $60 for a video game?
As video game players, our focus often falls on the freshest, most exciting new digital diversions.
"Kinectimals," a new video game for Microsoft's Kinect motion-control gaming system, lets children pet a tiger cub.
Leading up to the winter holidays, Microsoft unveiled a new tool for its Xbox 360 video game console allowing parents to limit the amount of time kids spend on video games.
[HIT] Have it our way. It is, without doubt, the marketer's holy grail: getting people to spend hours engaged with your brand--and pay for the privilege. Well, Burger King has reached the elusive c...
Midway Games' "Mortal Kombat: Armageddon," now available for the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox, boasts a full roster of playable characters.
All right class, I know you're eager to clean out your lockers, but summer vacation doesn't begin until you've all received your end of term grades.
Since 1999, Apple has been a loyal customer of Akamai, the Cambridge, Mass.-based technology outfit whose content-delivery services speeds Apple's software and music downloads. As Apple preps an online movie store, however, it's looking at even heftier bandwidth bills. So rumor has it that it's looking at putting file-sharing technology into an upcoming version of its Mac OS X operating system. If Mac OS Rumors' report pans out, Apple would have Mac users download files from other Macs rather than from Apple's servers, saving Apple money. To encourage users to participate, the proposed scheme could reward them with credit towards iTunes purchases.
The Xbox giveth, and the Xbox taketh away.
In February, the defiant Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy predicted a triumphant resurgence for his company to Business 2.0: "Four years ago we told our engineers to throw out everything that doesn't matter." Now, apparently, McNealy has decided that 200 employees are among what doesn't matter. The layoffs came from the company's high-end server group which has recently been giving away computers to anyone who asks for one to test. Indeed, even Sun president Jonathan Schwartz has acknowledged in his blog that the free trial offer has proved a bit rocky, and these cuts make that all the more apparent.
After Sony announced on Tuesday that the Playstation 3 won't launch until November, the Xbox 360 is in a better position to become the top gaming console, says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Even if it's been a while since you were in college, that's no reason to miss out on one of the finest time-honored traditions of undergraduate life -- March Madness.
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 20) -GigaOm and Venkatesh note that Google seems to be testing it's click-to-call program, which connects web surfers and advertisers by phone. Searching for "hotels, New York," Venkatesh got an ad with a little green phone icon. Clicking on the icon prompted him to enter his phone number, which Google says it will use to connect a regular telephone call from the advertiser to the customer (without revealing the customer's number to the advertiser). AOL, a unit of Time Warner, started running its own pay-per-call ad program last year. The advantage of these ads: Advertisers pay Internet outfits much higher fees for pay-per-call ads than for the traditional pay-per-click ads, because they are more likely to lead to sales. But Venkatesh feels Google's technology is lacking. Clicking on the ads, he noted, did not yet yield any further information about the advertiser, unlike in AOL's system, which sends surfers to a "landing page" that gives surfers details about the business they're ...
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 20) -GigaOm and Venkatesh note that Google seems to be testing it's click-to-call program, which connects web surfers and advertisers by phone. Searching for "hotels, New York," Venkatesh got an ad with a little green phone icon. Clicking on the icon prompted him to enter his phone number, which Google says it will use to connect a regular telephone call from the advertiser to the customer (without revealing the customer's number to the advertiser). AOL, a unit of Time Warner, started running its own pay-per-call ad program last year. The advantage of these ads: Advertisers pay Internet outfits much higher fees for pay-per-call ads than for the traditional pay-per-click ads, because they are more likely to lead to sales. But Venkatesh feels Google's technology is lacking. Clicking on the ads, he noted, did not yet yield any further information about the advertiser, unlike in AOL's system, which sends surfers to a "landing page" that gives surfers details about the business they're
There's one thing that trying to create a poker video game has in common with learning the game of poker: both tasks are a lot harder than they look.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Despite a disappointing holiday season, video game sales around the U.S. reached an all time high in 2005.
If the television show "Jeopardy" were written by Sunday school teachers, the result might be "The Bible Game," a new trivia game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Boy Advance that casts players as contestants in a game show about the Old Testament.
Who won the annual duel between consumers and retailers this holiday shopping season? It's a tough call this time around but the odds are probably tipped in favor of consumers.
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.
Retail sales this weekend will be crucial as the holiday shopping season heads into what looks to be a nail-biting finish for the most important sales period of the year.
Déjà video? Sony and Toshiba have been lining up supporters for their competing high-definition next-generation DVDs in a battle over which company will own the home-video, gaming, and computer dis...
MICROSOFT XBOX 360
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.
Microsoft's got game. After plunging an estimated $4 billion into the development and marketing of its Xbox videogame console, the centerpiece of its strategy to expand from the office to the living room, Microsoft has taken the wraps off its next-generation game box, the Xbox 360. And judging from the features Microsoft has packed into the new box, it's clear the company is playing for keeps.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - For gaming's most enthusiastic fans, the question of whether to get an Xbox 360 was answered long ago. It would be the first entry in the next generation and a status symbol amongst their friends. But is there a reason for the rest of the world - gaming or otherwise - to rush stores?
Consider it the most fun you can have on a mountain without fear of breaking a leg: "SSX on Tour" is the latest in the popular extreme sports series that lets virtual snowboarders and skiers race down the slopes and perform over-the-top midair stunts.
It's not surprising, considering the products they sell, that executives in the videogame business like to pepper their speeches with trash-talking one-liners about rivals. But there are few opport...
Home is where the Wi-Fi is. and the more Wi-Fi you get in your home, the bigger the business opportunity becomes. With a raft of new Wi-Fi-hungry devices arriving for the holiday season, consumers ...
Now that National Hockey League players have returned to the rink after a yearlong lockout, video gamers also are looking to lace up their skates and hit the ice -- virtually, that is.
ROBERT HAGSTROM KNOWS HOW TO STICK TO A GAME plan. As author of two books on the investing style of Warren Buffett (including The Warren Buffett Way), the manager of the Legg Mason Growth Trust (LM...
WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I played as a child. But when I became a man, I refused to put away my joystick. And if Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have their way...
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - There was a lot of hype last week about the next generation of game machines. Microsoft said the Xbox 360 will ultimately reach 1 billion consumers worldwide, while Sony gave a laundry list of features for the PlayStation 3, showing some jaw dropping footage along the way.
More than 70,000 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) attendees have crammed into the L.A. Convention Center and surrounding venues to catch a glimpse of the future of the multibillion-dollar video game industry.
Gaming behemoths Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo took the wraps off their respective next-generation gaming machines on the eve of the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3.
From the twisted mind of Tim Schafer, the creator of such classic PC games as "Grim Fandango," "Day of the Tentacle" and "Full Throttle," comes his latest blockbuster, "Psychonauts."
LOS ANGELES (CNN/Money) - When Microsoft launches the Xbox 360 later this year, it's going to have a lot of games to go with it.
After a string of disappearances at their high school, five students decide to spend the night at the school to solve the mystery.
After months of teases, hints and leaks, Microsoft has finally --officially -- unveiled its next generation video game machine.
It's a good time to be an Xbox gamer.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - It's much too early to know how successful Xbox 360, the new Xbox from Microsoft, will be when it's released later this year. But it may have already changed the way the industry operates.
If you're bored with mindless 3-D shooters, then you will want to slip into the boots of super spy Sam Fisher in "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory," a deliciously tense stealth action sequel in which you must protect the world from evil and destruction.
Two new video games let you play as a monkey on a mission. "Donkey Kong Jungle Beat" works with Nintendo's bongo controllers so gamers can drum away to maneuver a brawny ape, while Sega's "Super Monkey Ball Deluxe" brings a popular GameCube puzzler onto the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 consoles.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Calling this year's E3 the biggest video game show in the industry's history might sound like hyperbole run amuck. For once, though, it appears the hype might be justified.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Dear Bill,
After more than a year of teases and false starts, Microsoft is finally starting to talk about its next generation game machine.
Nearly 10 years ago, a little-known British game developer, Team 17, introduced the world to a quirky strategy game called "Worms."
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it is recalling 14.1 million power cords for its Xbox video game console because faulty power cords have led to minor burns and property damage.
Set in the popular Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) universe, Atari's "Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone" for Windows (requires DVD drive), PlayStation and Xbox, follows a band of adventurers who inadvertently release two imprisoned demons.
If you are looking to spice up your gaming console or Windows-based PC, pick up an accessory for your system.
Better. Bigger. Faster. Cheaper. And of course, it's not "hot" unless its wireless and portable.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - New year, new hardware. Welcome to 2005 - when things should get really interesting for the gaming industry.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Looking back, we all should have guessed that 2004 would be the year of sex and video games.
If you want to find the perfect holiday gift for the video gamer in your life, beware: Gamers can be surprisingly hard to shop for.
FOR FOODIES
Here's the good news: if you've got a gamer on your holiday shopping list this year, it's pretty hard to go wrong.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Since it hit streets three years ago, Microsoft's Xbox has been a machine that has catered to the hard-core gamer.
One of the best games around these days can't be found on store shelves and has absolutely no learning curve.
"Pure Pinball," the first pinball simulation for Microsoft's Xbox, lets you enjoy the thrill of the arcade without having to shell out a bunch of quarters to play.
DALLAS (CNN/Money) - Typically, when a developer sells roughly 300,000 copies of its game in one week, the team takes a little downtime to unwind and celebrate. At id Software, downtime is a rare commodity.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -Doomsday is almost here.
It's the bottom of the ninth and the bases are loaded. The Yankees and Red Sox are tied 4-4 when New York's Alex Rodriguez steps up to the plate -- literally engulfed in flames as a result of his "hot" performance -- and sends a ball out of the stadium and into the scoreboard, smashing it to pieces. The crowd goes wild.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Midway Games, which hasn't seen a profitable quarter since 1999, has signed a deal giving it publication rights to one of the most successful franchises in the video game world.
Since 2000, developer id Software has told the world the next installment of "Doom," the game that kicked off the action genre, would ship "when it's done."
Spend some time talking with fans of Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation 2, or Nintendo's GameCube, and it won't be long before you hear the word "networked" or "online."
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Two months ago, Microsoft spoke glowingly of bridging the gap between the PC and Xbox. Now the company is considering erasing that gap completely.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo is over. And that means so is the agonizing speculation about what exactly was featured there. After all, as the E3 Web site says, "E3 is a trade event and is not open to the general public. No one under the age of 18 will be admitted, including infants."
LOS ANGELES (CNN/Money) - I was a Pac Man baby.
There are 30 Major League Baseball teams, and each one plays 162 games over six months. Even with a satellite hookup, multiple televisions and an extended leave of absence from work, you couldn't possibly watch them all. Even if you could, what about all those agonizing times in which there's no baseball at all -- like mornings, winters, All-Star Breaks and players' strikes?
Sony's PSP and the Nintendo DS -- will be answered.
Microsoft has fired the first shot in this year's video-game price wars, cutting the price of its Xbox console by $30 to about $150 in the United States.
SAN JOSE (CNN/Money) - Microsoft is taking its battle with Sony to game developers, hoping to woo them away from the gaming industry leader with a new suite of tools designed to make building video games cheaper and easier.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - For the past two years, Microsoft has established a reputation as a follower in the video game war. When Sony acted, Microsoft reacted - especially when it came to price cuts. Things could be about to change.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Sean Connery said it best in "The Untouchables": Never bring a knife to a gun fight.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - When you're a small business and you overlook a detail, it often goes unnoticed. When you're a multimillion or multibillion dollar business, it opens up the opportunity for someone to make you look foolish.
Shortly after midnight on the first day of October 1997, a small band of young Microsoft soldiers sneaked onto the Mountain View, Calif., campus of then-archrival Netscape and dumped something on ...
Better product, lower prices, and they actually give a damn: Major airlines canceled hundreds of flights during the Aug. 14 blackout. JetBlue could've easily followed suit. Instead, the popular low...
Let's play a little numbers game: on Aug. 14, Madden NFL 2004, a videogame pitting real-life NFL teams against one another, appeared on retailers' shelves. Within three weeks, the game grossed $100...
Kaz Hirai figured his career was over. The year was 1996, and Hirai, then 35, had spent ten years working his way up the ladder at Sony Music. He had lived in Tokyo and in New York; he had partied ...
Olympus D-40 Zoom On the serious side, Olympus' D-40 Zoom ($699) is a true four-megapixel digital camera with advanced features, like an all-glass lens and a seamless optical-digital zoom that's th...
In 1999, when my son Jake headed off to kindergarten, he started receiving a $1-a-week allowance. As an added enticement, I told him that for really big purchases, I'd match his savings, 401(k)-sty...
Metal Gear Solid 2 PlayStation 2 Konami, $50 Subtitled "Sons of Liberty," this spy thriller looks like a big-budget film and plays as though you're genuinely living inside a secret operative's skin...
MP3/Audio player: Apple iPOD
Videogame enthusiasts (and their parents) had better prepare for an anxious holiday season. The much anticipated Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube will bring plenty of emotional highs and lows. ...



