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.
For years, Microsoft 
has used the Xbox 360 as a Trojan horse to get into people’s living rooms. Now, it’s launching a full-scale attack on your other entertainment devices.
Starting Monday, Xbox 360 owners are being prompted to download a free new user interface for the console, which expands Kinect voice control, introduces a broad entertainment search option and adds a slew of new content options that have nothing to do with gaming.
Even if you have the 
grace of a spastic camel, you can’t help but have fun with Dance Central 2. The game is forgiving for beginners, challenging for experts, and features a terrific lineup of songs (ranging from Lady Gaga to Justin Bieber to Usher to Sir Mix-a-lot). This year’s inclusion of co-op and multiplayer challenge modes adds more depth to the game and is guaranteed to make it more of a party standard.
The game introduces plenty of new moves and is loaded with 44 new songs. Players of the original game can import that game’s original 32 songs in as well for 400 Microsoft points (about $5). The original Dance Central was a must-have game last year. This sequel is miles ahead of its predecessor — and could well be the best Kinect game on the market.
Just days after 
announcing a slew of alliances with cable channels and services, Microsoft is adding Ultimate Fighting Championship events to its growing roster of non-gaming programming.
Starting Dec. 1, Xbox 360 users will be able to order pay-per-view events as well as access a library of live and on-demand content. The first pay-per-view will be the company’s UFC 140 event on Dec. 10.
Gamers descended 
on retailers like locusts to grab their copies of Gears of War 3.
Microsoft says the latest installment in the series sold 3 million copies in its first week, making it the biggest game of the year (so far).
Couldn’t get a 
ticket to this weekend’s iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas? That doesn’t mean you can’t watch it.
The Clear Channel-sponsored mega-concert will be streamed in high definition exclusively on Microsoft’s Xbox 360, giving gamers (and their families) the chance to see the acts perform live.
There are a lot 
of ways to stream Netflix to your television these days — including, in some cases, directly through the television itself. But new data from ABI Research shows that the method of choice for most people is through game consoles.
Owners of game machines spent an average of seven to eight hours per week watching streaming video, the company found.
As Sony cuts the price 
of the PlayStation 3 for the first time in two years, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris looks at the ramifications the move might have on Xbox 360 and Wii.
So the PlayStation 3 price cut we all suspected was coming at some point this year has finally been announced, and immediately implemented to boot. Now things are going to get interesting.
Sony’s $50 reduction, positioned as the exclamation point to their Gamescom press conference, will have reverberations throughout the industry over the next couple of months. Let’s take a look at some of the ripple effects.
When it comes to audience 
reach, Netflix owes a debt of gratitude to the video game industry.
A new Nielsen Co. study finds that Netflix users are primarily streaming content to television sets – with half of those customers streaming the service through their Wii, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
This is the droid you’re looking 
for if you’re a “Star Wars”-loving gamer.
Microsoft has unveiled a new “Star Wars”-branded Xbox 360 – with a console body that looks like R2-D2 and a C-3PO gold colored controller – that will go on sale this holiday season.
Chris Morris: Journalist 