Who needs modern day street thugs when you’ve got old west 
outlaws?
Not Take-Two Interactive Software, it seems. “Red Dead Redemption” continues to be a retail bonanza for the publisher and is doing so much better than expected that the company is now forecasting it will turn a profit this year. That’s the first time in recent memory that it has done so in a year that didn’t have a “Grand Theft Auto” release.
There aren’t a lot of surprises in the video game world today. 
With the torent of leaks that comes from partners, publishers and developers, gamers rarely get that excitement that comes with a major, unexpected announcement – which makes today’s bombshell in Seattle all the more tasty.
2K Games revealed the presumed-dead action game “Duke Nukem Forever” was not only alive, it was playable on the show floor – and it would be hitting stores next year. And jaws are still dragging.
[Gamasutra’s new editor-at-large Chris Morris examines the curiously abrupt end of Acclaim’s 9Dragons, which stranded 1.5 million U.S. players — 
when a game struggles in the high-risk MMO market, the players end up losing out, too.]
Nobody saw the end coming for 9Dragons – especially the players.
A post in the game’s Acclaim-operated forums, which went up just hours before the U.S. servers shut down, was the only official notification.
Square Enix, the company behind RPG giants like the 
Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts franchises, knows a lot about the role-playing genre — and with Chaos Rings, it shows that it can transfer its knowledge into the mobile market too. The game is playable in bite-sized chunks, which is hard to pull off in this sort of title. The pace is quick, but steady, never significantly penalizing players for mistakes, keeping them engaged.
The Diner Dash franchise has been a hit among casual gamers 
for years – and for good reason. It’s an upbeat, enjoyable strategy game that makes you smile. Diner Dash: Grilling Green follows in those footsteps, keeping you on your toes, but never overwhelming you completely. The game, which was developed specifically for the iPad, takes advantage of the hardware’s capabilities, with a real focus on multitouch. As you enter the middle and later stages of the game, you’ll need to use both hands to keep up with demanding customers and help cook the food. A multiplayer mode lets you share the workload with a friend, though — one seating the customers and handling orders, while the other assists with food preparation. It’s something that wouldn’t be possible on the iPhone, but that works wonderfully on the iPad. The only disappointment is the game’s length — 20 levels instead of the 50 that came with Diner Dash on the iPhone — but they’re all masterfully done.
Read more at Common Sense Media
Building simulations often run the risk of becoming repetitive, 
but Vacation Mogul HDavoids this by peppering in a decent story and a pair of mini-games that are woven well into the story. The game holds players’ hands through the early stages to make sure you grasp play concepts, but not in an annoying manner. Novice players won’t feel any pressure to hurry – and there’s no “losing” a round, since there are no time limits. Veteran players of the genre, though, will enjoy the challenge of winning gold cup rewards for finishing within a time limit.
Apple is wading into the stream. The company’s 
much-anticipated overhaul of its Apple TV service eschews the download-to-own model in favor of an HD Web streaming rental biz.
Apple’s plan to make movies available day and date with DVD for a $4.99 rental is in keeping with the film biz’s piracy-combatting push to make titles available for easy legal downloads through a host of platforms, from Apple’s iTunes to Netflix (which Apple TV will support); Amazon, Hulu and Blockbuster; the major videogame consoles from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo; and, soon, YouTube.
While Disney might be one of the biggest forces in the film and television 
industries, it has always been something of an also-ran in the gaming world. Despite a deep catalog of characters and properties to draw from, the company has licensed out potential hits to other publishers and focused mainly on the kid and tween market.
That’s changing fast these days. The company has tripled its investment in video games and staffed up to over 1,200 people (notably bigger than Microsoft’s internal game-building team). It’s also bringing on high-level talent, like industry legend Warren Spector (Deus Ex) and Bungie Studios co-founder Alex Seropian (Halo).
Apple certainly wasn’t lacking for news at its press 
event today. We’ve got a story up on the front page of Variety, focusing on Apple TV, right now – and an analysis piece will be in tomorrow’s daily edition.
One thing that has seemingly been lost in the shuffle is Apple made it clearer than ever that it was gunning for Nintendo and Sony – and it’s not afraid of either company’s gaming legacy. In the meantime, here’s a recap of some of the other news that Jobs & Co. unveiled.
Apple has made it official: It will soon offer 99 cent TV 
show rentals as part of the launch of an extensive revision of its Apple TV service.
Apple said it would offer streaming rentals of skeins from Fox, ABC, ABC Family, Disney Channel and BBC America on a rental basis. Users are able to watch the show for 30 days from the moment the episode is rented, and once it starts playing users have 48 hours to finish watching it.
Chris Morris: Journalist 