OCT. 29, 2008 • Atari picked up the rights to two Vivendi Games titles not retained by Activision Blizzard. Going to Atari are The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, and Ghostbusters. Both titles are based in well-recognized film licenses. Atari paid Activision Blizzard an undisclosed flat fee to acquire both properties. The former also .....

OCT. 27, 2008 • Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime that total Wii production had risen from 1.6 million per month last year to 2.4 million per month in 2008. The increase allows the U.S. branch to increase its holiday shipments of Wiis by 50 percent compared to 2007. .....

OCT. 23, 2008 • After wandering in the sub-10,000 attendees business summit wilderness for two years the Electronic Software Association (ESA) announced that it would ramp the Electronic Entertainment Expo back up to a 40,000-attendee event for 2009.  ESA chief-executive Michael D. Gallagher said E3 would be smarter and less wasteful .....

OCT. 22, 2008 • The new PSP-3000 sold 141,270 units in its first four days on sale in Japan, according to Enterbrain. The second refresh of the platform went on sale on Oct. 16. Nintendo released it new DSi in Japan two weeks later on Nov. 1, and saw sales of 170,779 in its first two days, according to Enterbrain. .....

OCT. 20, 2008 • The Wall Street Journal reported that Circuit City was mulling over the closure of up to 150 locations, plus cutting additional jobs at the stores that remain. The retailer is attempting to secure emergency financing, but is finding the task difficult as a result of the current liquidity cr.....

OCT. 16, 2008 • Independent publisher Gamecock agreed to be acquired by SouthPeak Interactive. The former did not disclose the reasons for the acquisition. Daily Variety, however, reported that SouthPeak will pay no thing up front. Instead, Gamecock principals will receive seven percent of revenue from any of their games th.....

OCT. 13, 2008 • The Obama presidential campaign is so flush with fund raising cash that ads for the candidate turned up in Xbox 360 versions of Burnout Paradise, Madden NFL 09, NASCAR 09., Need for Speed Carbon, NHL 09, and other EA titles. The ads were part of a targeted 10-battleground state buy running between Oct. 6 and Nov. 3. No reason was given why PS3 versions of the games did not get the Obama spots, although ad sales for that platform are managed by a separate third-party vendor. .....