Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and the 
rest are getting their own online world.
Hasbro and Runescape developer Jagex have announced plans to create a massively multiplayer game based on the popular 80s toy line and cartoon series. Unlike recent single-player games published by Activision, though, this will have nothing to do with director Michael Bay’s 2007 cinematic reboot of the series.
The video game industry pulled a rabbit out of its 
hat in February – and that rabbit looked a lot like an Xbox 360.
A surprise 10 percent jump in hardware sales and a 22 percent increase in peripheral sales not only led the industry to an increase over the February 2010 numbers, but put it in positive year-over-year country as well, according to data from the NPD Group.
While the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii still have 
several years in front of them, the chatter has finally begun about the next generation of consoles.
Front and center in that conversation is Epic Games, whose Unreal Engine 3 has been a big part of the current crop of games, powering all of the “Gears of War” titles as well as “BioShock,” the “Mass Effect ” games and “DC Universe Online”.
Netflix and Hulu have some new 
competition: Facebook.
Warner Bros. has announced a new program that will let users of the popular social networking stream the studio’s films online. Initially, only “The Dark Knight” will be available, but Warner says it plans to quickly ramp up the program in the coming months.
Alex Carloss, who up until last week was
head of digital distribution at Paramount, has made the jump to Google.
Carloss will work on the content acquisition team for the company’s YouTube arm, joining Robert Kyncl, who left Netflix for the company last year.
Nintendo’s global president Satoru Iwata is not 
happy with the app revolution – and it’s not just because of the competition it’s giving his company.
In his GDC keynote address discussing the state of the video game industry, Iwata was particular outspoken on his fear that the explosion in cheap and free apps has devalued game development and could eventually put the industry at risk.
Hollywood is coming to 
Nintendo.
The game giant announced Wednesday that U.S. owners of its upcoming 3DS console will be able to stream movies to the device via Netflix starting this summer. And users will also be able to watch 3D trailers for upcoming Hollywood features.
Panasonic is headed back 
to the city.
The consumer electronics giant has stopped development on its handheld gaming system that was code-named Jungle “due to changes in the market and in [the company’s] strategic direction”.
Sony has some mounting problems
in Europe.
Customs officials have been ordered to seize shipments of all PlayStation 3 shipments from the manufacturer and hold them in storage for at least 10 days. The orders come as LG has won a preliminary injunction against Sony in an ongoing patent dispute between the companies.
The Oscars are getting high-tech
– and going multi-screen.
As Hollywood gears up for its biggest night, the countdown clock is ticking on the official app of the Academy Awards – Oscar Backstage Pass. Build in collaboration with ABC, the ambitious project (which works with the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) hopes to serve as a second screen for viewers, giving them access to live camera feeds before, during and after the event.
Chris Morris: Journalist 