MAY 20, 2009 • The game peripherals business has seen serious ups and downs during the last decade. What started as a modest secondary market for joysticks, gamepads and steering wheels quickly ballooned into a huge business. The transition tracked with the rise of electronic games as a profitable industry during the mid-1990s. As games became mainstream entertainment, there soon was demand for specialized input devices like h.....

MAY 18, 2009 • Wal-Mart has launched a 77-store test of Ohio-based E-play’s automated video game buyback kiosks.  E-play retains ownership of the machines. Consumers scan the game’s jewel case, after which a buyback price is set. If the consumer approves of the price, the game disc is inserted into a special slot, .....

MAY 13, 2009 • In a study of illegal file-sharing by content tracking firm BayTSP, BitTorrent and Donkey accounted for 90% of all illicit download traffic. In addition, Spain was ranked as the No. 1 worst offender in illegal file sharing, followed closely by Italy and France. The United States, which was ranked first in 2007, dro.....

MAY 11, 2009 • In an interview with Nikkei Electronics Asia, Sony Corp. chairman and chief executive Howard Stringer framed the future of the PlayStation 3 in novel terms: as in evolving the system into web services platform. Stringer noted the PlayStation Network’s DRM is based on Marlin, an open scheme developed by con.....

MAY 7, 2009 • South Korean publisher HanbitSoft has restarted development on Mythos, a dungeon-themed MMO that was a casualty in the demise of Flagship Studios in 2008. HanbitSoft retained the IP rights, and new development on the MMO is being carried out by the publisher’s parent, T3 Entertainment, and Redbana U.....

MAY 6, 2009 • Richard Garriott filed a lawsuit against his former employer NCsoft. Garriott maintains he was terminated by the publisher, although NCsoft has classified the parting as a resignation by the developer best known for the Ultima RPG series. At stake is $24 million in stock options. If fired, Garriott has until 2011 to exercise those options. As a voluntary resignation, Garriott would have only 90 days for option execution – a period of time that has already passed. .....

MAY 6, 2009 • Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms suddenly ceased operations without explanation. At first thought to be a publicity stunt for the sequel that has been in development since 1997, the shuttering of the studio was real and resulted in a lawsuit by Take-Two Interactive on April 15 for breach of contract. The lawsuit also asked the court to force 3D Realms to protect Duke Nukem Forever assets. Take-Two acquired distribution rights to the game in 2000 for $12 million from Info.....

MAY 5, 2009 • Vivendi chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy is slated to become chairman at Activision Blizzard. Levy will replace the retiring Rene Penisson. Impact: Many words have been written about how Activision’s executives made a sweet move in getting themselves into a position to run the combined Activision Blizzard. Few seem to highlight that Vivendi remains the majority shareholder post-merger, and keeps its own people in the chairmanR.....