LG Acquires WebOS

FEB. 25, 2013 • Major South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer LG Electronics Inc. is buying the WebOS operating system source code from the Hewlett-Packard Co. The latter acquired the mobile phone system when it purchased Palm, Inc. in 2010 for $1.2 billion. Financial terms of the LG deal were n.....

Can Sony And Nintendo Recover?

FEB. 21, 2013 • The year 2012 clearly showed that even in the age of easy digital distribution consumers love their physical products.  Among other things, this has included expensive hardware designed mainly to play digital content.  Having the coolest hardware device to access the Internet has suddenly become an important status symbol in society.  Unfortunately for the game industry, traditional game hardware manufacturers were not able to ride that trend.....

Sony Confirms PlayStation 4 release

FEB. 20, 2013 • As expected, Sony Computer Entertainment used its press event at the Hammerstein Ballroom within New York City’s Manhattan Center to provide the first official details on the PlayStation 4 release. The new system is slated for a holiday release this year, but no pricing details were announced. SCE chief executive Andrew House framed the new console as, “a significant shift from thinking of PlayStation as a box or console to thinking .....

Vita Price Slashed In Japan

FEB. 19, 2013 • In its first broad move since announcing that PlayStation Vita first-year targets had been reduced down to 7 million units sold by March 31, Sony Computer Entertainment said street Vita prices in Japan would be reduced significantly on Feb 28.  On that date, both the ¥29,980 ($320) 3G and the ¥24,980 ($266) WiFi models would now retail at ¥19,980 ($213). No price changes were an.....

Wargaming Buys Gas Powered Games

FEB. 15, 2013 • Financially ailing Gas Powered Games, which had pegged its future on its new Wildman action RPG property and a $1 million Kickstarter campaign to fund the project, agreed to be acquired by F2P World of Tanks publisher Wargaming. In the three weeks since starting the funding drive, Gas Powered Games had just over $500,000 in pledges and had been forced to lay off most of its staff. Following the acquisition by Wargaming, the indie developer cance.....

Philips Electronics Quits Consumer Electronics Biz

JAN. 31, 2013 • Once the largest maker of radios in the world during the first half of the 20th Century, and a perennial mainstay within the consumer electronics industry, Philips Electronics has called it quits and sold its audio, multimedia, video and accessories units to Japan’s Funai Electric Co. in what the Wall Street Journal termed the token sum of €150 million ($204.1 million). Philips had a long history of innovation that saw the developm.....

Junction Point Studios Closed

JAN. 29, 2013 • Despite the recent corporate acquisition of LucasFilm and LucasArts by the Walt Disney Co., Disney Interactive is still paring down its development assets with the shuttering of Warren Spector’s Junction Point Studios in Austin. Spector is best known for the Thief and Deus Ex franchises. Junction Point was acquired by Disney in 2007 and was tasked with developing Disney E.....

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