Disney hasn’t been a big force to date in the mobile gaming 
space – but that’s about to change.
The company has acquired music rhythm game maker Tapulous, makers of “Tap Tap Revolution” for an undisclosed sum. It’s a deal that’s not dissimilar to the acquisition of Wideload Games last September in that it give the company an individual who’s a leader in his segment of the industry.
The good news is video game software sales were up 
4 percent in May. The bad news is people were expecting them to be about twice as high. The OTHER bad news is that video game hardware sales were down 20 percent in May – dragging the industry as a whole down 5 percent compared to the 2009 figures.
While any improvement is a good one, it’s becoming clear that the video game industry is not going to be able to easily shake off its ongoing slump. May was a month loaded with potential blockbusters, including “Red Dead Redemption,” “Alan Wake” and “Super Mario Galaxy 2”.
The middle of the 2010 is not a good time for struggling 
gadgets. Both Microsoft and Plastic Logic have put in doubt the future of two highly touted devices – one that’s already on the market and one that hasn’t seen the light of day.
Both the Microsoft Kin phone and the Que ProReader device are on shaky ground. The Kin was launched just six weeks ago by the Redmond-based company and hoped to blend social networking with cell phones. The Que ProReader was (or is) an intriguing eReader introduced at CES this year that was specifically tailored to the business audience.
For years, Hulu has been the great white whale for content 
streaming devices. Virtually everyone has tried to lure the service beyond its PC roots, with no success.
That changes today, with the introduction of Hulu Plus, a new premium subscription service from the site. For $9.99 per month, subscribers will be able to access a full season’s worth of their favorite TV shows, rather than a select handful. As part of the rollout, Hulu has also announced it will begin streaming Hulu Plus on a variety of Internet-enabled TVs, Blu-Ray devices and the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 over the coming months.
The iPhone 4, which went on sale Thursday, 
has set a new bar for Apple products. The company sold 1.7 million units of the device in its first 72 hours of availability – a number it could have vastly exceeded if it had been able to keep up with supply.
The sales numbers come from pre-orders and sales at Apple stores nationwide. But the company gets a second bite at the apple today, when the iPhone 4 goes on sale at AT&T stores. Demand is so strong that people lined up outside of the cell phone carrier’s retail locations this morning, so they could finally get their hands on the phone. Some lines reportedly were over 100 people long.
The original YooStar was a product that screamed to 
be called a game – only its creators adamantly resisted the label, saying it was an interactive social experience. Now under new management, the company is embracing its play roots and coming to consoles in the near future.
The concept is a simple one: Movie karaoke. Users are able to take famous film scenes and swap themselves in for one or both of the actors on screen. (The well-known “it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses” scene from “The Blues Brothers” is a popular choice.) With the dawn of Microsoft’s Kinect controller, though, it’s easier than ever to jump in – and YooStar may finally live up to its potential. (The game will also be published for the PlayStation 3.)
If you have even a passing curiosity in the tech world, you probably heard that the iPhone hits stores today. And even if you didn’t, there’s a fair chance you passed a long line of people at your local Apple store.
This fourth phone from the company in four years is already a phenomenon. Pre-orders were 10 times higher than previous products, including last year’s 3GS. (600,000 preorders were logged on the first day.) It got so bad, in fact, that Apple’s site had to keep moving back the ship date for people ordering online, as it was unable to keep up with demand.
Oh YouTube… not you too.
The Vuvuzela – which has sprung to fame thanks to the World Cup – has popped up on the viral video service, bringing its droning angry buzz sound with it. A new button slipped onto the site’s videos recently, letting masochists add the sound to videos they watch.
With the one year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s 
sudden death approaching, Ubisoft announced last week that it would be releasing “Michael Jackson: The Game” later this year.
It’s a title that makes sense, especially as the dance genre seems ready to explode, but we were curious: How did the French publisher and the King of Pop come together in the first place? It turns out to be a pretty interesting story.
Chris Morris: Journalist 