For 
the next Christmas season, Sony will release the PlayStation 4—a videogame system that’s widely expected to push the boundaries of the industry. Microsoft, while it hasn’t announced anything formally, is expected to release the successor to the Xbox 360 in the same time frame.
Along with Nintendo, which began selling the Wii U last year, the two new consoles will officially launch the eighth console generation among record keepers—but they won’t be alone.
Lego 
is being called culturally insensitive after releasing a model of “Star Wars” gangster Jabba the Hutt’s palace that closely resembles a Turkish mosque. Lego says it will stop selling the toy – but denies the decision was tied to the protests.
The Palace, say critics, looks very much like Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, a historic mosque that became a model for other centers of Islam. It’s a museum these days, but the chairman of the Turkish Cultural Association of Australia still takes issue with the likeness being tied to George Lucas’ famous villain.
It 
was 15 years ago that StarCraft hit store shelves. And while anyone who knew even a little bit about the game’s developer, Blizzard Entertainment, knew they had something special on their hands, no one could predict the global phenomenon that this fast-paced science-fiction strategy epic would blossom into.
It’s one of the premiere titles in eSports – and its player base in Korea is dedicated nearly to the point of fanaticism. (In 2005, for example, 120,000 people went to a stadium to watch a StarCraft championship. That was 40,000 people more than were present at that year’s Super Bowl.)
Hope 
you liked what you saw of Frostbite 3 in this week’s reveal of Battlefield 4, because you’re going to be seeing a lot more of it in the next couple of years.
Frank Gibeau, president of EA’s Games Labels division, says the updated version of the proprietary graphics engine will be one of the centerpieces of the company’s push into the next generation of console games.
The 
recent announcement by Blizzard Entertainment that it would be giving its next game away for free might have startled some investors.
Blizzard, after all, is the talent behind some of the industry’s biggest powerhouses, including “World of Warcraft” and “Diablo,” and has generated billions of dollars for parent Activision. But the seemingly sudden burst of generosity could turn out to be one of developer’s most savvy ideas to date.
Ouya, 
the crowd-funded console that hopes to offer an alternative to pricier systems, finally has a launch date.
While those who helped fund the system through its successful Kickstarter campaign will start getting their units in the coming days, the rest of the world will be able to purchase the Android-based console June 4 for $100 from Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop and Target.
New 
video game consoles coming out this year could breathe new life into game maker Electronic Arts.
Although, the next generation of video game systems technically started last November with the launch of the Wii U, a lot of people aren’t going to start their clocks until later this year, when new consoles from Sony and (presumably) Microsoft hit the market.
With 
Sony and Microsoft gearing up to release a new generation of videogame consoles that boast more realistic graphics, Hollywood’s influence on the gaming biz is getting tougher to ignore.
The enhanced capability of the devices has given game developers the ability to borrow more from filmmakers, blending cinematic excitement with the immersive elements of interactive entertainment.
It 
hasn’t been a smooth ride for Nintendo’s Wii U. It’s premature to call the system a flop, but it’s undoubtedly been a disappointment thus far.
Nintendo’s new console system had a decent start, selling 463,000 systems in December of last year, but that paled compared to the 890,000 Wiis that were sold during that console’s debut. Worse yet, the Wii U sales drop since then has been dizzying. In January and February combined, only 112,000 Wii Us were sold, according to The NPD Group. To put that in perspective, the Wii sold 683,000 in that time frame. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 have thoroughly outsold the Wii U in 2013.
Jose 
Muñoz came to the U.S. illegally when he was a one-year-old – but today, he’s a legal resident. And it’s all thanks to his love of video games.
For the past three years, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has given people who immigrated illegally as children the opportunity to obtain legal residency, allowing them to work and purchase property in the U.S. The catch? Applicants have to be able to show residency since 2007.
Chris Morris: Journalist 