Author Archives: Chris Morris

Chair’s Donald Mustard on the Apple console threat

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Three donald mustardyears ago, Donald Mustard and his team at Chair Entertainment first started working with the iPhone. And, as a lot of people did around that time, they began to speculate about its potential impact on the gaming world.

The consensus from the team was that within five years, Apple could have a device that was a viable threat to console systems. It was a throwaway guess – the sort of thing you make and tend to forget about. When he got his hands on the iPhone 5S three or four weeks ago, though, Mustard thought back to that discussion – and realized it could have been right on target.

Read more at GamesIndustry.biz

Grand Theft Auto: The controversy, the money and the impact

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Rockstar GTA sliderGames famously keeps a tight lid on its “Grand Theft Auto” games, but there are generally three constants to each new release.

Something in the game will outrage activists. The game will make a staggering amount of money. And it will incorporate parts of pop culture that raise its coolness levels even higher among players.

In the 12 years since “Grand Theft Auto III” first hit shelves (and the game really became the industry force it is now), it has had plenty of highs and lows – and an impact on the videogame landscape that few titles can match. Here’s a look at some of its most notable moments and achievements.

Read more at CNBC.com

Grand Theft Auto V stands ready to break records

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“Call GTAof Duty” might be the video game industry’s 500-pound gorilla, but on Sept. 17, it faces its biggest threat yet.

That’s when Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive Software will release “Grand Theft Auto V,” the first new full game in the series in five years—and analysts expect it to be one of the biggest releases of the year.

Read more at CNBC.com

Video game industry rallies 21% in August

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Madden npd-august-2013NFL 25 might not be performing quite as well as last year’s game, but it’s still strong enough to lead the video game industry to a major comeback.

Video game software retail sales in August were up 21 percent compared to a year ago, according to The NPD Group — the first time the industry has shown a year-over-year increase since October of 2011 (excluding January 2013, which had an extra week of reporting). Brick and mortar sales of video games came in at $305 million, an improvement of better than $55 million. The boost was even bigger than Wall Street analysts were expecting.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Forget Siri: Microsoft bringing Halo’s Cortana to its phones

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Helping cotrana-windows-microsoftMaster Chief out of perilous predicaments is one thing, but can Cortana help you get to your meeting on time?

Microsoft is working on a digital personal assistant for its Windows Phones to compete with Apple’s Siri and Android’s Google Now. And it has chosen the beloved Halo artificial intelligence character as its namesake.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

How Apple’s new iPhones could pose a threat to gaming’s major players

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Apple iphone-threat-gaminghas danced along the edge of the video game industry’s waters for some time now, never quite jumping in, but staying close enough to keep the likes of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo wary.

With the introduction of the iPhone 5S and the cheaper iPhone 5C during this week’s iPhone reveal event, however, the company took a big step closer — and both console and dedicated handheld system makers have a very valid reason to worry.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Disney encourages kids to play games in the theater during “The Little Mermaid”

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The little-mermaid-theatersmovie theater is one of the few remaining sanctums where you’re largely safe from the annoying glow of smartphones and tablets.

Well, at least until Disney re-releases “The Little Mermaid” on September 13. The studio is actively encouraging kids to bring along iPads and play games while the movie is showing on screen.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Sony unveils PlayStation Vita TV

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Sony, playstation-vita-tvalready plenty busy with one upcoming hardware launch, is doubling down.

During its annual pre-Tokyo Games Show press conference on Monday, the company unveiled a new device called PlayStation Vita TV, a ‘microconsole’ that will allow you to play PlayStation Vita games on your TV and will let PS4 owners stream games to other TVs in the house.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

‘Madden’ sales fall 40 percent from last year

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This madden-25-salesisn’t the sort of anniversary present EA was hoping for.

The publisher is touting the 25th edition of Madden NFL as the best-selling game of August (something NPD is likely to verify next week), saying internal numbers show it sold one million unitsin its first week on store shelves.

The problem? Last year’s version sold 1.65 million in that same period. That represents a 40 percent falloff. In turn, EA’s stocks took a dip on Friday.

Read more at Yahoo! Games