The Harry Potter universe is colliding with the Lego world in an upcoming video game called, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 . The Lego video game franchise has been very popular and has include Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman Lego games. You can find the official website for the video game here. In this tour of the video game you can see some giant Lego Harry Potter figures. You will be able to use magic and cast spells in the Lego game. It looks like a fun game. Take a look:
The video game arrives in stores in May. It can be pre-ordered here on Amazon.com.
Walmart and Best Buy both decided to try out used video game sales last year. Now they are both exiting the business and shutting down used games kiosks. This should make Gamestop more comfortable. Industry Gamers cites Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia as saying the used games sales from the kiosks were "underwhelming."
Dearlerscope says the company behind the trade-in kiosks, e-Play LLC, has ceased operations.
Electronic Arts is celebrating the ten year anniversary of The Sims, the game that lets players create and live a virtual, simulated life on a computer. Since the original The Sims debut on February 4, 2000, the franchise has produced three core games – The Sims, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3. Lifetime unit sales have eclipsed 125 million worldwide.
"No other game in the history of electronic entertainment has ever had the broad, nearly universal appeal of The Sims franchise," says Logan Decker, Editor-in-Chief of PC Gamer magazine. "Everybody plays it: hardcore gamers, young women, celebrities, conservatives, professors, soldiers, grandmothers, even people who say they don't like computer games. And the game-or, rather, the experience-has thrived throughout ten years of sequels and countless expansion packs because EA has kept the environment fresh and infinitely customizable while never getting in the way of the game's primary focus-the player's imagination and the natural inclination of all human beings to create meaningful stories."
Shinobii Technologies, a manufacturer of videogame peripherals, has launched the Xcross Remote for the Nintendo Wii. The wireless remote is designed to function like a Wii remote. It includes wireless play-range up to 16 feet, D-pad, sensitive action buttons, built-in speaker and vibration. It is compatible with other Wii controllers and accessories, including the MotionPlus. The remote comes with a wrist strap and silicone sleeve. It goes on sale later this month in Europe for 29.95 pounds, about $48 U.S. A U.S. release date has not been announced.
Star Trek Online launches on February 2nd. The massively online multiplayer games lets people play in the Star Trek universe. The concept is similar to games like World of Warcraft. Players can become the Captain of a Federation starship or they can become a Klingon Warlord. Players can also visit iconic locations from the Star Trek books, films and tv shows.
Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in the Star Trek film, helps gamers navigate their way through the Star Trek Online universe. Take a look:
One of the stated purposes of the new iPad is for playing games. During its presentation on Wednesday Apple showed off games being played on its new tablet. You can see a demonstration of a snow mobile game from the Apple keynote in the video below.
To start with iPad users will only have games to play that were made for the iPhone. Apple says the iPad will work with almost all of the apps designed for the iPhone. Kotaku has a review of how some of the iPhone apps work on the iPad
here.
The iPad can't compete with the big game consoles (Wii, Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3), or the PC, but it could be a fun, portable gaming device for casual gamers. There are already game publishers like Gameloft and Electronic Arts developing new games for the iPad. There are likely to be many more game publishers getting on board as well. If Apple sells a lot of units then even more game publishers will want to make games for the device. This could help the iPad compete with portable gaming devices like the Nintendo DS and Sony's PSP.
There are several drawbacks to the iPad as a gaming device. Some gamers do not think touchscreen controls emulating d-pads makes for fun gaming. The Apple iPad also does not have a web camera. This means iPad users will miss out on augmented reality. Augmented reality is already being implented on everything from greeting cards to baseball cards. AR gaming is expected to be huge but a web camera is needed to bring AR games to life. You can see an example of an AR game here. Another noted drawback to playing games on the Apple iPad is the lack of flash. This means iPad users can not play free Flash games. The missing Flash technology is likely intentional. Apple wants iPad users to buy games from its iTunes store not play them free online.
The BBC reports that Sony is delaying its launch of a motion controller for the PlayStation 3 until Fall, 2010. The controller is meant to compete with the Nintendo Wii's controllers.
Nintendo's console was the first to have a mass-market motion-detecting controller, allowing the gamer to control the onscreen action with body movements rather than controlling a joystick.
Sony's device is similar to Nintendo's controller. A camera sits on top of the TV and detects the motion of a coloured orb attached to the end of a wand held by the player.
It will be available in North America, Europe, Japan and other Asian countries. Sony has not confirmed its cost.
Microsoft is also launching Natal near the end of 2010. Natal is a gaming technology that does not use a controller. Instead a person's body becomes the game controller. You can see some Natal videos here.
Apple will make a huge announcement tomorrow when it introduces its new tablet computer. The gadget is expected to offer a whole new way to read books, magazines and newspapers. It could also provide a new gaming platform. The iPhone has been big for gaming with many publishers creating game apps specifically for the device. The tablet would offer a larger screen that could be used for a wide variety of games. If a lot of people buy the tablet then publishers will likely want to make games specifically for the tablet as well. Take a look:
Lisa Courtney is feature in the Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer's Edition for having for Biggest Pokemon Memorabilia Collection. Her collection includes 12,113 Pokemon items. That's a lot of Pokemons.
MySpace hasn't been getting as much press lately as its rivals, Twitter and Facebook, but the service is still thriving. The social networking website still gets 100 million users each month and its traffic recently started growing again. Bloombergreports that MySpace is gearing up to focus on becoming a music, gaming and entertainment destination.
"We will really become relevant, and there's just no way when you have 100 million-plus users a month like we do that you don't have something that's really relevant," Chief Executive Officer Owen Van Natta said in an interview at a music conference in Cannes this past weekend. "Along the path we are going down, we should see increased gains."
Van Natta, the former chief operating officer of Facebook, took over the News Corp.-owned site in April and has since replaced most of the management team, cleared content such as jobs listings, horoscopes and weather updates and made music and entertainment top priority. MySpace posted 7 percent growth in unique visitors from November to December, the first increase since mid-last year, Van Natta said, citing statistics by researcher ComScore Inc.
MySpace's music site grew 92% in 2009 but they face a suprise challenge from upstart Vevo. In video, MySpace is also trying some original content including shows called Famous Hangers and Artist on Artist.
Several celebrity moms Constance Marie, Nancy O'Dell, Holly Robinson Peete and Ali Landry came out to play the Wii Fit at the Wii Fit Celebrity Launch Party. Take a look:
ITN reports that Tomb Raider: Lara Croft has six world record entries in the new edition of Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer's Edition. Tomb Raider: Underworld is the latest game in the franchise. Angelina Jolie was by far the most popular and most well-known Lara Croft. If only she would play the role again. New Lara Croft models, such as British Gymnast Alison Carroll, have helped continue Lara Croft's success in the video game world. Take a look:
Video games ended a bad year with a positive month but it was all because of the Nintendo Wii. Reuters reports that NPD group data indicates sales of video game equipment and software in the United States climbed 4 percent in December. Nintendo sold 3.8 million Wiis in December. The lower price of the Wii introduced in September, 2009 was likely a factor in the console's strong sales.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said a strong performance by Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii -- spurred by a holiday sales promotion at Wal-mart Stores Inc -- helped boost overall industry figures.
"It was really all Nintendo, they won by a mile," he said.
The Wii sold 3.8 million units in December and set a record for monthly game system sales in the U.S.
"We expected to have a good holiday and this was a great reaffirmation of that," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Overall video game sales were not good in 2009. Sales of games and accessories plunged 8%. The decline ruled out the idea that video games may be recession proof.
Iron Will demonstrated its Peregrine glove at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. The glove works with PC video games as an alternative to the keyboard. The company's faq says the glove is most effective in RTS titles like Heroes of Newerth, StarCraft, WarCraft III, and Defense of the Ancients, as well as MMORPGs such as World of WarCraft. Take a look:
The glove is currently available for pre-order for $129.99 at theperegrine.com.
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 video game has already generated over $1 billion in sales. The game sold over six million copies in November. Players assume the roles of different combat troops in the first-person shooter video game.
The BBC says the franchises earnings are comparable to the earning of box office blockbusters but notes that the cost of a game is more than the cost of a movie ticket.
Electronic Arts is celebrating the ten year anniversary of 
