video game

The Federal Trade Commission granted an approval for video game maker Electronic Arts to purchase PopCap Games.

In a move to better position itself in a competitive social game market EA decided to enter into a deal estimated at up to $1.3 billion to acquire PopCap that owns licenses for such popular video games as "Bejeweled" and "Plants vs. Zombies."

The FTC put the deal on a list of approved transactions. It issues the list several times a week.

A video game publishing leader Electronic Arts Inc announced its plans to acquire PopCap Games for $1.3 billion a move to compete with the social and casual game makers.

EA said it would pay about $650 million in cash and $100 million in common stock upfront for the maker of the popular video games "Bejeweled" and "Plants vs. Zombies." EA could pay up to an additional $550 million if PopCap reaches certain performance targets in about two years.

EA's Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown said the deal would help EA better compete with Zynga.

The US Supreme Court has ruled Monday that the law banning violent video games is unconstitutional, a decision that brought a significant victory to gamers and the whole gaming industry. The 7-2 vote of the judge panel declined to favor the law in the Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) case (formerly known as Schwarzenegger v. EMA) saying that "the act forbidding sale or rental of violent games to minors does not comport with the 1st Amendment."

Nintendo Co Ltd unveiled this week a new touchscreen controller as a part of its forthcoming Wii console. The device was welcomed with gaming critics but disregarded by investors.

Shareholders were disappointed with the announcement as they believe Nintendo is too focusing on hardware while the gaming market drives into the social networking direction.

Microsoft announced at the annual E3 video game show in Los Angeles that it plans to allow users of Kinect motion-sensing device to control live television feeds, search YouTube and play action games with voice commands.

Users in the US will be able to access live TV programs via Xbox starting next year. At present Microsoft offers live TV services in Britain, France and Australia.

All PlayStation network functionality is available again, announced Sony. This includes access to the PlayStation store the access to which will be fully restored by the week end.

However, in few areas in Asia with very strict regulation some features will still be missing. Meantime, other countries will have access to online games like Dirt 3.

Sony PlayStation Network has not been hacked, according to a new statement made by the company in a blog post. Sony spokesperson Patrick Seybold says that the PlayStation Network wasn’t hacked so much as threatened yesterday when a password exploit accessible through its PSN web page login page came to light.

“We temporarily took down the PSN and Qriocity password reset page,” wrote Seybold, quickly adding “Contrary to some reports, there was no hack involved.”

77 million accounts were compromised in a massive data breach incurred by Sony Corp. The company this week unveiled the fact of hacking of its video game online network that led to the theft of names, addresses and possibly credit card data belonging to 77 million user accounts.

The breach became known for Sony on April 19 which prompted the company to shut down the network. However, Sony did not uncover the news to the public until Tuesday.

After reporting second consecutive decline in an annual report Nintendo made a statement that the company will need alliances with other firms and added that it would launch a successor to its aging Wii console.

"I now regret that we didn't tie up with someone outside the company to market the Wii. If we had done that, the fate of the Wii might have been different," Chief Executive Satoru Iwata said at a conference for investors and analysts.

People continue hacking Microsoft’s motion controlling device Kinect to adapt it to different systems. This time it was PlayStation 3. Shantanu Goel posted a video footage where he claims to have developed a code which allows a Kinect to be used to control a PS3.

Sony has been granted permission by a federal judge to subpoena PayPal records of George Hotz, the hacker behind jailbreaking the company’s PlayStation 3 game console.

According to the latest figures Call of Duty: Black Ops became the best selling game in the United States with 13.7 million units sold across all platforms in five month since it was released. The video game made over $1 billion before the year end when it was launched in 2010.

Microsoft has sold 10 million Kinect accessories and 10 million Kinect supported games. Since Kinect’s launch last November Microsoft has sold five times more Xbox 360 Kinect bundles than Sony's PS3 Move.

Overall, Kinect sold 8 million units in 2010 and apparently took the Guinness World Record for the process for the fastest-selling consumer electronics device.

That's more that the 3m iPads Apple shifted in the first 80 days after its April release.

Outlook for Activision Blizzard missed Wall Street expectations as the company forecast revenue of $640 million in the first quarter of 2011 and EPS of 7 cents per share, compared with the $734.70 million analysts were expecting on 10 cents per share for the quarter. Besides, Activision will also shut down the unit that makes Guitar Hero music games.

"Guidance for 2011 was very disappointing," said MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler.

The company's shares fell to $10.81 in after-hours trading compared with a regular-session close of $11.69.

Nearly 1.5 million 3D-capable handheld game players are planned for shipping by Nintendo Co in the first month after its launch on February 26, President Satoru Iwata said in an interview with the Nikkei business daily published Monday.

"It's important that we ensure a continuous supply," Iwata was quoted as saying by the Nikkei.

In the United States and Europe the 3DS will go on sale as early as in March with 4 million units planned to be sold by the end of that month on a global level.