Video+Game+Update+1

=Digital Market for Video Games Will Over Take The Retail Market= By: Jeremy Los February 3, 2011 The market for video games is consistently evolving and in a couple of years the digital market will over take the retail market. According to TimeGate CEO Adel Chaveleh the future lies in downloadable video games,"The gaming market will evolve that way, too. It's not where the iTunes dynamic is now, but a couple of years now we will look back and see that digital has overtaken retail." With a highly competitive and expensive retail market it has become increasingly difficult for new game developers to grow and prosper. New game developers have taken up the Itunes model, by putting their product downloadable. This trend could already be seen with the new "Little Big Planet 2," the game is out on the retail market but players could also download newly created levels on their gaming console. Read the entire article at: [|VideoGamer]

**Video Games Having a Positive Effect on Families** By Whitney Porter February 3, 2011 The newest trend coming from Microsofts Kinect is full body involvement. Families are more accepting of these video games as a good source of exercise. Many of the popular games being sold are the fitness and sports games. The counsel on the top of the t.v. has a camera built into it to pick up every movement and projects it on the screen. People see this game as having a positive effect on their physical health because of the distraction people have. They forget about the physical fitness they are getting because they are playing a game. I think this can have a great effect on people, bringing families together around the t.v. in a more active way.

=OnLive Launches all-you-can-play plan= by Bradley Tamura February 3, 2011

Recently OnLive, a new gaming system, was launched. It is like Netflix, but with video games. They have just made available an "all-you-can-play" video game plan. It will cost $10 a month with access to 38 current titles. Only companies like Square Enix, Epic Games, 2K Sports, and Konami have made their games available. The VP of OnLive, John Spinale stated "It's a never-ending supply of entertainment--all for a monthly fee that's a fraction of the cost of a single console game." They currently do not have many subscribers, but it they can increase their database of video games I can definitely see more gamers jumping from the Xbox and Playstation to a video game-on-demand system like OnLive.



[|Link to Article] =**New PlayStation phone ad leaked online﻿** = By Trenton Villanueva February 3, 2011

According to [|mcvuk.com], the first commercial for Sony Ericsson's newest smart phone, the Xperia Play, was leaked online today by Android Inc.'s Norwegian website. According to the same article, Sony has yet to officially announce the release of the Xperia Play. Users of this new phone--referred to as the PlayStation phone--will be able to play PlayStation One video games downloadable from Sony's recently announced PlayStation Suite.The PlayStation Suite, also according to [|mcvuk.com], is both a new content delivery service and application that will allow all Android-enabled devices, suchl as Sony's new NGP and the Xperia Play, to download PlayStation-certified video games online.

The PlayStation phone and Playstation Suite are both important because they illustrate a possible shift in the video game industry from console based systems to more handheld devices. While Nintendo has had the GameBoy and DS for quiet some time, Sony PlayStation is a relative newcomer to the world of the handheld gaming system. The PSP (PlayStation Portable), and PSP Go are PlayStation's only two handheld consoles. With the PlayStation Suite (a system to download PlayStation games onto smart phones) and yet-to-be-announced Xperia Play (the first ever "PlayStation" phone), PlayStation is not only continuing its endeavors into the handheld world, but also branching out into the still-growing smart phone market.

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**Video Game User Innovations** By: Alex Pegnato Feb 1, 2011

The Kinect is one of the newest forms of controller free gaming. It enables the user to not only play games simply with their body movements, but can also be used by voice command for other settings. As of right now it is only available to be used with Xbox 360. This is a great example of the term user innovation. We started with a controller that was attached to a game consol; think of like Nintendo 64. Then came the Wii with a wireless controller. Now we have shifted to not only wireless, but controller-less as well. What the Kinect has also shown is United States advancement in video game technology over the Japanese. For years we have been competing to have the top gaming experience, and as of right now I’d say that we are (United States) on top. This here is a commercial of the Kinect. In this commercial we see demonstrations of all of its features.

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**Next Generation Portable** By: Erin Moran February 2, 2011

Sony has recently released a handheld called the NGP (Next Generation Portable) in Tokyo. This gaming device features a multi-touch screen as well as a rear multi-touch pad. The NGP also features Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, motion control, two control sticks, and will be capable of playing PS3 games. The NGP is likely to be released for the holiday season of 2011. Many aspects such as specific games and pricing are still being decided, but the NGP has already caught the attention of video game fans. This handheld is an entension of the growing trend of touch screen and motion controlled video games. With the added Wi-Fi and PS3 capability, the NGP is expected to be in high demand as it approaches its release. Below is a video demo of the NGP.

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