Want to know why studios are growing leary of 
Netflix? It’s all in the numbers.
A new report from The NPD Group shows that despite the best efforts of some enormous competitors, the online rental service holds a 61 percent market share in the streaming movie field so far this year.
“Halo: Reach” players are getting
some more maps.
The “Halo: Reach” Defiant Map Pack goes live today, with two new multiplayer maps, a firefight mission and new achievements letting players earn up to 150 Microsoft Points.
Read more (and learn how to win free codes) at Variety’s Technotainment blog
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.
Paramount’s head of digital 
distribution is headed to YouTube.
Alex Carloss, who held that role until last week, has joined the Google division’s content acquisition team, where he will work with Robert Kyncl, who left Netflix for the video streaming services last September.
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.
Nintendo has unveiled a slew of deals, including a streaming vid partnership with Netflix, that show a growing partnership between the company and Hollywood.
During the company’s keynote address at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, execs announced Wednesday that U.S. owners of the forthcoming handheld gaming system will be able to stream Netflix films to the device starting this summer.
Chris Morris: Journalist 