Less than three 
months after formally bursting onto the scene in the United States, streaming music service Spotify has established an impressive foothold.
Reuters reports the company has signed up more than 250,000 paying customers here since its launch. The company revealed last month that its worldwide paying customer base has topped 2 million.
Jelly Defense is a 
perfectly serviceable entry in the tower defense genre, but it doesn’t really add anything that other titles haven’t already. The enemies and defenders are, admittedly, much cuter than in most other games of this ilk, but the gameplay is fairly basic: Waves of enemy troops come marching down the road and you attempt to stop them with a series of defensive weapons. The controls handle well, though, and the game’s overall look is certainly eye-pleasing. It currently carries an introductory price of 99 cents, which is certainly fair, though we’re not sure we’d pay more for the game and still feel as good about it.
While Shadowgun has 
been accused of borrowing a bit too much from the Gears of War franchise, there’s enough in this app that differentiates itself from the console hit. The shooting elements that dominate the game certainly follow the same pattern — enter a room, then fight your way through it, using cover to protect yourself. But the inclusion of puzzles and pattern recognition games are nice breaks to the fighting. The controls handle well, which is a relief. And the graphics are incredibly well done. This is certainly one of the best looking iOS games to date.
It’s an expensive title, though, and one that gets repetitive after a while — but that won’t be enough to turn away core fans of the shooter genre.
The holiday season 
has kicked off for the video game industry – and not a moment too soon.
Retail sales of video game software were up 3 percent in September to $630.2 million, a welcome change from the record setting lows of the past three months. The increase was welcome news, though not as strong as some industry observers were hoping for.
Reports last week 
that the Air Force’s drone program had been hit by a virus raised all sorts of concerns about cyber-terrorism infiltrating the military. It turns out, though, that the whole thing could be Facebook’s fault.
Pentagon officials say the virus wasn’t something that specifically targeted military systems, but was instead a fairly common piece of malware that’s used to steal people’s online gaming passwords.
There’s no dancing 
around the fact that the vast majority of movies based on videogames stink. Absurd plotlines are attached to games that barely had a story to begin with — and those rare games that do have a strong narrative typically see that jettisoned by filmmakers for a different story line.
Being a bad movie isn’t necessarily the kiss of death at the box office — need we remind you of Paulie Shore’s cinematic career? Sometimes, however, the audience is just too smart to be fooled and the film tanks.
The history of 
financially successful videogame-to-movie conversions is a pretty short one. The list of critically successful conversions is even shorter.
That doesn’t mean there haven’t been a few solid hits that got their start in the console world. Popular franchises tend to come with a built-in audience, and when Hollywood supplements that with a big star it can be an immensely profitable venture — often spawning one or more sequels.
For the past dozen 
years or so, Hollywood has leaned on classic (and not so classic) television shows as the source catalog for new films. As that trend comes to a close, studios are focusing more and more on the videogame industry.
Despite the tarnished history of videogame adaptations, studios are moving forward with more than dozen big-screen gaming movies. What’s amazing, though, is it’s possible — just possible — that some of these films might not stink.
Everyone needs a 
work break now and then. Between meetings, meetings to prepare for other meetings, and meetings to discuss what happened in those other meetings, even the most dedicated employee needs to shift his or her focus away from the grind, if only for a few minutes.
And games are a great way to clear your head.
Tim Schafer is 
responsible for some of the most critically-acclaimed titles in the video game industry. But when word came down that he and his team at Double Fine Productions would be making a Sesame Street game for Microsoft Kinect, it caught everyone by surprise.
Schafer’s games — which include cult-hit Psychonauts and heavy metal adventure romp Brütal Legend — are known for their quirky, adult sense of humor, making the jump to the most famous name in children’s programming a little bizarre.
Chris Morris: Journalist 