Gaming posts

Recently, game maker Nintendo reported it’s first ever yearly operating loss.  Will it continue the downward trend, or does it have a strong rebound strategy? For the first time in the company’s history, Nintendo has posted an operating loss for the fiscal year.  For 2011 they were down by $458 million.  That doesn’t bode well for the same company that turned out some of the most popular games in history, like Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, and the Wii. More powerful mobile devices have triggered a paradigm shift that represents an uncertain time for game makers.  “What is ailing…

With any payment plan, you will likely pay more than you would if you bought the product up front. That’s the case with the latest offer from Xbox, but don’t expect people to shy away from the deal that includes a $99 Xbox 360 bundle with Kinect. To get the deal, one will need to sign a 2-year agreement for Xbox Live at $14.99 a month. This makes the total package come to $459 spread out over 3 years. By contrast, if someone paid $299 for the standalone Xbox 360 + Kinect and prepaid for 2 years of Xbox live for $120, they would spend $419. There are bargains available on both the bundle (we found one for $259) and…

Someone should have seen this coming. Someone should have said something. After forking over $200 million to buy OMGPOP for the singular purpose of getting control over Draw Something, Zynga is wondering why 5 million daily active users (around 1/3rd of the total) abandoned the game last month. It’s a lesson in size and scope. People did see this coming. Zynga was told. They didn’t heed the warnings and saw something that they thought would have staying power. They thought of a clever advertising model that would have users drawing brands for a price to the brand. They had to do something because…

Hardcore gamers and fans of the latest video game reviews will be very excited when they read this article. Over the years, the gaming world has gone through a number of changes in order to cater to its target market, while adapting to the current technology. While the most noticeable of these changes is the visual quality, game difficulty is one of the most important aspects of the game that has changed over the years. During the Atari days, games were simple and responsive, with little difficulty – other than skill to navigate and (sometimes) attack. However, it was during the early years of the…

The next console needs to get here quickly for Nintendo. The game hardware company announced its first annual operating loss of 37.3 billion yen ($459.54 million) from 2011 to 2012. They anticipate a turnaround in numbers at the same level in the positive this year as a next generation console is expected. Price cuts to their systems weren’t enough to keep sales from dropping 36.2%. Nintendo intends to sell the 3DS “below cost” soon, following strong sales after a substantial price cut last year. Still, they weren’t anywhere near the numbers of the original DS, selling 13.53 million 3DS devices…

As Sony continues to get pounced on by gaming aficionados over the poor roll out through improper marketing and bad initial titles, Playstation is moving onward and upward with Mortal Kombat to give it another boost in sales following recent success. To do it, they have turned to arguably the most popular character in the series: Kitana. The female killer should get some attention for the launch of the game on May 1st. It needs to. Another failure may be enough to send even the most hardcore Playstation portable gaming fans to other platforms. Here’s the trailer: …

It’s hard to walk through an airport or a coffee shop without seeing someone playing Angry Birds. The game is on millions of mobile devices and even desktops as an oddly-addictive distraction from the rest of the world. In it, one is tasked with taking a powerful slingshot and launching birds with various attributes at bricks and structures in hopes of killing pigs. Anyone who hasn’t played the game will probably think that sounds weird. Those who have played will see nothing wrong with the concept. That may be the problem. This infographic comes via Los Angeles Chevrolet and offers some insight…

When you mention “classic games” to anyone over the age of 30, there’s a good chance that the first thing that pops in their mind is Pac-Man. The icon of gaming has been spun on its head from the original Namco days to become a nano-polymer-based weapon of the US government hidden for testing under the deserts of Nevada. The Polymorphous Autonomous Compound Manipulator can consumer hazardous targets like oil spills and reactor leaks, but prefers cherries. …

We’ve all heard the horror stories about how hardcore gaming makes us anti-social and possibly even homicidal. There are politicians, activists, and shrinks around the world who say gaming is the way to the dark side, that it’s a path to evil, that Anakin Skywalker became a sith because he was a closet gamer, and that every mass murderer in the last 20 years can be attributed to being a gamer. What if the exact opposite is actually true? That’s the thought behind this infographic by Psychology Degree. In it, they discuss the social benefits of gaming, giving hope to millions of mothers who think their…

Movies have been made into video games since Atari, while video game have been turned into movies for nearly as long. The successes of both types of adaptation are debatable, but now we’re seeing the start of a new type of gaming adaptation: the television show games. There have been others in the past with CSI, ER, and other popular shows getting the platform and PC treatment, but the latest batch of games may break down the walls that have made television series games something that only the most dedicated fans consider buying. “The Walking Dead” and “Game of Thrones” are the two most recent that…