Corporate stuff

LOS ANGELES--Nintendo got the next wave of console wars started today with the introduction of the next entry to its arsenal, the Wii U, at the company's E3 presentation.

The new console, with an iPad-like controller, will be available next year, as the company had said in April.

Nintendo didn't offer the price of the console or any technical specifications. But it nevertheless wowed a partisan audience at the Nokia Theater here in Los Angeles with a video of novel new gameplay. The company never showed the device itself or any live demonstrations of the console or controller.

But in the video, Nintendo showed how gamers could use a TV screen and the screen on the controller at the same time to play games, and how they could use each on its own. Using both screens, for example, a gamer playing video golf put the new controller on the ground, where it became a sand trap with a ball in it. The player took a swing with a Wii controller and the ball flew onto the TV screen and landed on the green.

In battle games, players can flick throwing stars at opponents with their finger on the new controller. The weapon then flies onto the television screen.

Using the screen separately, gamers could play a traditional board game like Othello, where they move chips over a the board by touching the screen. And they can also use the screen for video calls and for surfing the Web. The controller features a 6.2-inch screen, has a rumble feature, a microphone, two speakers, an accelerometer, gyroscope, and a front-facing camera.

Nintendo Global President Satoru Iwata said the company expects the console can be loved by hardcore and casual gamers alike.… Read more

Zynga is poised to file for its initial public offering, according to sources close to the situation.

The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission could come as early as this week, or next week at the latest.

The move is not entirely unexpected, given how well the recent IPOs of several Internet companies have done recently, including business networking site LinkedIn last week and Russian search giant Yandex today.

Their strong performances show the huge investor appetite for fast-growing and high-profile Web 2.0 firms. Wall Street is also prepping for eventual public offerings from social buying site Groupon … Read more

That Activision Blizzard had a hit on its hands with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops last November is no surprise, considering the game made more than $1 billion in less than two months. However, the publisher today clarified just how big of a hit Black Ops is, announcing during Activision Blizzard's first-quarter earnings report that it is the highest-earning game of all time on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in the U.S. and Europe.

Unfortunately, Activision Blizzard did not release updated sales figures for the Cold War-era shooter. However, the publisher did say that the Treyarch-developed title was the No. 1 overall seller in the U.S. and Europe during the January to March quarter. That performance apparently bests that of Nintendo's Pokemon Black and White, Capcom's Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and EA's Dead Space 2.

Read more of "Call of Duty: Black Ops best-seller on 360, PS3, PC" at GameSpot. … Read more

Things are getting even more interesting in one of the biggest jailbreaking cases currently in the courts. Stewart Kellar and his team of attorneys for George Hotz (aka GeoHot), on Friday filed a motion (PDF from Grocklaw) to dismiss Sony Computer Entertainment of America's suit against their client--for a few reasons:

First up, they object to SCEA's attempts to establish jurisdiction of the case in Northern California. Hotz lives and works in New Jersey, and, as an individual and not a corporation, really doesn't have the cash on hand to traverse the country defending himself in … Read more

Sony came down hard on PlayStation 3 hackers today, saying they will be permanently banned from the company's online services.

"Violation of the system software license agreement for the PlayStation 3 System invalidates the consumer guarantee for that system," reads a notice posted to Sony's official PlayStation blog. "In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of international copyright laws. Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently."

To avoid the lifetime shutout, Sony said, consumers must "immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems."

In the post, Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein said the policy represents an initial response to questions from PlayStation.Blog readers about how Sony plans to deal with breaches of its policy.

The company did not say when the ban will begin, but the blog PS3 News is reporting that many users of its PS3 forums have already confirmed receiving e-mail notices from Sony followed by their PlayStation 3 consoles being banned.

According to one account, "If you get error 0x8002A227, Sony banned your PS3 from the PSN."

This is just the latest step by Sony to thwart PlayStation 3 jailbreaks. … Read more

As sales of the Wii and DS declined in 2010, Nintendo saw its financial performance slide with them.

The company today reported (PDF) that during the nine-month period ended on December 31, 2010, it generated nearly 808 billion yen (about $9.8 billion), representing a steep 31.7 percent decline from the 1.18 trillion yen it posted during the same period in 2009. Nintendo said that it tallied 49.6 billion yen in profit during the nine-month period. That figure is down a whopping 74.3 percent compared to the 192.6 billion yen it tallied in 2009.

Nintendo … Read more

Best Buy is on its way to losing more market share to competing retailers, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said in a note to investors yesterday.

"We expect continued market share losses in consumer electronics to online retailers and lower-priced big-box competitors, and entertainment software to GameStop, Amazon, and Wal-Mart," Pachter wrote.

Pachter believes Best Buy's decline is due mainly to its market strategy. The analyst said that the company's "offering the widest selection of goods at premium price points is undermined by value-focused comparison shopping."

During its latest reported quarter, announced last month, Best … Read more

Video game giant Blizzard could be releasing Diablo 3 and a version of Starcraft 2 called "Phoenix" next year, if rumors about leaks of the company's five-year product road map are true.

First reported last week by MMOGameSite.com, the word seems to be that the leak, if it happened, could be tied to the recent and abrupt resignation of Blizzard China's general manager.

Blizzard told CNET that it would not comment on the rumors and that it is focused on the release today of the latest version, known as Cataclysm, of its megahit World of … Read more

When the Xbox 360 turned 5 years old this week with no known successor on the horizon, and no new imminent PlayStation or Wii either, it may well have signaled the demise of one of the video game industry's most longstanding truisms.

Since at least the mid-1980s, major console makers have generally come out with new models every five years or so. For example, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) came out in 1985, followed by the Super NES in 1991, the Nintendo 64 in 1996, the GameCube in 2001, and the Wii in 2006. Sony put out the first … Read more