Technology: Video Games

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AFP) - American millionaire video game guru Richard Garriott followed in his astronaut father's footsteps Sunday, blasting off aboard a Russian rocket to become the world's sixth space tourist.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Wannabe rock stars will have a greater choice of instruments and songs to choose from as videogames like "Guitar Hero World Tour" and "Rock Band 2" introduce new features.

Crystal ball-peering transhumanist Ray Kurzweil has recently unveiled the world's first massively multiplayer online forecasting game, Superstruct.

On November 18, Codemasters and Turbine will release Mines of Moria, the first expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online. But only a dedicated fan is going to have time, given that its chief competitor, World of Warcraft, releases its own expansion a few days earlier.

We recently got a chance to grab a controller and play around with the latest in-development version of the Microsoft Xbox Live Experience at a demo here in San Francisco. The highlights? Revamped avatars and a "party system".

Microsoft is raising Xbox 360 forecasts in Japan amid rumors Sony might drop the price of its PlayStation 3 even more. Meanwhile, Microsoft is planning to release an Xbox 360 with a Blu-ray drive, putting it on more equal digital-media footing with its main rival.

TOKYO (AFP) - Sony said Thursday it will launch a beefed-up version of its PlayStation 3 in Japan this month at the same price as the current version but with double the storage capacity.

MAKUHARI, Japan (AFP) - Willpower is set to replace fast fingers in a new video game in which players move characters through a headset that monitors their brain waves.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Wannabe rock stars will have a greater choice of instruments and songs to choose from as videogames like "Guitar Hero World Tour" and "Rock Band 2" introduce new features.

CHIBA, Japan - Video game rivals Sony and Microsoft are going head-to-head in virtual worlds for their home consoles later this year.

(Reuters) - Google Inc on Wednesday launched technology to insert advertisements into online video games and boost revenue from the booming gaming sector.

CHIBA, Japan - Microsoft Corp. will be releasing games developed by top Japanese designers for its Xbox 360 console, a senior executive said Thursday, the latest effort by the U.S. software maker to make inroads in a market where it has long struggled.

CHIBA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp said on Thursday it will launch PlayStation 3 game consoles with an 80 gigabyte hard disk drive, bigger than previous models, in Japan at the end of October for 39,980 yen ($398).

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft's research arm and a set of US universities are creating a first-of-its-kind institute devoted to using videogames to teach math, science and engineering to school children.

In the world of sports video games, not much can really change year to year. The game at its core is the same, but it's what video-game developers add that makes it worth spending the cash.

NEW YORK - On a recent evening, the backstage of a rehearsal for the new Broadway musical "Billy Elliot" looked like summer camp. The show features 21 child actors and dancers, some of whom were sprawled out with handheld video games as a gaggle of tween girls in dance clothes trooped past.

Google is adding click-to-buy links to its YouTube video-sharing site. The new feature will let customers purchase songs and video games they like while watching videos on the site.

For a self-effacing, portly little plumber, Mario may be the most ambitious guy in video games. It's not enough that he has the most recognizable face in the industry; his parents at Nintendo have promoted him everywhere, from T-shirts and lunchboxes to cartoons and cell-phone ringtones. He's probably more familiar to kids of a certain generation than Mickey Mouse.

Google is getting in the game. The Internet search giant is putting its assets into play by introducing AdSense for Games.

NEW YORK - Google Inc., the leader in online search and advertising, is muscling in on video game territory — though it won't exactly be in the form of a shoot 'em up game.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - YouTube, the world's most popular video-sharing site, will start to sell music and video games and experiment with new advertising formats to grow revenue, executives said on Tuesday.

With the economy tanking, credit limits shrinking, and 401(k)'s dwindling, will consumers tighten their belts this holiday season when it comes to digital cameras, MP3 players, video games, and other gadgets? Probably not, the Consumer Electronics Association predicts.

A new study says video game players are surprisingly fit, countering stereotypes that peg them as overweight couch potatoes. Gamers are 10% leaner than the average American, says the study of 7,000 players by Univ. of Southern Calif. researchers. They also exercise 1-2 times a week, more than the average American. But the study also found gamers have a higher rate of mental health problems. They're 50% more likely to have been diagnosed with depression and have a 20% higher rate of substance addiction.

Real news from the virtual world:

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Eric Nofsinger is betting that Nintendo's hot family-friendly Wii videogame consoles can win the hearts of "hardcore gamers" that lust for battle in action-packed virtual worlds.

We decided to compare notes and round up all the important info on the new Nintendo DSi handheld game console so far.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 in Japan in September, beating the rival machine in monthly unit sales for the first time in Sony's home market, a game magazine publisher said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gina Sutton takes aim and deftly strikes down several targets in a row as they pop up on the screen in front of her.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS) expects to have more of its Wii game consoles available in the U.S. this holiday season, but stopped short of guaranteeing there will be no shortages of the popular device.