Over the last year, the total time spent playing video games increased 7% and purchases of digital content and subscriptions rose 8% according to a study from Nielsen. Over half of all households, 56%, owned at least one current-generation gaming console as of January 2012, an increase from 50% in 2011. Mobile, handheld and tablet gaming continues to grow as well, with 66% of households with kids between 6 and 12 years old owning a Nintendo DS or Sony PSP, while also owning an iOS device. More adults ages 25...

Microsoft just sold nearly one million Xbox 360 consoles last week alone, but we’re nearing the end of the road for video game consoles according to one industry visionary. Richard Garriott, known for having created the fantasy role-playing franchise Ultima and the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Tabula Rasa, says converged devices such as computers, smartphones and tablets will soon render dedicated game consoles obsolete. Read on for more. (more…)

Much has been made of the video game console business’ steady decline, and rightfully so; console sales have dropped considerably in recent months. Some attribute the sliding sales to a weakened economy while a minority believe trends are turning toward casual mobile gaming, but market research firm IDC says we shouldn’t be sounding any alarms just yet. In a new report, IDC suggests that console gaming will begin to reverse current downward trends in 2012, with a big-time resurgence to follow in...

Sales of video game hardware and software declined 10% in June according to new data reported by industry watcher The NPD Group. Total content sales including home consoles, portable consoles and PC game sales totaled $1.03 billion last month, down 10% from June 2010. Hardware sales declined 9% from $401.7 million in June 2010 to $366.6 million last month, and software sales dropped 12% over the same period to $469.5 million. Video game accessory sales also declined from June of last year, dropping 11% from $...

Gaming giant Nintendo recently announced that during Black Friday week, U.S. consumers purchased a combined 1.5 million DS and Wii gaming systems. Holiday shoppers scooped up nearly 900,000 DS units and over 600,000 Wii consoles during the popular shopping debacle period. “U.S. shoppers bought about 9,000 Nintendo hardware systems nonstop for every hour of every day during the week of Black Friday,” said Nintendo of America’s president. Sales of Wii consoles were up slightly while sales o...

Announced earlier today after months of speculation, Hulu Plus has finally become official. For $9.99 per month, subscribers will be able to watch their favorite shows — including those from seasons past — on a multitude of internet-connected devices. Mobile devices are a go, with iOS devices including the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, and iPod touch (3rd generation) being the main attraction at this point in time. The best part as far as mobile is concerned is that streaming will work on both Wi-F...

In the previous installment of Throwback Thursday, we flipped the calendar all the way back to 1977 and took a look at the Atari 2600. This week, we’re easing things up and bit and giving a shout out to the Sega Game Gear, circa 1991. From the get go, the Game Gear had its work cut out for it. Bulkier, slower and more than double the price of Nintendo’s Game Boy ($199 versus $90), the Game Gear never managed to steal Game Boy’s thunder as it was expected to do by Sega’s top brass. But ...

In honor of E3 week, we thought we would dedicate this week’s Throwback Thursday to a gaming device from the past: the Atari 2600. The console that really brought in-home gaming to the masses and a gadget we have a real soft spot for, the 2600 was first launched in 1977. At the time it retailed for $199, which is roughly equivalent to $730 today. Despite the high cost, Atari managed to move over a 250,000 units in its first year. Although by today’s standards its 8-bit 1.19MHz processor and 128 bytes ...

Today at E3, Nintendo delivered upon its promise and announced the 3DS, the only device of its kind to deliver 3D imagery without requiring users to wear dorky special glasses. The portables secret weapon is its 3.5″ 3D display which users can adjust based upon their proximity to the screen for optimal 3D viewing; there will also be an option to disable 3D. Like the 2D DS, the bottom display is a resistive touchscreen and the front-facing camera remains unchanged. Another neat feature is the dual camer...

Well, it’s official. Today during its E3 keynote, Microsoft took the wraps off the latest and greatest version of the Xbox 360. Described as being “sleeker, smaller, whisper quiet,” the new 360 has a 250GB HDD, built-in Wi-Fi n, and a super sexy $299 price tag. It begins shipping today. Excited? (more…)

According to Ray Maguire, head of Sony’s UK PlayStation division, the future will see the majority of first-person games for the PlayStation available in 3D; Macguire made the comment during a recent interview with ComputerandVideoGames.com. As for when all of PlayStation’s top-billed titles will be in 3D — something which Sony expects all major gaming studios to do with their most popular franchises — Maguire believes this will happen around 2014, by which time Sony expects as many as...

April saw the video game industry suffer through its worst month in nearly 10 years, as both hardware and software sales tumbled for a combined total of 26%. Consoles saw the biggest decrease with a 36% drop to $398.5 million, while software titles and accessories fell 22% and 9% to $249.3 and $118.4 million respectively. According to NPD research analyst Anita Frazier, some of the decline has to do with Easter falling in early April. If it were to have fallen in the middle of the month as it did last year, F...

Speaking to the Associated Press on Friday, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata revealed that his company’s upcoming Nintendo 3DS will in fact gamers the choice of playing titles in both 3D and 2D. Exactly how one would switch from 3D to 2D and vise versa is unclear, but Iwata mentioned one of the primary reasons for the ability to remove the extra dimension is for the health of children’s eyesight. Also revealed by Iwata was the fact Nintendo is going to introduce a new set of anti-piracy measures with the...

Sure it might turn out to be nothing more than an incredibly expensive fad, but whether you like it or not, 3D everything is going to continue to be shoved in your face for the foreseeable future. Case in point: The Nintendo 3DS (temporary name) which today was announced by Nintendo. Images, specs, pricing, a list of launch titles and just about anything else imaginable have been withheld, but we do know the 3DS is headed for a Q1 2011 release and that “games can be enjoyed with 3D effects without the n...