It’s 
been five months since the story of Caine Monroy’s cardboard arcade touched the hearts of Internet surfers. Now the filmmaker who made the nine-year old famous is hoping that spark of creativity can go as viral as his movie.
Filmmaker Nirvan Mullick introduced the world to Caine, and has stayed in close touch with the young entrepreneur. And fame, it seems, has been good for Caine.
Nintendo 
has more than just videogames in mind with the Wii U, its next-generation console, which goes on sale Nov. 18 in North America. The company unveiled Thursday a new initiative dubbed Nintendo TVii aimed at improving discoverability for both over-the-air and online programming.
“It has always been our goal to maximize consumer value with what we include in the hardware purchase,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America. “It’s not just a high-definition console that will change the way people play. Wii U is the only game console with a seamlessly connected, fully integrated second screen.”
Nintendo 
went for a big splash Thursday morning, revealing launch details for its Wii U. Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris looks at the highlights and low-lights of the event in this op-ed.
So now a lot of the mysteries about the Wii U have been solved. Nintendo wasted no time Thursday morning announcing the system’s launch date and price — and spent the rest of its press event talking features and games.
It was a solid event with lots of information, but it wasn’t quite the home run the company was likely hoping it would be. (Call it a stand-up double, if you want to stick with the baseball metaphor.) While Nintendo certainly wooed its audience with some of the Wii U details, it attracted a lot of grumbling from other corners of the video game world.
Every 
Thursday, I join Chris Salcedo and Lori Lundin on the mid-day edition of America’s Radio News Network to discuss trends and news in the technology and video game space. But this week, the news was on Wednesday, so we switched things up a bit.
The discussion was all about Apple’s announcements today, with a heavy focus on the iPhone 5.
There 
weren’t a lot of surprises at Apple’s press event Tuesday. The rumor mill was pretty much spot-on when it came to the iPhone 5, taking a little of the wind out of the company’s sails.
But that doesn’t make the iPhone 5 — and the slew of new iPod Touch devices that the company also debuted — any less important to gaming. In fact, Apple might be further cementing its presence as a major player in the video game industry.
Nintendo’s 
next generation will kick off November 18.
That’s the day the Wii U will go on sale in North America, with two versions for consumers to choose from. But neither is going to be dirt-cheap.
There’s 
no question the iPhone 5 will be a roaring success when it goes on sale Sept. 21. But the latest smart phone from Apple could also give certain game publishers a significant boost.
Gaming has increasingly been an important part of the Apple ecosystem – and while video game companies only made token appearances at Wednesday’s press event, at least one says it views the new phone’s release as a major catalyst for the industry.
Not 
only can playing video games with a friend make the experience more fun, it could make you a more giving person.
A pair of studies from Ohio State University finds that playing games like Halo, Call of Duty and Unreal Tournament with a teammate can reduce the negative behavioral effects that are associated with those games.
With 
news of another pair of executives bolting from Zynga Monday, it seems time to start focusing on who’s filling those increasingly empty seats, rather than who’s left in them.
While chief technical officer Allan Leinwand and chief marketing and revenue officer Jeff Karp explore other pastures, the pressure is about tostart mounting on Maytal Ginzburg, who came on board at the end of last month to fill the chief operating officer position left vacant by John Schappert’s unceremonious departure from the company.
In 
2000, Lindy Ruble suffered a stroke. She survived, but was left unable to recognize text, which made using a PC keyboard — and most Internet-based forms of communications — impossible.
But a clever tech hack by her son has allowed her to start sending emails once again.
Chris Morris: Journalist 