Category Archives: Variety (Print)

OnLive, Vizio strike deal to stream vidgames

Posted on by

Streaming movies directly to Internet-enabled TV sets has already become familiar, but manufacturers are about to begin adding top-tier videogames to their bag of tricks — which could prove to be a fundamental shift in the vidgame industry.

OnLive, a cloud-based game streaming service that has been making headlines for the past few months, announced Tuesday that it has struck a deal with Vizio that would put the service on all 2011 model HD TVs and Blu-ray players as well as forthcoming smart phones and tablets from the company.

Read more at Daily Variety

New fronts in tablet war

Posted on by

In just eight months, Apple has managed to create one of the computer world’s fastest-growing and most lucrative sub markets. And the competitors are getting tired of Steve Jobs and Co. hogging the spotlight.

Launched in April 2010, the iPad has quickly come to define tablet computing. Consumers have snatched it up, with 2010 sales expected to total between 15 million and 19.5 million units. With prices ranging from $499 to $829, the iPad is a huge breadwinner for the company; Apple can’t keep up with demand.

Read more at Daily Variety

Handy guide to tablet warriors

Posted on by

Apple might have a tight grip on the tablet market today, but at CES, the competition will come at it with both guns blazing. Here’s a look at what you can expect:

The Android tablets – Google’s mobile operating system is the de facto choice for companies going up against Apple. The problem is it’s optimized for phones, not tablets. At CES, there will be a lot of talk about devices using Honeycomb, a new version of the OS designed for tablets. Asus, Acer, Samsung, Toshiba and others are expected to have new tablet offerings revolving around Honeycomb, which should hit the street sometime in the second quarter.

Read more at Daily Variety

High price helps iPad

Posted on by

While there are plenty of companies gunning for Apple as the tablet market heats up, most have one thing in common: They’re planning to use price as a battlefield.

The iPad might be affordable by Apple standards, but it’s hardly a cheap piece of hardware, with prices ranging from $499-$829. And many competitors see that as an opening.

Read more at Daily Variety

 

‘Call of Duty’ hits $1 billion

Posted on by

Activision’s “Call of Duty” franchise continues to set new bars in the entertainment industry. The latest installment in the series — subtitled “Black Ops” — has hit $1 billion in sales in just six weeks. The only other entertainment property to reach that milestone so quickly, according to the publisher, was James Cameron’s “Avatar.”

Like its predecessor, “Black Ops” came out of the gate strong. In its first five days on shelves, the game had sales of $650 million. It hit the $1 billion mark nearly a month quicker than “Modern Warfare 2,” and now stands poised to assume the crown of the top-grossing videogame of all time.

Read more at Daily Variety

‘World of Warcraft’ expansion sales sizzle

Posted on by

The latest expansion to Activision Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft” franchise has sold more copies in 24 hours than many games sell throughout the course of their lives.

More than 3.3 million people around the world bought “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm” in its first day of availability — making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time, according to the publisher.

Read more at Daily Variety

 

Consoles battle for second place

Posted on by

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.

Read more at Daily Variety

 

OnLive offers streaming of video games

Posted on by

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.

Read more at Daily Variety

 

Microsoft’s mobile reboot

Posted on by

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.

Read more at Daily Variety