Tag Archives: usa

Blizzard explains Diablo III delay

Blizzard executive video president of game design Rob Pardo has been explaining why Diablo III’s arrival is still a ways off, and grappling with the perennial problem of announcing big games too early. Like other Blizzard properties Starcraft and World of WarCraft, Diablo has a large base of loyal fans, …

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Datel hits MS with memory suit

Datel has filed a lawsut against Microsoft, following the latter’s Dashboard update which rendered third-party memory cards useless. The antitrust lawsuit was filed in San Francisco federal court on Monday, complaining that Microsoft had deliberately altered its technology to force Datel Max Memory cards out of the market. "For many …

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Obama’s Little Big plan

On Monday, U.S. president Barack Obama unveiled an education campaign designed to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in children’s education. A raft of companies and charity foundations announced their support including Time Warner, Discovery, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Sony Computer Entertainment America. The games firm …

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Editorial: Good riddance to NIMF

There’s a bizarre sentiment in some game outlets that the closure of U.S. busy-body media-watching outfit The National Institute on Media and the Family, might somehow be detrimental to the game industry’s quest for moral acceptance. One games journalist wrote, "We shouldn’t be too quick to cheer. NIMF …brought a …

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Xbox Live class action begins

Abingdon Law, with offices in and around Texas, has posted the outlines of its "investigation" while seeking out barred Xbox Live players hoping for recompense. The firm says Microsoft deliberately timed its recent banning order against owners of modified machines, soon after the sale of some of the year’s biggest …

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GameStop up and down

Slower sales of hardware were blamed on the dip, but overall Gamestop enjoyed a decent quarter. Sales rose 8.2% to $1.83 billion, while profits rose from $46.7 million to $52.2 million. As the economy suffered, used game sales were up 20 percent, but new game sales also saw a jump …

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China warns games ‘too low-brow’

China’s Ministry of Culture has issued a circular demanding that game companies refrain from content that is "not up to standard" or offering "lowbrow cultural content that is having a negative effect on the healthy development of the industry". There are more than 50 million gamers in China, a market …

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CoD MMO reports intensify

A lengthy feature in The Los Angeles Times yesterday covered Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s astounding commercial success, once again framing the game’s $550 million five-day revenues against Hollywood blockbusters. But there was also talk from internal sources of intensified activity on the franchise. Reporter Ben Fritz wrote, "One …

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MMOs fill 15% of game time

Today’s Gamers MMO Focus Report says gamers in the U.S. and Europe spend over five hours a week playing MMOs – or 15% of total play time. The report includes hardcore fantasy epics such as World of Warcraft as well as children’s favourites like Club Penguin. 40% of MMO players …

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Fitness chain turns to Wii

A retail campaign entitled ‘We know fit….we know fun’ will be launched today in selected outlets, with a full roll-out planned for the spring. Staff have been trained in the art of Wii Fit games. But getting Nintendo on board has been a long slog for the Colorado-based company, which …

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