Shares of Take-Two 
Interactive Software surged Tuesday as the company confirmed the long-rumored next installment in its hit “Grand Theft Auto” series is on the way.
The logo for “Grand Theft Auto V” festooned the Website of Rockstar Games, the developer of the series, teasing a Nov. 2 release for the first trailer for the game. And despite the lack of a release date, plot information or any other details about the title, the publisher’s stock was up nearly 7 percent in midday trading.
Ending months 
of speculation, Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games have finally confirmed that ”Grand Theft Auto V” is on the way.
The developer teased the game on its website Tuesday, announcing it would release a trailer for the game on Nov. 2.
The supposed war 
between EA’s Battlefield 3 and Activision’s Modern Warfare 3 is not a zero-sum game — both publishers can come out as winners, says Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris.
And so it begins. After months of sniping, posing and stare downs, Electronic Arts and Activision officially went to war Tuesday, with Battlefield 3 hitting store shelves, hoping to knock the Call of Duty series from its king of the hill position in the action shooter genre.
That’s how the story has been set up, at least. The battle of titans makes for a great headline, after all. And as we all learned from the movie Highlander, there can be only one, right? Poppycock.
There has never 
been a lot of love lost between Activision and Electronic Arts. The two video game publishers fight over just about everything.
But with Tuesday’s launch of EA’s “Battlefield 3,” the clash is taking on a particular sense of importance. At stake: The supremely profitable shooter genre – and possibly the fate of EA’s long-in-the-making turnaround.
For the past few 
months, the war of words between Activision and Electronic Arts over their respective modern military shooters has been intense, to say the least. EA has been eager to unseat Call of Duty from its king-of-the-hill spot and hasn’t shied away from trash talking to do so.
On Tuesday, the company’s best bet to accomplish this — Battlefield 3 — will hit store shelves. And while EA’s marketing machine is about to go into overdrive, analysts say the fight may be over before it starts.
The long standing 
whisper in the consumer electronics space has been that Apple is working to find a way to innovate in the television industry as radically as it had impacted the music, telecommunications and tablet fields.
Now, with the launch of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, those whispers are becoming a roar.
Gamasutra editor-at-large 
Chris Morris considers if Microsoft “might be making its move a little too late to corral the kiddie audience” with its recent unveiling of kid-friendly Kinect partnerships.
The introduction of the Kinect For Kids initiative certainly sounds wise, given the company’s push in that direction. After all, who can argue with creating family-friendly titles with some of the biggest names in family entertainment?
The problem is: When you look at Microsoft’s longer-term goals, things become a bit squishier.
Forget Kinect. 
Scientists have now found a way to literally make you the controller in video games.
A study on human-computer interfaces at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Emerging Technology Conference this week included visual evidence of test subjects controlling games via electrodes attached to the surface of their brains — completely redefining the term “head shot.”
Nintendo, which 
shied away from offering multimedia devices until long after its competitors, is getting more serious about video streaming.
The company has announced that its 3DS handheld system and the Wii will add Hulu Plus to their options before the end of the year. (No exact date was announced.)
Five years ago, 
the features of today’s smart phones seemed the stuff of science fiction. Functions like voice-activated controls, high-definition cameras and video calls were largely considered geek daydreams, but the breathtaking evolution of the devices has turned them into reality seemingly overnight.
That’s what makes the future so exciting for smart phones. No dream is too big. The better question, now, is when some kooky new feature will become reality. And in a lot of cases, it might not be too long.
Chris Morris: Journalist 