DanceMasters is an incredibly fun game that puts 
no pressure on players to learn complicated moves. The point is less about nailing routines as it is about scoring points and moving. There’s plenty of flailing about, but that’s half the fun. The song selection likely won’t be familiar to people who don’t go to dance clubs, though, so you won’t be able to dance to songs you’re familiar with — and only 20 of the game’s 31 songs are initially available. (You have to unlock the others and DanceMasters isn’t real clear about how to go about doing that.) Downloadable digital content will seemingly broaden the catalog, but we would have liked to have seen one or two familiar songs.
Author Archives: Chris Morris
Analysis: What Lies Ahead For Call of Duty?
[Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris looks 
forward from the tumultuous midnight launch of Call Of Duty: Black Ops to ask where Activision’s franchise goes from here, examining what Infinity Ward’s shifts mean for 2011’s CoD installment and beyond.]
As bleary eyed GameStop employees recover from last night’s midnight launches and fans begin tearing through Call Of Duty: Black Ops, Activision’s phenomenally successful franchise stands at something of a crossroads.
The fate of Black Ops is hardly in doubt, of course. Pre-orders are already telling us that it will dominate software industry sales this year. And while Activision is publicly saying it doesn’t expect the game to meet Modern Warfare 2’s numbers, several analysts feel that’s just the company taking a conservative stand to protect itself against investor backlash if the numbers really do fall short.
Video game champs share over $700,000 in prizes
While professional video gamers may still 
struggle to be thought of as athletes by the general public, they’re starting to see paydays that are on par with some of today’s sports stars.
Major League Gaming, the largest of the so-called eSports gaming leagues, wrapped up its 2010 season Sunday, handing out some $700,000 in prizes to joystick jockeys.
App review: FIFA 11
FIFA 11 is about as authentic a soccer 
experience as you’re going to find, short of stepping onto the pitch yourself. It’s a loving tribute to the game of soccer (or “football” as it’s called outside of America) and the enthusiasm can carry through to the player. The game is visually gorgeous, but its controls are average at best and can cause a fair bit of frustration.
App review: Food Fight! – An Interactive Book by Glenn Melenhorst
Food Fight! – An Interactive Book by Glenn Melenhorst has 
some charming elements, but ultimately doesn’t stand up to the best interactive book apps — especially with its $1.99 price tag. The story’s message that vegetables can actually be tasty and shouldn’t be avoided simply because they are vegetables is laudable, particularly with the obesity epidemic, but the app’s interactive elements are just so-so, generally made up of brief sound effects and minor animations. Being able to zoom in on the story’s pictures is nice, but serves little purpose other than to better search for hidden stars, which unlock a less than impressive locked page at the end of the book. The app is fun, but it is not great when compared to some of the other excellent storybooks available in the iTunes store.
Read more at Common Sense Media
For the Geek: Hot Holiday Gadgets 2010
Someone, somewhere on your holiday 
shopping list is going to want a gadget this year—and odds are they won’t be alone.
Consumer electronics are the most dependable category in the retail space during the holidays, but the sheer volume of gadgets on the market can be confounding. Here are a few sure-fire choices for your favorite gadget hounds.
The Surefire Holiday Hit: Gadgets
Consumers may be planning to spend
less on gifts overall this holiday season, but that frugality seemingly won’t apply when it comes to consumer electronics.
Fueled by demand for Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle eReader, gadgets are expected to be the top category in retail during the fourth quarter. A survey from the Consumer Electronics Association finds that consumers will spend an average of $232 on gadgets and gizmos this year.
Activision’s Billion-Dollar Baby ‘Call of Duty’ Readies Its Next Chapter
A year ago, “Call of Duty: Modern 
Warfare 2” set an all-time entertainment industry record, generating $310 million in sales in its first 24 hours. On Tuesday, its successor will try to top that.
Right now, the odds look pretty good.
“Fallout: New Vegas” launches big – real big
Everyone suspected the follow-up to “Fallout 3” 
would be big – but numbers released by Bethesda Softworks this morning still managed to surprise onlookers.
“Fallout: New Vegas” has shipped more than 5 million units to retail so far, with sales of over $300 million – and retailers are demanding more. As an added bonus, digital sales have also been strong.
Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog
Several airlines to offer free Wi-Fi this holiday
Productivity in the sky should pick up 
this holiday season, as Google is teaming with a number of U.S. carriers to offer free in-flight Wi-Fi.
Delta, AirTran and Virgin America are all teaming with the search giant to offer the service at no cost between Nov. 20 and Jan. 2. Each carrier has outfitted their entire domestic fleet with the Gogo Inflight service.
Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog
Chris Morris: Journalist 