Microsoft 
continues to roll out new entertainment offerings for the Xbox 360.
The second wave of content providers for the recent user interface revamp of Xbox Live has hit the console, bringing some familiar names. Starting today, U.S. users will be able to access content from ClearChannel’s streaming radio service iHeartRadio and Verizon FiOS customers will be able to access a limited selection of live channels.
Spike TV’s annual 
Video Game Awards program always tends to divide the gamer audience, which grumbles about the flashy nature of the programming, but the event is still very much a can’t miss event among those players.
With several announcements of new game franchises, including Epic Games’ “Fortnight” and Sony/Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us” making bows this year, it’s a second E3 of sorts. But the real focus is on the awards.
Led by “Modern 
Warfare 3″ and a surprisingly strong “The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim,” video game software sales soared past analyst expectations in November.
Retail sales of console and portable software were up 15 percent to $1.67 billion. Analysts had expected a climb of just 3 percent.
The video game 
industry’s top developer seems ready to step back from game making.
Shiergu Miyamoto, creator of Donkey Kong, Mario and The Legend of Zelda, has told Wired.com that he plans to step away from major game development and focus instead on smaller projects and training younger developers. He does not, however, plan to leave the company.
It takes a lot of 
guts for a social game to turn its back on Facebook, but you probably would expect nothing less of a game based on the Godfather franchise.
The Godfather: Five Families has decided to bypass the largest social networking site and launch exclusively on Google+.
Director Gore 
Verbinski is getting into the video game industry.
The helmer of such pictures as The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Rango has announced a deal with Microsoft, where his Blind Wink transmedia company will produce original interactive content for Microsoft platforms, including the Xbox 360, Windows Phone and Windows-based PCs.
As the end of the year 
draws close, the inevitable year in review pieces are starting to roll out. The first, from Twitter, however, shows what the hot shows, music, movies and actors were with the Twitterati – and it holds some pretty big surprises.
While it’s not exactly shocking that Charlie Sheen led the actor category, Elizabeth Taylor was the most talked about actress (and Raven Symone topped both Natalie Portman and Jennifer Lopez). And of all the shows on TV, ABC Family’s “Pretty Little Liars” was the hottest topic.
The video game 
world has never really been represented well at Robert Redford’s popular Sundance Film Festival, but that’s set to change this year.
Indie Game: The Movie has been selected to screen at the event. The film will show in the festival’s World Documentary category, which only approved 12 submissions this year.
South Park has 
been around the video game block a few times, but its latest trip could be remarkably different.
South Park Digital Studios and Obsidian Entertainment, makers of “Fallout: New Vegas,” are teaming to create a South Park role-playing game. THQ will publish the title.
Disney was 
the first studio to fully integrate iOS systems with their films, but they’re no longer the only filmmaker doing so.
The Weinstein Company and Technicolor have teamed up to utilize the tech company’s MediaEcho application to supplement last year’s Best Picture “The King’s Speech” with historical footage, additional commentary and behind the scenes information.
Chris Morris: Journalist 