This holiday season, gadgets are a good 
worry-free gift to get that bizzer who has everything — particularly since everything that’s tech seems to be changing. From 3D TV and a video-streaming set-top box to a new twist on motion-capture gaming, Variety has put together a list of the latest gizmos that are sure to be as much fun to give as they are to receive.
Category Archives: Variety (Print)
‘Call of Duty’ breaks more records
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” continues to break 
entertainment industry records.
Activision announced Thursday that the latest installment in its multibillion-dollar franchise has generated sales of $650 million in its first five days — an 18% (and $100 million) improvement over last year’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” That makes the game’s opening the highest for an entertainment property — of any sort — in history.
Kinect opens to big sales
Cementing its status as one of the year’s “must have” 
holiday items, Microsoft’s Kinect has sold more than 1 million units in its first 10 days on the market.
That’s a strong start for the peripheral, which uses motion capture technology to let players use their bodies to control videogames on the Xbox 360. It’s certainly a stronger reaction than Sony saw with its entry in the motion control category earlier this year. The company shipped 1 million PlayStation Move units to retailers in that device’s first month on shelves, but did not sell them all.
‘Call of Duty’ sets opening day record
Gamers have enthusiastically answered 
Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty,” as the publisher celebrated Veterans Day with a victory as its military videogame became the biggest entertainment launch in history.
That record already belonged to the industry’s biggest gamemaker when Activision’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” stormed into stores last November.
Set-top boxes challenge cable
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.
Tech Tussles: Apple vs. The World
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.
Supreme Court hears challenge to vidgame ban
Supreme Court justices grilled both 
sides of the vidgame violence issue Tuesday as the high court heard oral arguments on the challenge to California’s ban on sales of such games to minors. Justices ultimately seemed skeptical of the constitutionality of the law enacted in 2005.
The members of the court seemed concerned about the First Amendment impact of siding with California in the case, Schwarzenegger vs. Entertainment Merchants Assn.
Game coin goes mobile
As social gaming companies get snatched for e
ver-escalating amounts, the wave of acquisitions and investment money has turned to makers of mobile videogames.
Over the last two weeks, there have been three substantial buyouts and investments in the mobile market — and the transactions could signal the beginning of a larger trend in use of mobile devices for gaming.
Redbox makes play for videogames
Having established a position of power in the film 
rental industry, Redbox is deepening its move into the videogame world.
The company, which has been running a limited test of game rentals, is substantially expanding the experiment, adding game rentals to thousands of its self-service kiosks in the West, Midwest and East Coast.
Windows Phone 7 takes aim at Apple
While Microsoft’s previous efforts in mobile technology haven’t generated a lot of support or enthusiasm, the company is incorporating a variety of entertainment elements into its upcoming phones — which could be key to winning marketshare.
A trio of handsets featuring Windows Phone 7 — which many analysts feel is the company’s last chance to make a real impact in the mobile space — will hit AT&T stores on Nov. 8. Other carriers will follow shortly thereafter. (Some European customers will get the phones on Oct. 21.)
Chris Morris: Journalist 