In the second grade, James Silva didn't just play "Mario" and "Zelda" on his Nintendo but drew pictures of new levels and cooked up ideas for future games.
"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.
In the second grade, James Silva didn't just play "Mario" and "Zelda" on his Nintendo but drew pictures of new levels and cooked up ideas for future games.
"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.
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.
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.
NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - More than 96 million PlayStation 2 consoles have been sold worldwide since the PS2's debut in 2000, compared with some 25 million Microsoft Xboxes sold since 2001. Even if the new Xbox 360 is a rousing success, as it appears to be, Sony's dominance of the console universe is likely to continue, and there's a powerful new PlayStation coming next year.
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?
A growing number of Americans are finding surprisingly lucrative new vocations in previously unimaginable places: the imaginary worlds created by online games.
Greek gods, Nintendo's dogs and drivers you want to avoid. They're an odd combination, but they make up some of the best games on the market this year -- and are sure to please the gamer on your gift list.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - While the Xbox 360 is going to be dominating the media spotlight for the next few weeks (and possibly months), senior officials at Nintendo are quietly planting the seeds of Revolution.
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...
Take-Two Interactive Software sucked most of the air out of last year's holiday videogame buying season, selling more than five million copies of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. But there's no full-...
We all know the type. He's a 25-year-old dude who spends about four hours a week playing videogames. Squanders five or so more hours each week watching movies. Fritters away another nine hours on t...
Best Buy is walking a thin line with its latest in-store test -- one that might thrill cost-conscious consumers, but earn the ire of video game publishers and developers.
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.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ending months of speculation, Nintendo has begun to unveil the 'revolutionary' aspects of its next generation video-game system -- code-named Revolution.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - There's no such thing as bad publicity? Try telling that to the investors in Take-Two Interactive.
Remember when "hot coffee" meant, literally, hot coffee? Those seemingly innocent little words took on an entirely different meaning on July 20 when the videogame industry's Entertainment Software ...
A sequel to a successful video game should retain the magic of its predecessor while also introducing new features to further enhance the game play.
Imagine filming a real-time animated movie for a fraction of the cost of a big-budget Hollywood film. All it takes is some creativity, a little bit of computer savvy and a video game.
When a child misbehaves, you give it a spanking. But based on Wednesday's actions by the video game industry, when a publisher misbehaves, you say "tut tut" and hope no one asks you to do more.
Wal-Mart said Wednesday it is pulling copies of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" off store shelves after the video game industry's ratings board changed the rating on the game to "Adults Only".
A simple bowling simulation played on tiny LCD screens wouldn't normally generate excitement about a young software company. Yet by combining hypnotically simple games with a seasoned management te...
I must admit that for a long time I thought the idea of online gaming on my computer was pointless. Why would I want to chat with other gamers in these virtual worlds when I could have as much fun playing solo offline?
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Atari was king of the video game mountain. Now it's barely the court jester.
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.
So many games, so little time.
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.
Want to enjoy the full experience of a next generation console game? It could cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,710.
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.
LOS ANGELES (CNN/Money) - American gamers, it turns out, were lukewarm about Playboy. But what will their reaction be to Jenna Jameson?
As it plans for the future, Nintendo seems to be drawing from the past.
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.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - In Tony Sopranos' world, when secrets gets spilled, blood gets spilled. In the video game world, when secrets get spilled, gamers get thrilled.
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