JUNE 19, 2009 • Activision Blizzard chief executive Bobby Kotick took Sony Computer Entertainment to task for not reducing the price of the PS3. “I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better,” Kotick told The Times in the U.K. “They have to cut the price, because if they .....

JUNE 16, 2009 • As the game industry rapidly evolves from a packaged goods business to a more service oriented busi- ness, it becomes increasingly important to monitor ongoing product usage. Mea- suring raw unit and dollar sales at retail is now only becoming a starting metric for the game industry. The ability to sell subscrip- tions, downloadable content, advertising and other product enhancements requires ongoing monitoring of usage. Keeping consumers engaged with a product over a long p.....

JUNE 10, 2009 • Doom Resurrection for the iPhone was announced by id Software. The game was built from the ground up as an iPhone title in partnership  with Escalation Studios, although it does make use of Doom 3 assets.  Doom Resurrection features its own parallel plot, and is designed to be fun, as wel.....

JUNE 9, 2009 • Daily Variety reported that one of the major reasons Atari acquired Cryptic Studios was to develop an MMO based on the Neverwinter Nights franchise originally created by Bioware. Atari owns rights to the franchise, but Bioware will have no participation in the title, targeted at a 2011 release......

JUNE 8, 2009 • The future of distribution is online. Across a spectrum of entertainment industries and services, a growing number of businesses are reaching consumers via online distribution rather than through old-fashioned brick-and-mortar storefronts. Of course, retailing is not on its way out, but indicators are strong that a lot of consumers will predominantly turn to the Web for their entertainment in the years ahead. Online distribution for the PC has been around for years, bu.....

JUNE 4, 2009 • Intel Corp. wants to get more of its processors into consumer electronics and mobile devices.   To this end, Intel acquired Alameda, Calif.-based Wind River for $884 million. Wind River manufactures embedded chips for customers such as Boeing and Sony Electronics. Intel expects such processors to generat.....

JUNE 1, 2009 • One new Xbox Live feature Microsoft Game Studios did not highlight at this summer’s E3 was a new download service for full Xbox 360 titles. Games on Demand will go live in August with approximately 30 existing titles at full retail price. Xbox 360 owners won’t be forced to use Microsoft Points to purchase the games with standard credit cards transactions accepted. Microsoft didn’t say whether new releases will be included in the service. The firm also announ.....