Star Trek Online game gives Cryptic Studios a chance at a mass audience

Star Trek Online game gives Cryptic Studios a chance at a mass audience

[Editor's note: check out our awesome video of Star Trek Online. Photos courtesy of Cryptic, Alexa Lee].

Cryptic Studios is one of the few companies that has made a living at making massively multiplayer online games and lived to tell about it. Since 2000, the company has created three successful MMOs: City of Heroes, City of Villains, and Champions Online.

But now it has a chance for the big time with Star Trek Online, a new MMO… Continue Reading

Atari president Phil Harrison on creativity and the future of video games

Atari president Phil Harrison on creativity and the future of video games

When he was president of Sony Worldwide Studios, Phil Harrison was focused on creating new gaming experiences like the karaoke-based SingStar franchise, the Hollywood cinematic series, The Getaway, and the user-generated toolbox called LittleBigPlanet. Harrison, now president of Atari/Infogrames, explains how the decisions he made in building some of these successful global gaming franchises for Sony Computer Entertainment are impacting the choices he makes in leading Atari down its revitalization path.

VB: While over at Sony,… Continue Reading

Atari’s Centipede crawls onto the iPhone

Atari’s Centipede crawls onto the iPhone

When I was growing up, the local roller rink in my hometown had the classic arcade game Centipede. I remember it well because unlike some of my friends, I was really bad at it. And now I can be bad at it once again — on my iPhone.

Game company Atari brought a version of the game to Apple’s App Store this weekend. At $4.99, it’s not exactly cheap by App Store standards, but that will… Continue Reading

Game industry maverick Bernie Stolar: unplugged and worried about crappy games

Game industry maverick Bernie Stolar: unplugged and worried about crappy games

Bernie Stolar, former games evangelist at Google and a veteran of many game companies, is one of those unfiltered loose cannons. He had a fireside chat on Friday with Forbes writer Mary Jane Irwin at the SD Forum games conference at Microsoft’s office in Mountain View, Calif. Stolar has been around the block. He joked about being the old guy of the game industry. But he has played a key role at Atari, Sony, Sega,… Continue Reading

Roundup: Dell pushes for green PCs, Atari releases exercise system and more

Roundup: Dell pushes for green PCs, Atari releases exercise system and more

Here’s the latest action:

Dell wants greener PCs (now if only their customers did too) — The computer maker says its laptops and desktops should consume 25 percent less energy by 2010. But the Wall Street Journal notes that Dell has an uphill battle in its effort to become the self-proclaimed “greenest IT company”, because many IT departments think environmentally-friendly computers are too expensive.

Atari releases exercise game system to compete with Nintendo’s — The new Wii Fit… Continue Reading

An interview with Rearden’s Steve Perlman on investing in R&D

An interview with Rearden’s Steve Perlman on investing in R&D

Steve Perlman, the man behind tech incubator Rearden, is a serial entrepreneur with more than 30 years’ experience in the tech industry. He built his first computer from a kit during high school in 1976. He developed graphics at Atari and worked as a principal scientist at Apple, leading the development of a variety of multimedia technologies, including QuickTime. His string of start-ups includes General Magic, Catapult Entertainment, WebTV (sold to Microsoft for more than… Continue Reading

EA brings in an outsider as No. 2 executive

EA brings in an outsider as No. 2 executive

John Riccitiello was an interesting personnel experiment when he came from outside the video game industry to become the No. 2 executive at Electronic Arts a decade ago. He is now the company’s CEO and one of the industry’s most respected executives.

Now Riccitiello is replaying that same experiment: He announced today that he’s hired John Pleasants (pictured left), a non-video game executive to be EA’s new No. 2. I’m not convinced it’s going to work… Continue Reading