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'Extreme' gamers padding video game industry's bottom line

The video game industry had better thank its lucky stars that hard-core gamers do what they do.

According to a report issued Monday morning by industry analyst firm, The NPD Group, the most active group of players, which it termed "extreme gamers," devote more than a full-time job's work week to their avocation. But they don't get insurance benefits for their efforts.

Rather, NPD's "Games Segmentation 2008" report explained, extreme gamers put in an average of 45 hours a week playing games, and, even better--for the video game industry's coffers--bought a whopping 24 titles in the last three months.

True, these committed gamers make up just 3 percent of the 174 million that NPD said play on PCs or Macs or dedicated video game machines. Still, that means 5.22 million people out there are putting in serious amounts of time gaming away. And if you stop and think about the dollars they're spending, if they're buying 24 games every three months, it's kind of breathtaking.

The NPD report identified seven different segments of gamers, including our extreme friends. The others include 9 percent who are "avid PC gamers," 17 percent who are console gamers, 14 percent who are online PC gamers, 15 percent who are offline PC gamers, 22 percent who are "young heavy gamers" and 20 percent who are "secondary" gamers. … Read more

Forget what you know about 'Prince of Persia'

We got a chance to sit down with the new Prince of Persia game from Ubisoft Montreal last night at the company's New York showcase. And now we have a much better idea of what we can expect this time around, including the story of the game and the role our new female companion Elika will play.

First off, you can forget most of what you already know about the Prince of Persia series. It was made very clear to us that this new Prince game is a huge departure from what we're used to. Most apparent is the brand new art style in the game. We don't want to call it cel-shaded, but it definitely borrows a few components from that technique. Up close, the details on the Prince and Elika are astonishing, as are those in the enormous environments you'll be playing inside.… Read more

IBM cuts chip plant pay, following job cuts

IBM is cutting pay for workers at chip manufacturing plants in New York and Vermont. This comes on the heels of job cuts at the Vermont facility.

Some shift workers at IBM's semiconductor plant in Essex Junction, Vt., will see net pay reductions of up to 10 percent in early 2009, said Jeff Couture, an IBM spokesperson.

In effect, a 20 percent premium for shift workers is being eliminated, according to Couture. To mitigate employee earnings losses, IBM is making a one-time base pay increase, he added. However, even with this increase, the "net for employees will range … Read more

'GTA IV' making its way onto PCs this fall

Over at our sister site, Gamespot, Wednesday, the eagle-eyed Guy Cocker noticed that Rockstar Games has officially announced its mega-hit, Grand Theft Auto IV, is coming to the PC.

Originally available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the game, which had sold more than 8.5 million copies through early June, will be available on PCs--though not Macs, apparently--on November 18 in North America and on November 21 in Europe.

This is a big move for Rockstar Games because it opens up GTA IV to an even bigger audience than could already play it. And that likely means many more … Read more

Why Microsoft should acquire Sony's gaming division

As I was thinking of something to discuss today, I peered beneath my HDTV and saw my Wii sitting next to my Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. And as soon as I looked at all three, it had me thinking: the Wii is a wildly successful platform, but the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 are still limping along in the hope that they'll compete with Nintendo's platform at some time in the future.

But when we objectively consider the state of the industry, it becomes blatantly clear that Sony and Microsoft simply don't have what it takes right now to compete and more consumers are more excited about Nintendo's platform than anything Sony or Microsoft can dole out.

Realizing that, why wouldn't Microsoft acquire Sony's gaming division and consolidate its power and influence in the gaming space? I know, it may sound radical and at first glance you would think that Sony would never agree to such a deal, but keep an open mind for a minute and hear me out.

Sony's gaming division is quickly becoming a drain on its financial stability and shareholder confidence, while Microsoft is chugging along at a pretty good clip even though it has little influence in Asia. And although neither company can beat Nintendo alone, don't you think it's entirely possible that Microsoft and Sony could become a powerhouse in the industry if the former acquires the latter, thus making it a valuable idea?… Read more

How is the PlayStation 2 doing after all these years?

When Sony argues, as it frequently does these days, that its video game consoles have a 10-year life cycle, critics often assume the company is just trying to make the point that its PlayStation 3 has many years left in which to become the dominant machine of the current generation.

There may be some truth to that interpretation, but at the same time, Sony does indeed have a point, as evidenced by the continued strong performance of its PlayStation 2, a console it has sold more than 140 million units of since launching it in 2000.

Even now, the PS2 … Read more

Report: Microsoft could release $200 Xbox this September

Update (Monday, 2:43 PM): This story has been modified to reflect correspondence from Microsoft this morning.

If you can see past the extremely odd prose style of this Ars Technica piece Friday by Ben Kuchera, there's actually some potentially very interesting news there: Microsoft may be ready to truly reach out to the mass market with its Xbox 360.

According to Kuchera, Microsoft may well be readying a new round of price cuts for the Xbox 360.

Remember, just prior to E3, Microsoft lowered the price of the 20GB Xbox 360 from $349 to $299.

Now, writes Kuchera, … Read more

The Digital Home 26: Is Dark Knight better than Godfather?

This week's episode of the Digital Home podcast tackles whether The Godfather is better than Dark Knight and if innovation really is dead in gaming. After that, Don chats with Ubicom's VP of Marketing and wraps up the show with a big announcement! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 26 … Read more