by Steven Kurutz, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Fantasy video games and heavy metal music seem like a perfect marriage, given that both often rely on Tolkien-esque imagery and create elaborate, male-centric alternate worlds.
But while games use metal songs in their trailers, during play the soundtrack usually transitions into orchestral music. “Brutal Legend” on the other hand, a game for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 that’s being released tomorrow by Electronic Arts, is all metal, all the time.
by Nick Wingfield, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
On Wednesday, a startup called OnLive that’s generating a lot of buzz–and skepticism–in the videogame world raised a new round of financing from AT&T, Warner Bros. and others. We spoke to OnLive founder Steve Perlman, a well-known serial entrepreneur, about the investment (which wasn’t quantified) and some of the implications if OnLive or startups like it are successful.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Sometimes the good news is the bad news. Or vice versa.
Consider, for instance, today’s call on Microsoft by Caris & Co. analyst Curtis Shauger.
In a research note today, Shauger warned that weakening Xbox sales were likely to hurt top-line results for both the fiscal first quarter ending September and for the June 2010 fiscal year.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
In the near future, consumers will be playing videogames without controllers, giving directions to lifelike avatars and waving files from screen to screen a la “Minority Report,” according to Microsoft.
by Sharon Pian Chan, Reporter, McClatchy/Tribune news
Microsoft had rented the museum for a private party and a screening of the most recent ” Harry Potter” movie. After the film, the roughly 600 attendees received a free Xbox 360 video-game console.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories were down 23 percent in May to $863.3 million, according to market research firm NPD. It was the first month with sales under $1 billion since August 2007.
Last week, when the hardcore gamers of the world were supposed to be firing up The Lost and Damned, a new, downloadable episode of Grand Theft Auto IV, I instead decided to spend more than $400 for the privilege of playing a $10 game.
by Todd Bishop, Co-Founder and Managing Editor, TechFlash
The Xbox 360’s exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV add-on, “The Lost and Damned,” debuted yesterday to generally positive reviews. That’s good news for Microsoft–especially considering how much the company paid for rights to the extra downloadable episode. Seth Schiesel’s New York Times review gives you a good sense of what $25 million buys a console company these days.
Microsoft announced plans to open retail stores, hoping to boost visibility of many of its products and its brand (Apple mimicry, perhaps?). The news is just too tempting not to have some fun with. So here are some yet-to-be-officially-revealed details about the Microsoft stores.
Games are starting to catch up with movies in this respect: Low-budget titles from indie studios have the same chance to succeed as blockbusters. And the indie game makers are about to make their biggest strides yet as Microsoft prepares to sell user-generated games on the Xbox 360 game console.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Guitar Hero World Tour couldn’t boost Activision Blizzard’s share price despite a decent debut this weekend. Decent, but not stellar. Wii and Xbox 360 versions of the game were near-sellouts, the PS3 version less so. Good news, then, that UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter thinks the videogame industry could be recession-resistant.
There’s a new member of the “Not Ready for Primetime Players”: The Xbox 360. Microsoft has delayed the launch of “Xbox Live Primetime,” its programmed series of interactive games with real-world prizes, until the spring.
by John Murrell, Blogger, Good Morning Silicon Valley
It will go down as a mere footnote in U.S. election history, but Barack Obama has become the first presidential candidate to buy billboard space in the virtual landscape of video games.
Microsoft (MSFT) may be planning to cut the price of its Xbox 360 Pro game console next week by $50, according to Sterne Agee’s Arvind Bhatia. The console currently sells for $349.99 at retail.
by Michelle Quinn, Reporter, Computers and Digital Music, L.A. Times
We’ve come a long way since Pong and Space Invaders. But video and computer games are still striving to be both interactive and realistic. Have you seen the “Saturday Night Live” skit of the interview with Grand Theft Auto IV’s main characters, Niko and Vlad?
This is a section of the All Things Digital Web site featuring posts from around the Web, from other Dow Jones properties and also original pieces we solicit. The section is now explicitly labeled that it comes "from other Web sites."
We are fully aware of the controversies around how linking and aggregating is done on the Web and we, in no way, are attempting to "scrape" original content created by others. Instead, regarding third-party posts, we are trying to point readers of this site to other posts from around the Web that we admire and are trying to do so in the quickest manner possible.
The Internet is full of terrific content that is not ours and we want to help our readers find it by making editorial suggestions--Look, Mom, no algorithm!--of posts we think are worth their time.
That is why we have made even more changes to Voices to ensure we do this in the most transparent and timely way. While we don't expect that everyone will agree with our policies, we have made changes that reflect our intent in pointing to content outside our site.
Because the site is wholly owned by Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, we aim to adhere to the journalistic standards of the best of the mainstream media. But, because it is run autonomously as a small online startup, we aim to exhibit the fresh thinking and nimbleness of the best of the new media. We want to be first, and sassy, but also well sourced and accurate. We will offer lots of opinion and analysis, but plenty of fact as well.
