Is the video game exercise trend getting overloaded or just starting?

Is the video game exercise trend getting overloaded or just starting?

In video games, Nintendo starts the trends and then the copycats pile in. At some point, gamers get jaded and the trend collapses.

Nintendo made the exercise-gaming trend into a phenomenon with Wii Fit, which has sold more than 10 million copies since its launch a… Continue Reading

Sega shows off next big Olympics game, targets Wii and DSi

Sega shows off next big Olympics game, targets Wii and DSi

Sean Ratcliffe, vice president of marketing at Sega of America (pictured below), talked with us about Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, the sequel of a massively popular game which sold 10 million copies.

Sega collaborated on the game with with Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto…. Continue Reading

Sega’s 2009 survival strategy: Publish mature-rated Wii titles and exploit Sonic brand

Sega’s 2009 survival strategy: Publish mature-rated Wii titles and exploit Sonic brand

Sega hasn’t had the easiest time lately. Its parent company, Sega Sammy Holdings, is laying off 560 people — 18 percent of its work force — and is closing 110 arcades in Japan. But the company says it has a strategy to distinguish itself as… Continue Reading

Mario and Sonic teaming up again on the Winter Olympics

Mario and Sonic teaming up again on the Winter Olympics

Nintendo and Sega are teaming up again to bring the Mario and Sonic characters back together in a Nintendo Wii game based on the upcoming Winter Olympics.

That’s a big deal, since the one-time rivals are collaborating on a title whose earlier version, Mario & Sonic… Continue Reading

Roundup: IBM’s good fourth quarter, more inauguration coverage, possible trouble for Intel

Roundup: IBM’s good fourth quarter, more inauguration coverage, possible trouble for Intel

IBM had a good fourth quarter — The now-diversified hardware maker posted net income of $4.4 billion for last quarter, up 12 percent from Q4 of 2007. Revenue decreased just 1 percent after adjusting for currency changes. The company expects its software, services and finance businesses… Continue Reading

Dean’s top ten family games of 2008

Dean’s top ten family games of 2008

As always, my other top-ten games lists were chock full of the violent fare that I enjoy. But family games are big in my house too, so here’s my list of the best family games of 2008:

1. Wii Fit (Nintendo Wii) Nintendo. May 2008. Yes, this… Continue Reading

The ten most-anticipated video games of 2009

The ten most-anticipated video games of 2009

With the new year approaching, there’s no time like the present to look ahead to what is shaping up to be another record-breaking year in the videogame business. While many big games have yet to be officially confirmed or even announced, especially from Nintendo’s tight-lipped… 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… Continue Reading

Q&A: an interview with Sega’s Simon Jeffery on monkeying around with iPhone games and the Wii

Q&A: an interview with Sega’s Simon Jeffery on monkeying around with iPhone games and the Wii

Simon Jeffery is the president of Sega of America. He joined the U.S. arm of the Japanese publisher, famous for games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, in 2005 to recruit U.S. and European game developers to work with Sega on both original games and to… Continue Reading

Nintendo sales chief Cammie Dunaway on the quest for a broader game market

Nintendo sales chief Cammie Dunaway on the quest for a broader game market

Hardcore gamers threw a fit when Nintendo didn’t talk much about hardcore games at its E3 press conference in Los Angeles. But the company has bigger fish to fry, as its choice of executives suggests. Cammie Dunaway joined Nintendo of America in November 2007 as… Continue Reading

E3 trendspotting: the triumph of music

E3 trendspotting: the triumph of music

LOS ANGELES — I just came back from the “Rock Band 2″ party at the E3 video game show. Inside the Orpheum theater, The Who belted out 40-year-old songs to the delight of the crowd of game executives and journalists. The event was the most… Continue Reading

3DV fleshes out gesture-based gaming plans, hires North American chief

3DV fleshes out gesture-based gaming plans, hires North American chief

Inspired by the Nintendo Wii’s clever wand-like game controller, gesture-recognition start-ups are coming out of the woodwork. Israel’s 3DV Systems is one of the contenders and it is showing more of its cards.

The Yokne’am, Israel company said it plans to launch a low-cost gesture-recognition camera… Continue Reading

WWDC live blogging: Next up, games on the iPhone with Sega’s Super Monkey Ball and more

WWDC live blogging: Next up, games on the iPhone with Sega’s Super Monkey Ball and more

Apple’s first guest on stage today at the WWDC conference is Ethan Einhorn from Sega to talk about an iPhone game: Super Monkey Ball. He says Sega created four stages from scratch in a few weeks. Now it’s cleared through 110 stages.

The game uses the… Continue Reading