Nintendo is off to a rough start with its new Wii U video game console and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick thinks Microsoft’s “Xbox Infinity” and Sony’s PlayStation 4 could see similar tepid debuts when they launch ahead of the holidays this year. “We continue to face the uncertainties of the console transition” Kotick said during Activision’s earnings call this week. The executive noted that Nintendo’s Wii U has had a “very slow” start, and he warned that “uncertainties” in the coming year might impact Activision’s performance. “There are still many unknown factors such as pricing, launch dates and quantities, the level of first-party support and, importantly, consumer purchase intent in a world where consoles are no longer just competing with each other,

In the video game industry as in many popular video games themselves, a fierce rivalry has taken center stage. Sony took a commanding early lead and its PlayStation and PlayStation 2 systems are both among best-selling video game consoles of all time at No.4 and No.1, respectively. Then the tide turned and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 edged out the PlayStation 3 in the current generation console wars, having recently posted its 27th consecutive month as the top-selling console in the U.S. But we may soon see this rivalry fade as the missions of Microsoft’s next-generation “Xbox Infinity” and Sony’s PlayStation 4 begin to diverge. At launch, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were both laser focused on gaming. They lured in hardcore

By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In the past twelve months, Zynga Inc has struggled with a contracting player base, a deflated stock price and waves of layoffs. Now it is coming to terms with downsized ambitions. As Chief Executive Mark Pincus, 47, leads the online games developer he founded in 2007 through perhaps the most crucial year of his tenure, he is pushing to restore revenues by doubling down on "FarmVille," the franchise that took Facebook users by storm four years ago and launched Zynga to stardom. ...

Things keep getting darker for video game giant Nintendo. The news that the company’s previous-generation Wii console outsold the new Wii U during the first quarter really put Nintendo’s troubles in perspective, and now more bad news has emerged for the video game giant. As picked up in a report from Joystiq, an Electronic Arts executive has confirmed on Twitter that the company is abandoning plans to build its new gaming engine for the Wii U. “[Frostbite 3] has never been running on WiiU,” EA DICE’s technical director Johan Andersson posted on Twitter. “We did some tests with not too promising results with [Frostbite 2] & chose not to go down that path.” Nintendo’s Wii U sought to be a console

By Malathi Nayak SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In the midst of the bitter national debate on gun violence, gun manufacturers and videogame makers are delicately navigating one of the more peculiar relationships in American business. Violent "first-person shooter" games such as "Call of Duty" are the bread and butter of leading video game publishers, and authenticity all but requires that they feature brand-name weapons. Electronic Arts licensed weapons from companies like McMillan Group International as part of a marketing collaboration for "Medal of Honor: Warfighter. ...

Microsoft’s hugely anticipated next-generation console apparently has a name and it isn’t the Xbox 720. Unnamed sources have told the International Business Times that the new Xbox will be called the Xbox Infinity and that development kits for the new console “are already in the hands of studios.” Microsoft will formally unveil its new Xbox on May 21st and earlier reports have indicated that it will run on the “core” version of Windows 8 and will feature an 8-core 1.6GHz processor, 8GB of RAM, an 800MHz graphics processor, a 50GB 6x Blu-ray Disc drive and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.

Disney is not giving up on "Star Wars" video games after all. A month after shutting down game production at Lucasfilm subsidiary LucasArts, The Walt Disney Co. said Monday that it had entered ...

Good news for Xbox fans: Microsoft has decided to not commit commercial suicide by forcing gamers to have an Internet connection just to play games. Ars Technica has got hold of an internal Microsoft email to Xbox engineers outlining “a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection” and instructing the engineers to make those functions “‘just work’ regardless of their current connection status.” The email goes on to say that the new Xbox should be designed for “playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game” without an Internet connection. Rumors that Microsoft would require an online connection for single-player games gained fuel recently when former Microsoft Studios creative

By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In the past twelve months, Zynga Inc has struggled with a contracting player base, a deflated stock price and waves of layoffs. Now it is coming to terms with downsized ambitions. As Chief Executive Mark Pincus, 47, leads the online games developer he founded in 2007 through perhaps the most crucial year of his tenure, he is pushing to restore revenues by doubling down on "FarmVille," the franchise that took Facebook users by storm four years ago and launched Zynga to stardom. ...

What makes the perfect baby name? There's no right answer, of course — perhaps you're a traditionalist who prefers John and Mary, or maybe you tend toward the literary: Ahab or Hermione, anyone? Perhaps you're in the market for something a little bit country, in which case Oakley or Harlan might suit.

Companies in the video games industry have begun releasing earnings reports for the latest quarter. Here's a look at selected companies that make or sell video games or machines. — April 3: Mobile game ...

Elderly people who played a video game that challenged their brain processing speed showed improvements in executive function compared with those who did crossword puzzles. Amy Kraft reports

Soon after its IPO, Zynga’s share price spiked above $15 in early 2012. Very little has gone right since then. Just last month, Zynga issued yet another warning and its share price now hovers just above $3. On Thursday, Zynga’s latest flagship game, Draw Something 2, dropped out of iPhone’s top-10 paid app chart after having spent only six days there. The original Draw Something spent nearly three months on the iPhone’s top-10 chart in early 2012. Zynga spent more than $200 million to buy game developer OMGPOP in March 2012. Four months later, Draw Something dropped out of the iPhone’s top-50 chart. Now its sequel seems destined for an even faster burn-out. This is a sharp reminder of how difficult it is

Activision on Wednesday announced that the latest installment of its best-selling Call of Duty franchise, called Call of Duty: Ghost, will launch later this year on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and “next generation platforms.” The latest Call of Duty game is being developed by Infinity Ward, the studio behind the original Call of Duty and the critically acclaimed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series. Activision’s first-person shooter has consistently shattered game sale records year after year and its latest installment is expected to continue this trend. Call of Duty: Ghost is scheduled to be released on November 5th. Starting today, fans can pre-order the game at retail stores. Activision’s press release follows below. ACTIVISION ANNOUNCES THE NEXT GENERATION

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Activision is trading "Modern Warfare" for "Ghosts."

Dubbed "Sony Smash Bros." by fans, after Nintendo's crossover brawler, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale features characters from Sony PlayStation games fighting each other in stages which mix their own titles. The characters featured include everyone from first-party favorites Nathan Drake (from Uncharted) and Sackboy (from Little Big Planet) to the armored Big Daddy from 2K Games' Bioshock. ...

We first saw Microsoft’s vision of the future of gaming last year when a patent filing revealed a novel system that projects images from a video game all over a room, extending the gaming experience beyond the TV screen. Our interest was piqued again when a video demo of “IllumiRoom” made the rounds earlier this week alongside rumors that the exciting new feature might be available on Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox. The feature would undoubtedly give the next Xbox an edge over rivals but unfortunately, Microsoft has confirmed that IllumiRoom won’t be included in its next-generation video game console at launch. Microsoft Research’s Hrvoje Benko and Brett Jones told Engadget in a recent interview that Microsoft is actively developing IllumiRoom technology

While Microsoft’s next Xbox won’t feature virtual reality headsets, it will try to do the next big thing by making your entire living room into a big video game screen. Microsoft on Monday posted a new demonstration video showing off the new Xbox’s IllumiRoom feature that projects aspects of games onto the walls surrounding your television set to increase immersion within virtual environments. The new feature comes with several options for filtering content if you’re not interested in having your entire living room transformed into a game world: For instance, you can choose to only have weapons or enemies displayed on the peripherals of your television set or you can choose to only have the bare outlines of the game

Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox video game and home entertainment consoled will be unveiled in less than a month on May 21st, and we should expect a steady flow of rumors and leaks leading up to the official debut. The latest report comes from Forbes, which claims that the next Xbox may launch as the “Xbox Infinity,” though recent rumors suggested the name might simply be “Xbox.” More interestingly, Forbes claims multiple sources at Microsoft have said that the next Xbox’s controllers will feature a clickable touch-sensitive area that will support gestures and other functions. Other recent reports suggest that the upcoming Xbox 360 successor will not require an always-on Internet connection as had previously been rumored, but game publishers will have

The next-generation Xbox is expected to include high-end hardware and a variety of software improvements when Microsoft announces the system next month. According to a new report from Polygon, the console will incorporate the controversial requirement that users will need an Internet connection to play some games, although the decision on whether a game will require a constant Internet will be decided by the game’s publisher. Polygon warns that Microsoft’s current guidelines can still change, however. The report goes on to claim that the next-generation Xbox will include the ability to capture gameplay videos that can then be shared across different social networks, similar to the Share button on PlayStation 4′s controller. Microsoft is said to be working on a