Everyone was expecting 
bad news from video game retailers in August.
And everyone was right.
The NPD Group reports that year over year sales were down 23 percent, with software sales tumbling 37 percent. August, historically, has been a rebound month for the industry, but EA’s decision to move the release of the annual Madden entry to the end of the month torpedoed any chance of that happening this year.
2011 really hasn’t 
been Nintendo’s year.
The company’s stock has plunged 40 percent. The 3DS fell on its face after its launch. And despite a price cut to $150 in May, the Wii is still dead in the water.
Ricky Gervais’ biting 
(some might say mean-spirited) hosting gig at last year’s Golden Globes probably guaranteed he won’t be asked back in the near future in any official capacity. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s through with the awards show.
Gervais, on his blog, has floated the idea of live-streaming a podcast during this year’s show, offering his own brand of commentary and ego-deflation to the proceedings.
TiVo might have 
kick started the DVR revolution, but it quickly found itself shoved aside by cable companies, who offered the same services without a sizable up front cost to customers and a much lower monthly fee.
As the holidays draw near, the company’s about to launch its most aggressive hardware counteroffensive. The question is: Will it matter?
Sometimes even the 
strangest rumors turn out to be true.
Whispers that Nintendo might be adding a second analog stick controller to its 3DS handheld system started circulating a few days ago, but few gave them much credence.
It’s only September, 
but 2011 already has no shortage of publisher screwups — Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris chalks it up to “growing pains” of the new age of digital gaming.
When gaming historians look back at 2011 sometime down the road, there’s going to be plenty to examine.
What might fascinate them most, though, will have nothing to do with the sustained decline in brick and mortar retail sales or the growing strength of digital distribution. It won’t even be the emergence of privacy issues. Instead, 2011 may well be remembered as the year publishers kept screwing up.
Super Bowl XLVI may 
look an awful lot like Super Bowl XLV, if the prognostication skills of EA’s Madden series are on target this year.
The football gaming franchise predicts both the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers will once again capture their divisions. And while he might be one of the league’s most controversial players, Eagles QB Michael Vick will take home the MVP trophy.
IndustryGamers is pleased 
to present you with our first column from new contributor Chris Morris, a veteran journalist who’s written for CNN and Forbes, among other publications.
The tempest in a teapot surrounding a non-player character in Deus Ex: Human Revolution is threatening to become a full-fledged storm – and Square Enix only has itself to blame.
The publisher’s response to the controversy over Letitia the Trash Lady fell short of what it needed to be, coming across as defensive and guarded, rather than apologetic. If this sounds somewhat familiar, there’s a good reason. That’s exactly the stance Sony took in April, when word first emerged that its online network had been compromised.
Award season in 
the video game industry is underway.
The Writer’s Guild of America has put out a call for submissions for its Video game writing award, which will be presented alongside similar nods for film and television writing Feb. 19. Submissions are being accepted through Dec. 1.
Maps have lost some 
of their sexiness these days, but The World by National Geographic manages to make them fun again. The app is a geographical educational tool, but it’s loaded with bright pictures (a trademark of the National Geographic Society’s magazine), interesting facts, and an interactive map that is a lot of fun to play with. You’ll learn a lot and have fun doing it, which is a difficult combination to pull off for younger kids.
The app falls a bit short, though, for anyone who is a regular user of Google Earth. Instead of being able to zoom into territories as you can with that app, The World stops short, transitioning to a paper map appearance. It’s a minor frustration, but given how deep you can go with other apps, it’s a bit disappointing not to have that option here. The reliance on an Internet connection is an annoyance, as well, but all-in-all, this is a great app.
Chris Morris: Journalist 