gaming

Article updated 2/29/08 to correct headquarters location.

We were stoked when Hands-On Mobile, a San Francisco mobile games company, announced Guitar Hero III Mobile for Verizon. On Friday, AT&T brings the portable version of the wildly popular console game to J2ME phones.

The game is expected to launch on 30 handsets today, including Motorola V3 RAZR and Sony Ericcson 810, with more handsets joining the fray. The staggered launch means there's no guaranteeing that your handset will be supported when the game goes live today, but Hands-On Mobile suggests that eager phone gamers check back … Read more

Electronic Arts is not alone in its interest in buying Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required to read entire article).

SEC filings show that Take-Two says it has received other offers, but has spurned those as well as the original $2 billion offer EA made last Friday and announced last Sunday, the Journal reports.

EA issued a public statement on Sunday saying it had made an earlier offer to Take-Two that was rejected and that it was boosting the per-share price it was willing to pay to make the deal … Read more

Not only are more women gaming heavily, but more women are creating the games. Game makers need more female developers, say several such women who have an impressive record as players and creators at Electronic Arts and Sony Entertainment.

Read the full story on CNN: "Wooing women gamers--and game creators"

Over the past decade, video game popularity has grown at an exponential rate. Instead of being the niche market that only a select few cared about, the industry is now worth billions of dollars and has become mainstream.

But as that has happened, video game developers like EA and Take-Two Interactive have become far more business-savvy and done their part in ensuring that they can maximize shareholder value and create an environment where video games are an extremely profitable product.

In the process, the video game industry has been damaged by a slew of mergers and acquisitions and in the process, some of the most profitable genres (first-person shooters and sports games, for example) have been copied and refreshed so many times over that gaming has quickly become derivative and bereft of innovation.

And although the main culprit for the lack of innovation is obviously the Almighty Dollar, another culprit is lurking in the shadows and quietly damaging the foundation of gaming as we know it--acquisitions.… Read more

If the gadget pictured with this item is difficult to make out, that's exactly the point. The flash ad was so fast that we were barely able to grab this screenshot.

It had been awhile since we'd seen a mystery product campaign, the latest being Sony's OLED TV, B&O's "Serenata" phone, and IBM's "Reserve Edition" ThinkPad. But we knew another would come out before too long.

This latest teaser campaign reportedly comes from game gear maker Razer to tout a new mouse called the "Salmosa." The ad … Read more

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the board of directors for video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, facing a buyout offer from Electronic Arts, approved new compensation packages for its management firm that would take effect with a merger or acquisition.

The new measures, approved within days of EA's initial offer, concern Take-Two's agreement with management firm ZelnickMedia. Under the revised terms, in the event of a takeover, ZelnickMedia would be awarded two restricted stock grants of 780,000 shares.

At EA's $26-per-share offer, that would be worth $20 million. Additionally, Take-Two's monthly management … Read more

Today we wax reminiscent as we always do, talking about the 15 most annoying video game characters. Jenkem... it's awful. Speaking of awful, some of us don't want to see "Bourne Legacy," and Seth Rogan has a new stoner comedy coming out. Shocker.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

I don't normally review Facebook applications. I also don't normally install too many on my profile unless I actually deem them useful.

This is an exception.

"Hangover," a Facebook application game created by invitation start-up MyPunchbowl, is utterly pointless and a bit convoluted, but I found it strangely appealing. Maybe that's because it's so off-the-wall.

Essentially, Hangover is like the Old School or Animal House version of kiddie card games like Pokemon. You start out with 10 virtual "cards," one of which you can display on your Facebook profile, and the point … Read more

Imagine the game industry dominated by two giants.

That's what could happen if Electronic Arts succeeds in its $2 billion attempt to grab Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive and Activision's planned merger with Blizzard goes through.

As in so many other industries, an EA/Take-Two merger would indicate massive consolidation, especially in the wake of the December announcement that media giant Vivendi was buying Activision to become Activision Blizzard. But gamers probably shouldn't worry that an industry pyramid dominated by EA and Activision will mean less innovation.

After all, even with a wide gap between the … Read more