The Mouse House
is aligning itself tightly with Netflix.
The two companies today announced a deal that will significantly boost the amount of television content Netflix is able to stream from ABC, The Disney Channel and ABC Family.
Author Archives: Chris Morris
Consoles battle for second place
There’s no denying that Nintendo 
is the videogame industry’s most powerful force. With sales of its handheld DS topping 43 million and the Wii selling more than 30 million, it’s the indisputable market leader.
But despite that success, there’s something very old school about Nintendo. Its consoles and games don’t capture the bleeding-edge sensibilities of the industry. That’s what makes the fight for second place so interesting.
OnLive offers streaming of video games
While gamers have been able to rent new titles by mail for years, the options have been limited when it came to streaming services.
That’s changing now, as OnLive looks to leverage cloud computing and a Netflix-proven business model to offer instant streaming of new hit titles to players. Last month, the company released a set-top box, letting customers buy recent and catalog releases on an a la carte basis; this week it released an iPad app; and starting in January, it will offer a pair of new payment options.
As Medical Marijuana Proliferates, Pot Prices Decline Nationwide
Recreational users of marijuana 
are seeing price cuts on the street thanks to the growing number of states that have approved the drug for medicinal use.
The price of cannabis, of course, varies wildly—depending on the strain purchased, its potency and the parts of the plant. Top quality pot in New York, for example, costs nearly $442 per ounce, while low quality is just $161, according to one website that tracks costs, PriceofWeed.com.
App review: Spirits for iPad
There’s something downright charming about 
Spirits for iPad that’s hard to describe. Maybe it’s the unique and gorgeous hand-painted levels. Maybe it’s the cute, whimsical spirits floating in the air. Or, maybe, it’s the soundtrack — that sticks with you long after you play. Whatever it is, this is an app that takes the Lemmings formula (guide a series of creatures who follow in each other’s footprints) and alters it just enough that it seems unique. The game won the Best Aesthetics award at IndieCade — an international juried festival of independent video games — and it’s sure to win your heart too.
Read more at Common Sense Media
App review: Mad Chad
The first few levels of Mad Chad 
will probably make you smile — as a brief diversion from the day to day. By the time you get halfway through the game, though, you’ll likely be bored, as it hasn’t changed at all from what you started playing. The repetitive elements get old and you quickly realize there’s no real point in collecting the coins you encounter on virtually every level, as they don’t offer any real benefit. This is an average side-scrolling game app, but there are better options available.
Read more at Common Sense Media
Let the iPad 2 rumors commence!
It was only a matter of time…
While the iPad is the season’s hottest gift, the tech world is already looking toward the sequel – and the rumor mill suggests that a follow-up to the tablet could begin within the next 100 days.
Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog
Interview: Blizzard Co-Founder Pearce On World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm’s Reboot
[As Cataclysm reboots many areas in World Of Warcraft‘s universe, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris talks to Blizzard co-founder 
and EVP Frank Pearce about why the early grind in WoW “doesn’t have the best content”, and how the expansion is fixing that.]
Blizzard has always been a collection of perfectionists. But it wasn’t until the impending release of its MMO expansion World of Warcraft: Cataclysm that we saw just how exacting they can be when it come to quality.
The rise of Deathwing the Destroyer in Azeroth, as you surely know by now, isn’t confined to the expansion pack. His eruption from Deepholm has ripped the entire game world asunder – even impacting what new players of the game see and experience.
Microsoft’s mobile reboot
Critics, analysts and carriers have all lauded 
Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, the company’s latest attempt to reclaim ground in the mobile space. But in a field increasingly dominated by Apple and Android, the biggest name in personal computing is still far from a major player.
Opening day sales figures for the phone line were anemic, coming in at a reported 40,000, despite a lavish marketing campaign and worldwide media events. (To put that in perspective, Apple sells roughly 270,000 iPhones per day.) But the early numbers don’t necessarily tell the full story.
New game bridges the 28-year gap between Tron films
When Hollywood takes a few extra years 
before it gets around to making a sequel to a film, it often provides some sort of bridge for the audience. Some movies rely on books. Others opt for viral videos on YouTube or Facebook.
But when the time between releases is more than 28 years, you need to pull out the big guns. And when it comes to nerd cinematic icon “Tron,” it’s only fitting that the bridge is a video game.
Chris Morris: Journalist 