Could the set-top box kill 
cable?
It’s hard to turn the corner these days without someone thrusting a new gadget for your television at you. Apple and Google are among the more familiar names exploring the space, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. The arena also includes aspirants such as Roku, Boxee, Seagate, Asus and Western Digital. And the three major vidgame consoles are already delivering content.
Loud Crow Interactive hits one out of the 
park with their first app. PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit is one of the best children’s book adaptations we’ve seen. The reading interactive elements are stellar — but what makes the app really stand out is its detailed use of sound and movement with the pop-up elements. Every image is filled with several interactive elements that will enthrall children and adults. Flick the leaves falling from trees in the artwork and they’ll come floating out into the book. Touch Peter or his siblings and they’ll giggle with delight. The narration and music, meanwhile, are soothing and bring Beatrix Potter’s classic tale to life. It takes the children’s book app to a new level – and is worth every penny of its higher-than-other-book-apps price tag.
[Gamasutra’s Chris Morris looks at the factors that will 
dictate Kinect’s market prospects at launch and down the line, opining that Microsoft’s holiday season looks secured — but that it “might have screwed some of its partners in the process.”]
Two months ago, when Sony’s PlayStation Move hit shelves, I wondered whether Sony had lost its mind. The device, I mentioned, wasn’t intuitive and had some alarming aesthetic issues – a combination that could hurt its chances with the mainstream audience.
Now Kinect has arrived – and while it has just as many problems as Move, it seems poised to thoroughly trounce its competitor this holiday season.
Democrats weren’t the only ones 
who were hit hard by the mid-term elections. Proponents of Net neutrality may have seen their best chance of that bill passing fade as well.
Every one of the 95 candidates who had pledged to support the bill, which would force Internet providers like Xfinity and Time Warner Cable to treat all Web content equally, fell short in their bid for the House and Senate, reports CNNMoney
It happens in every game – whether it’s Monopoly, 
pro football or “Halo: Reach”. Inevitably, some hyper-competitive jerk tries to rig the game, ratcheting up his victory count by illicit means.
It’s particularly bothersome in the video game world, but now the cheaters are getting their just deserts as the developers of some of today’s most popular games – including “StarCraft II,” “Red Dead Redemption” and “Halo: Reach” – are outright banning the most egregious double dealers.
Reckless Racing HD is, simply put, one of the best
racing games on the iPad. It doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s easy to pick up and play. And it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Races are short, fast and full of hairpin turns. Even multiplayer is an easy affair, not requiring — or requesting — anything other than a username (and, you don’t even need to provide that). The graphics are wonderful. The game lets you choose your difficulty settings and comes with a hefty number of tracks. The user interface takes a little while to get used to, but once you do, this is a hard app to put down.
For all the media attention and fanfare, you might
think Microsoft was launching a new console today. And given what the company is spending on marketing its latest peripheral, you wouldn’t be that far off.
Kinect, a motion sensor device that allows users to play games simply by using gestures and voice commands, hit shelves today – and is predicted by many to become one of this year’s “must have” holiday gifts. Microsoft is so confident in the device that is has raised its internal sales predictions for calendar 2010 from 3 million to 5 million.
But is it any good?
Microsoft rolled the dice when it 
decided to get into the video game motion control market. Nintendo, with the Wii, had certainly proven that there was an audience interested in a more intuitive controller, but with over 71 million of the consoles sold worldwide, the potential for market saturation was strong.
As the company rolls out Kinect on Thursday, early signs are showing that the gamble was a wise one.
Apple might be one of the most 
dominant players in the entertainment and technology worlds, but to climb to that pinnacle, it adopted a business model that would make most strategists wince.
Rather than choosing one sector to conquer, the house that Steve Jobs built opted to fight a multi-front war. What’s amazing is that Apple has won so often on so many battlegrounds.
In-game advertising is hardly 
a rare thing. And film/game tie-ins are pretty frequent as well – but Dreamworks and Zynga are taking things a step further on Nov. 4.
For the first time, a studio will promote its newest film in a social networking game when “Megamind” comes to the insanely popular “Farmville”.
Chris Morris: Journalist 