The Digital Home

Redbox has made some major strides in the movie-rental business, offering consumers the opportunity to pick up newly released films from a kiosk around town for just $1 per day. It has even forced Blockbuster to try a similar strategy.

But according to a report, Redbox isn't content to stick with movies.

According to Reuters, Redbox is currently in negotiations with video game developers to offer games in all the company's kiosks. Redbox president Mitch Lowe told the wire service his company is "talking early and often with the content providers of games so that we start out with a much better understanding of what we're doing."

Lowe was referencing Redbox's recent troubles with Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, and NBC Universal, which recently denied Redbox immediate access to their DVDs, saying a $1-per-day fee undervalues their films. Redbox is trying to sell game developers on the idea that its service would benefit both developers and consumers.

That said, Redbox doesn't plan to offer games for just $1. The company has been quietly testing game rentals in Reno, Nev., and Wilmington, N.C., and in those cases, games are priced at $2 per day. It offers games for the Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and Xbox 360.

For now, Redbox isn't saying which developers it's in talks with. But considering the company currently has more than 20,000 kiosks in more than 17,000 locations nationwide, it might behoove game developers to consider it.

Is the Wii a viable third-party platform?

(Credit: Nintendo)

The Nintendo Wii might be leading the video game market, but at least one game developer is suspect of its software.

Lightning Fish Games CEO Simon Prytherch sat down with GamesIndustry.biz in a recent interview discussing his company and the state of the gaming industry. Lightning Fish Games develops "family-oriented" games for major consoles.

After discussing what he has learned about the industry, he shared his opinion on the state of the Wii and its market.

"Wii is a very casual, wide market," Prytherch said in the interview. "It's a market that doesn't care about flashy graphics--it cares more about the gameplay and experience, and potentially the characterization."

But Prytherch had much more to say. The developer told the site that he doesn't "think you can ever write Nintendo off," but the console's games market "from a third-party software developer and publisher perspective, is oversaturated with product."

Unfortunately, Prytherch asserts, consumers have suffered most. He said that they "have been damaged by a lot of substandard software," which has caused them to "only trust big Nintendo brands."

Those are some awfully strong words from a developer that has so far failed to attract the kind of market attention larger companies Ubisoft or Electronic Arts have. But he's not alone in his belief that Wii gamers aren't attracted to third-party games.

Speaking at a conference call last month, EA CEO John Riccitiello said that "the Wii platform has been a little weaker than we had certainly anticipated. And there is no lack of frustration (about this coming out) at precisely the time where we have the strongest third-party share."

Riccitiello went on to say that his company was trying to work with Nintendo "to push third-party software harder." He then echoed Prytherch's sentiments, saying "very, very few multiplatform titles are succeeding on the Wii so far, and collectively, Electronic Arts and Nintendo need to tackle that." Yikes.

We've heard from the developers, now let's hear from you. What do you think about the Wii's position in the gaming business? Is its game library weak? Do you buy third-party titles? Let us know in the comments below.

A prototype of the CrunchPad tablet computer

(Credit: TechCrunch)

In a turn of events that has sent the blog world into a frenzy, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington said on Monday that the CrunchPad tablet computer that he announced more than a year ago is officially dead.

According to Arrington, Fusion Garage, his company's manufacturing partner, said that it would take over full control of the CrunchPad project and cut TechCrunch out just days before its debut.

"Bizarrely, we were being notified that we were no longer involved with the project. Our project," Arrington wrote on TechCrunch. "[Fusion Garage CEO] Chandra [Rathakrishnan] said that based on pressure from his shareholders he had decided to move forward and sell the device directly through Fusion Garage, without our involvement."

Fusion Garage, according to Arrington, wanted to offer him the opportunity to "assume the role of visionary/evangelist/marketing head." The company would also acquire Arrington's rights to the CrunchPad name and brand. Arrington said that Fusion Garage and his company "jointly own the CrunchPad product intellectual property," but Arrington's firm solely owns the CrunchPad trademark.

For now, we only know Arrington's side of the story. (Disclosure: I wrote for TechCrunch in 2008.) He claims that he was ready and willing to launch CrunchPad with Fusion Garage. He said that he is "enraged, embarrassed, and just...sad." He plans to unleash a flurry of lawsuits on Fusion Garage.

But as you might expect, TechCrunch isn't providing the only word on the matter. Blogs across the Web are giving their two cents on where they stand on Arrington's announcement and the CrunchPad itself. Some support Arrington and still hope the CrunchPad will hit store shelves. Others aren't so sure.

Let's take a quick look around the Web to find out what others are saying.

Supporters

Gizmodo: "The whole situation is lousy, and FusionGarage certainly doesn't come out looking all that smart in it. I can't imagine anyone wanting to work with them again after this, but I guess we'll have to wait and hear what their side of the story is."

OSNews: "This is all very sad. The CrunchPad had a lot of promise, because it was driven by the very best incarnation of the Hacker Ethos. Talented and driven people, who surveyed the marketplace and failed to find a device that met their wants and needs, pulled together hardware and software talent to bring their dreams to reality, and designed a very appealing-looking device. It's a thin, light, open, relatively inexpensive device for "couch computing," and because the designers were motivated by a desire to have the device for themselves and make it available to as many others as possible, there were no hidden agendas or app stores or value-added nonsense or artificial limits on use, such as exist in the iPhone or Kindle or Sony eBook ecosystems."

Slashgear: "Away from the production wrangles, it's disappointing news both for anybody interested in portable electronics and for those to whom the CrunchPad project represented the potential for individuals and small companies to come up with an idea and make it reality."

Techland: "It seems as though Fusion Garage was being pressured by shareholders to ditch Arrington and co. They seem to forget that Arrington is a former lawyer and a pitbull at that."

Ubergizmo: "Of course, we haven't heard both sides of the story yet, but based on what we've heard (from TC), it all does seem a little sad. At least it has generated its fair share of marketing and publicity for TC, and that's worth something."

Detractors

JKOntheRun: "A basic on-screen keyboard for a 12-inch slate simply won't cut it for most people. It's too large to thumb-type on, which means you'll be holding the device in one hand while pecking with another. And the price is another issue. $300 buys you what I'd consider an equally portable, yet far more function device in either a Netbook or a smartphone. Unless there was a subsidy model in play, a web-only tablet isn't what folks expect for $300 or more."

Technologizer: "Arrington has always said that the CrunchPad sprung from his own desire to have a "dead simple" tablet he could use to get online from his couch. I get his desire. Well, mostly: I've never been entirely clear why the CrunchPad would be a better couch computer than a more typical, versatile cheap portable computer."

Wired: "Arrington's earlier promises regarding the CrunchPad never panned out, and his latest missive only points to his inability to walk the talk."

So while it seems that the Web is split over where they stand on Arrington and the CrunchPad, it's arguably John Gruber over at Daring Fireball who best summed up the CrunchPad news: "No word from Popular Mechanics yet on whether they get to keep their product of the year award."

Now it's your turn. Share your thoughts on the death of the CrunchPad below.

Here's one that will undoubtedly send some gamers into a craze. A study from two Swiss human rights organizations, Trial and Pro Juventute, has found that some video games depict war and battle actions that in real life would violate international human rights laws.

The study attempted to determine if the acts gamers engage in while they play violent titles would "lead to violations of rules of international law, in particular International Humanitarian Law (IHL), basic norms of International Human Rights Law (IHRL), or International Criminal Law (ICL)."

To find out, Trial and Pro Juventute picked up 20 games, including Call of Duty 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Far Cry 2, and others. It had "young gamers" play the games as three attorneys watched to find actions in games that in real life would violate rules and regulations that govern armed conflict.

The organizations said the study is not intended to "prohibit the games, to make them less violent or to turn them into IHL or IHRL training tools." Instead, the groups want to work with developers to ensure that in the future, their games observe real-life human-rights laws.

After evaluating the 20 games, the group found that in many cases, "shooter" games failed to take into consideration international humanitarian law.

The new metallic blue DSi with five titles.

(Credit: Nintendo)

Starting on Black Friday, Nintendo will offer two new DSi bundles featuring metallic blue or white Nintendo DSi systems, plus more than $20 in DSiWare games, the company announced on Monday.

The new bundles will come with different games, depending on the DSi customers buy. The metallic blue version of the DSi will come with five Mario DSiWare titles, including Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again; Dr. Mario Express; WarioWare: Snapped!; Mario Calculator; and Mario Clock.

Nintendo's white Nintendo DSi comes preinstalled with Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters; Brain Age Express: Sudoku; Brain Age Express: Math; Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics; and Photo Clock.

Nintendo said the DSi bundles will be available as long as supplies last, though a company representative wouldn't divulge how many units will be shipped. Nintendo also pointed out that although the white DSi has been around for a while, the Metallic Blue color is new. So far, Nintendo hasn't responded to my inquiry about whether or not it will offer a Metallic Blue DSi as a standalone unit after the bundle runs out.

Both the White DSi bundle and the Metallic Blue offering will be available in stores on Friday for $169.99, the same price as the standalone DSi.

See also: Be prepared for Black Friday tech deals

Another iPhone worm has been spotted in the wild.

Unlike the previous exploitation, which merely changed a jailbroken iPhone's wallpaper to a picture of Rick Astley of "Rickrolling" fame, this new threat allows hackers to steal sensitive information.

According to security firm Sophos, which wrote about the exploitation after a Dutch ISP spotted it late last week, the worm attacks jailbroken iPhone and iPod Touch devices only.

The worm "uses command-and-control, like a traditional PC botnet," Sophos wrote in a blog post on Saturday to warn users about the exploit. "It configures two startup scripts, one to execute the worm on boot-up, and the other to create a connection to a Lithuanian server to upload stolen data and cede control to the bot master."

Jailbreaking, which has been around for about two years, is a hack that enables iPhone and iPod Touch users to download applications unavailable through Apple's App Store.

Sophos wrote that the worm attacks users on several ISPs, including UPC in the Netherlands, Optus in Australia, and T-Mobile in several countries worldwide. Worse, the worm spreads faster on a Wi-Fi connection than a 3G connection. Users with affected devices might notice extremely short battery life while on Wi-Fi. According to Sophos, that's mainly due to the worm engaging in "so much network activity."

When a device is infected, it's assigned a unique number so that the attackers can easily pinpoint a single device. It also looks for authentication systems that use SMS, better known as mTANs. mTANs are frequently used by banks that send an SMS message with a password to mobile phones, allowing people to log in to their online accounts, Sophos wrote.

In essence, this threat is serious.

Sophos recommends that people with infected iPhones and iPod Touch devices restore them back to Apple's most recent firmware update. For now, there is no other way to fix the problem.

In a troubled economy, companies and consumers are looking for any advantage they can get. So it is that Best Buy is jumping the gun by as much as nine days on Black Friday, announcing that, starting immediately, shoppers can get Black Friday bargain pricing on select products.

The electronics retailer says that the come-hither pricing will be offered on "certain models of flat panel televisions." It will also feature reduced pricing on some home-theater products. The deals are available in-store and online.

"Best Buy is committed to continuing to offer a superior shopping experience this holiday season," Best Buy's vice president of home theater said in a statement. "Customers can be confident that they are getting some of the best prices in the industry, as well as the convenience of being able to shop when and where they want either in store or online."

Unfortunately, the selection of products that Best Buy will be offering at a discounted price isn't all that deep. A handful of Dynex-branded HDTVs will have a lower price starting on Thursday. The company will have Black Friday pricing on some Samsung HDTV models starting on Sunday. Best Buy didn't provide much more information on the models or the products that will be reduced in price ahead of the Friday after Thanksgiving, historically a huge day for shopping--and bargains.

Regardless, it's an interesting strategy on Best Buy's part. As a company that doesn't have a major direct tech competitor in the big-box space, it's in an enviable position. But the reduced pricing might be a response to expected deals from online sites, such as Amazon.com, that consistently beat Best Buy on pricing. Either way, Best Buy didn't say why it has decided to reduce prices on the early side.

But we can still guess. So what do you think? Why has Best Buy decided to reduce pricing so soon? Are the deals likely to make you start shopping sooner? Let us know in the comments below.

See also: Be prepared for Black Friday tech deals

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is enjoying big success.

(Credit: Infinity Ward)

If you think Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has had a major impact on just the video game industry, you may need to adjust your expectations.

According to Activision Blizzard, the game's publisher, Modern Warfare 2 has set records across the entire entertainment industry.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the "biggest entertainment launch in history," Activision said in a statement. In its first five days of availability, the game set a worldwide record with about $550 million in sales, according to internal Activision figures. It's impressive. But more impressive is the list of launches that it beat out.

In the first five days of availability, Modern Warfare 2 has eclipsed the largest worldwide box-office opening, held by "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which tallied $394 million over its first five days. It also beat "The Dark Knight," which holds the U.S. box-office record with $203.8 million in first five-day sales.

The game also narrowly trumped Grand Theft Auto IV, which captured $500 million in sales in its first five days of availability.

In other words, Modern Warfare 2 has had a major release.

The game's success also translated to major numbers on Xbox Live. Activision reported that "more than 5.2 million multiplayer hours were logged playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the first day alone." On November 10, 2.2 million unique gamers played on Xbox Live, setting a new one-day record for the online-gaming platform.

Of course, it should be noted that all these figures come from Activision's internal estimates, which might differ from the NPD Group's official totals when it announces November video-game sales.

But until then, Activision can (rightfully so) celebrate Modern Warfare 2's success. And maybe the video-game industry, which has always received second billing to film in the entertainment space, can finally stake its claim to the top spot. Video games are, based on Modern Warfare 2's success, just as viable an entertainment platform as movies.

The Wii is coming to...Sports Authority?

(Credit: Nintendo)

You might be used to buying your video game consoles only at an electronics store, but all that will soon change. National sports retailer Sports Authority announced Tuesday that it will start selling the Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit Plus in its stores.

Aside from being able to pick up a Wii and Wii Fit Plus, consumers will also find Sports Authority stores that boast a Wii "interactive fitness experience." The section of the store will have "knowledgeable fitness trainers allowing customers to try Wii and Wii Fit Plus before they buy."

While it's certainly interesting to see a Wii being used by a fitness instructor in a sports store, Sports Authority said it believes that it will help set it apart in the marketplace. According to the company, users will now be able to "satisfy their fitness- and sports-gaming needs under one roof."

But just how much of a benefit Wii Fit actually affords its users is up for debate. Sports Authority might claim that it helps users "achieve better health," but a recent study (PDF) from the American Council on Exercise found that the game offers a "very, very mild workout."

That could throw a wrench in Sports Authority's plans as it attempts to make the case that the Wii and the Wii Fit Plus make sense next to other products designed specifically to improve the health of its users. As appealing as it might be to some, Nintendo's game might not be able to stand up against fitness-focused products.

Regardless, Sports Authority has thrown its support behind Nintendo's console. The Wii and the Wii Fit Plus will be available in 102 stores starting on Thursday. It will be rolled out to remaining company stores by spring 2010.