Gaming

Users of Microsoft's popular Xbox Live online gaming community for the Xbox 360 can now interact with friends in that annoying real world outside Halo 3 matchmaking forums. It's good news for the social lives of clammy-skinned basement gamers, but ... is it worth all that and a bag of chips? For those who don't have an Xbox 360, you can think of Xbox Live as a sort of online operating system for gamers. Anyone who can connect with a wireless or Ethernet cord to a high speed router can get online, allowing them access to all kinds of free game demos, movie trailers, and even gaming guides. Users ... (view more)

It seems no one can get enough of Nintendo's popular Wii video game console, these days. Amidst rumors that the system's price could drop $50 down to $200 within the next month, emergent images from Florida now show police officers caught playing ... Wii on the job -- in the middle of a drug raid, no less! According to reports, the Polk County, Florida cops recently busted up the home of Michael Difalco, an accused drug dealer. While ransacking Difalco's place for illegal substances, the police stumbled upon a Nintendo Wii console equipped with motion-sensitive gameplay. (Source: zdnet.com ) Cops ... (view more)

It hasn't been long since Microsoft dropped the price of its Xbox 360 console in anticipation of a hectic holiday season, and now rumors are circulating that Nintendo may be ready to lower the price tag on its super-popular Wii. It's only been a few ... weeks since Microsoft slashed the price of its high-end Xbox 360, the Elite, from $399 to just $299. That's a big drop for a console that has more or less wrapped up second place in the U.S. console sales chart, with most purchases being made by hardcore players impressed with the Xbox 360's second-to-none online Xbox Live network, its long list ... (view more)

What do you think of when you imagine the typical video gamer? A pre-teen hopped up on 7-Eleven slushies and processed cheese nachos twiddling his PlayStation 3 controller in front of the boob tube at 3am? You might be wrong. A recent study found ... that the average age of gamers is surprisingly high, and that the average player might also be overweight and understandably unhappy about it. This most recent study was launched by researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. They examined approximately 552 adults between the ages of 19 and 90, most from the Pacific Northwest, ... (view more)

So, just who will be switching over to Windows 7 as soon as it arrives this October? According to the CEO of software development company Stardock, gamers should be amongst the first. In an interview this week, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell reported ... that he expects a significant improvement in Windows 7 over Vista in the way it handles video games. "It would be good if everybody switched to Windows 7 as quickly as possible," Wardell said. Windows 7 Improves Game Functionality According to Wardell, the new Windows 7 operating system is simply friendlier to gamers. For instance, a tool called ... (view more)

Those keeping tabs on the latest three-way battle for game console supremacy know that Microsoft and Sony have gone to great lengths in researching motion-sensor technology. The ultimate goal for these companies, obviously, is to catch up with ... Nintendo in the revenue department. Microsoft Project Natal Debuts at E3 It was recently announced that Microsoft has a prototype that will be used in place of a standard controller for the Xbox 360. The million-dollar question is whether or not the new Xbox 360 camera-based technology will be the thing to slow down all of the positive strides made by ... (view more)

Microsoft recently introduced a prototype camera that is to be used in place of a standard controller for the Xbox 360. Codenamed "Project Natal", the camera can track the full body movement of the player, recognize their face and voice, scan images ... of real items and respond to physical and vocal commands. The actual hardware for Project Natal combines a camera, depth sensor, microphone and processor to give users the ultimate gaming experience. (Source: msn.com ) Project Natal Puts Gamers Into the Action Project Natal was revealed at Microsoft's Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 along with ... (view more)

If you've been holding off on picking up one of the popular rhythm-based video games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero because songs like Metallica's "Enter Sandman" or Hole's "Celebrity Skin" don't catch your fancy, then take note that an upcoming ... edition of Rock Band will feature 45 popular Beatles tunes. The game, titled "The Beatles: Rock Band," is set to ship September 9. In a special ceremony at the video game industry's annual E3 extravaganza in Los Angeles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, helped reveal the first ten of the title's songs. ... (view more)

Talk about kicking a man, and his company, when they're down. Just two weeks after the (somewhat) shocking revelation that Duke Nukem developer 3D Realms was closing its doors forever , the company is not only being sued for breach of contract, it's ... also receiving jabs at its 80s-inspired protagonist. News of the 3D Realms meltdown became public on May 6, a shameful end for a company that once showed so much promise. The developer is best known for its Duke Nukem franchise, including the character's side-scrolling roots and his mid-90s climax as the cigar-chomping, alien-blasting star of ... (view more)

Just a day after it was revealed popular developer 3D Realms (Duke Nukem 3D's creator) was closing its doors for good , there's now word that Activision Blizzard, the company responsible for Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft, has posted huge profits ... for the first quarter. It seems not every game company is struggling in this economic climate. Yesterday's news on 3D Realms seemed to be a pretty strong indicator that the gaming industry, like just about every other business, was taking its knocks. In addition to Duke Nukem's untimely (or timely?) death, Microsoft revealed it would lay off a ... (view more)