Halo: Reach is the next game in the popular Halo franchise. Halo: Reach will be a prequel to the Halo storyline. The game was developed exclusively for Xbox 360 by Bungie. To date, more than 34 million copies of Halo games have been sold worldwide. Aisha Tyler does a voice over for a character in the game. She won't say who the character is. Take a look:
The Halo: Reach game will not be sold until this fall but a public beta will launch on May 3rd. Take a look:
Electronic Arts decided to stick with Tiger Woods for its video game despite his string of tawdry affairs. However, Tiger Woods is no longer alone on the game's box cover. In previous years it was just Tiger Woods on the cover of the sports video game. Now Tiger Woods has to share the cover space with Rory McIlroy, a young golfer from Northern Ireland. ESPN has an interview with Rory here.
The Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 video game will be out for the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 in June. Tiger Woods better get his act together or the next version of the game could be called Rory McIlroy PGA Tour 12. Pictured below are some of the prior cover boxes for the Tiger Woods PGA Tour video games where a scandal-free Tiger had the cover all to himself.
Sony is taking direct aim at the Wii by launching a motion controller for its PlayStation 3 console. The PlayStation Move is a technology that is similar to the Wii but Sony argues that the PlayStation Move is more accurate because it uses video tracking through its PlayStation Eye Camera. The PlayStation Move will launch this fall and will retail for under $100. Take a look:
Sony announced today that the six major movie studies will all be distributing high definition (HD) movies for purchase and rental on the PlayStation Network video delivery service in the United States. The Playstation 3 is now the first game console to offer digital HD movies from all six of the major studios.
The studios include 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros.
Peter Dille, senior vice president, marketing and PlayStation Network, SCEA, said, "PlayStation Network is the first and only service to deliver high definition home entertainment from all six major studios, directly to consumers for download. PlayStation Network continues to offer the most comprehensive catalogue of HD movies to PlayStation Network members that realize the wide-ranging entertainment power of the PS3 system."
Alan Wake is a video game for the Xbox coming out this spring. The game promises to combine the thrill of an action game with the mind of a psychological thriller. Players play the role of Alan Wake, a bestselling suspense author suffering from writer's block. Alan's wife Alice disappears while they are on vacation in a small town. A dark presence is also overtaking the town. The game's creators said the show Lost was a huge influence for them. Take a look: Take a look:
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is being sued by the co-creators of the popular videogame Call of Duty. Jason West and Vince Zampella co-founded Activision's Infinity Ward studio and were fired by the company just before royalty payments were due to be paid to them. West and Zampella are suing for breach of contract and wrongful termination for being fired for being "insubordinate." They sued and are asking for $36 million and control of the Modern Warfare combat game. The two allege that Activision trumped up false claims of insubordination to avoid paying royalties. Bloomberg reports:
"Activision terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2, West and Zampella's lawyers at O'Melveny & Myers LLP wrote in a statement.
Maryanne Lataif, a spokeswoman for Santa Monica, California-based Activision Blizzard, declined to comment on the suit. The company said in a March 1 regulatory filing that two senior executives who led Modern Warfare were leaving and said it was investigating insubordination and breach of contract.
The company said on March 2 that it formed a new unit to run the Call of Duty franchise, naming Philip Earl to lead the unit.
West and Zampella oversaw creation of the World War II video-game Call of Duty and Modern Warfare sequels set in later periods. Call of Duty. titles have generated about $3 billion in revenue, Activision said in its 2009 annual filing.
This kind of case will be fact-intensive, and will turn on the details of Zampella's and West's contract with Activision and what exactly happened when they were fired. In January, sales of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 passed the $1 billion mark. The company has revenues of $4.3 billion last year.
Sony is confirming that an error is preventing some customers from connecting to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects PS3 models other than the new slim PS3. Sony believes the error is being caused by a a bug in the clock functionality. Sony is advising PS3 owners to not use their PS3 system until the error is fixed. Sony provided the following list of errors:
The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
When the user tries to sign in to the PlayStation Network, the following
message appears on the screen; "An error has occurred. You have been
signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)."
When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears
on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; "Failed to install
trophies. Please exit your game."
When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the
Internet, the following message appears on the screen; "The current date
and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)"
Users are not able to play back certain rental video downloaded from the
PlayStation Store before the expiration date.
Kotaku is posting updates on the PS3 global network lockdown here.
Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing, shows off the Nintendo DSi XL at Nintendo's Q1 Media Summit. The new Nintendo DSi XL hand-held system will launch March 28th with a suggested retail price of $189.99. The screens of the Nintendo DSi XL are 93% larger than those of the Nintendo DS Lite model. The screens also feature a wider viewing angle.
The new system will be available in Burgundy and Bronze colors. It will come loaded with pre-installed software, including Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters, Brain Age Express: Math and Photo Clock, as well as two free applications: the Nintendo DSi Browser and Flipnote Studio. Nintendo DSi XL will also come with a larger pen-like stylus for sue when playing games that use the Nintendo DS touch screen.
Nintendo also announced some new games that will be coming out later this year, including new Mario and Metroid games. Take a look:
Chanel has launched a game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It looks like a slot machine with Chanel items instead of cherrys, bars and sevens. You can preview the new Chanel app here. Chanel says play the game to discover the latest Chanel accessories. Chanel also has an iPhone app for its fashion shows and news updates - see here.
Every movie has a video game these days. ITN has a preview of the Alice in Wonderland game coming out for the Wii. The game lets players step into the shoes of different characters including Alice, Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat. Objects can be manipulated and made invisible. Players can also manipulate time. Take a look:
Amazon.com's listing says the game will ship on March 2nd.
In this AP clip, top video game designers weigh in on the future of the joystick. New technoloogies on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 make the traditional video game joystick unnecessary. The Wii's unique remote led the way and these new technologies take it a step farther. Project Natal for Xbox 360 will allow the player to be the controller. The PlayStation 3 will contain a motion-sensing wand. Some developers think that even though new technologies will allow for some great new video games, the joystick will still remain a popular way to control video games. One developer said the camera based gaming systems give the game a way to react to what the player is doing. For example, the game could send in a zombie swarm to wake up a player that looks like he is bored or nodding off. Take a look:
Hasbro launched a new game called Scrabble Flash at this year's Toy Fair in New york City. Three different games can be played with Scrabble Flash. In the "Flash" game, players try to find as many three to five-letter words as possible using the letters shown on the tiles. Five seconds are added to the play clock for every five-letter word formed. “Five Letter Flash” has players rushing to find the one five-letter word that uses the letters shown on the tiles. The game continues if the correct word is unscrambled. There is also a group game called "Pass Flash" where players take turns forming five-letter words.
Scrabble Flash uses SmartLink Technology, which allows the five electronic tiles included in the game to "talk" to each other. When the Scrabble Flash tiles are lined up to create a new word, the tiles will light up and beep. Scrabble Flash tiles also keep time and score.
Scrabble Flash will go on sale this Fall. The MSRP will be $29.99.
Bloombergreports that the NPD Group's data shows January video game sales plunged 13% compared to the year before. Sales slumped despite strong sales for Call of Duty and Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros Wii.
Industry insiders blamed the disappointing January sales on consumer fatigue following the holiday shopping season and shortages of Nintendo Co.'s motion-controlled Wii videogame console.
NPD said sales of videogame software dropped 12% from the same month a year earlier to $597 million, which is much worse than analysts expected.
The fall came despite continued growth in sales of Activision Blizzard's latest "Call of Duty" game, which was released in November and was the fourth-biggest seller in January. Nintendo's "New Super Mario Bros Wii" topped the sales list with 656,700 units.
Wii shortages likely reduced January sales. The Wii still outsold other consoles in January despite the shortage. Here are the top five bestselling games in January.
New Super Mario Bros., Wii (Wii, Nintendo of America) 656.7k
Mass Effect 2, (360, Electronic Arts) 572.1k
Wii Fit Plus w/ Balance Board, (Wii, Nintendo of America) 555.7k
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, 360 Activision Blizzard 326.7k
Mario Kart w/ Wheel, (Wii, Nintendo of America) 310.9k
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.
Sony announced today that the six major movie studies will all be distributing high definition (HD) movies for purchase and rental on the PlayStation Network video delivery service in the United States. The Playstation 3 is now the first game console to offer digital HD movies from all six of the major studios.
The studios include 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros.
Sony is 
Bloomberg 
